[TheForge] TheForge Digest, Vol 63, Issue 58

[Cindy and James]

This was my father-in-law's reply to the question of PSP.  JA


James
PSP has hooks that hook into the piece adjacent to it.  It is laid like 
bricks so that ends butt and joints are staggered.  It has holes punched 
in it for weight reduction and the punch was the type that carried lots 
of metal through to the back side which helped stiffen the plank. As I 
recall they were about eight feet long.  (I never carried one or 
examined them except from the cockpit.)  They were laid over soft ground
so aircraft could land and take-off.  Kolie field on Guadalcanal  was 
all PSP even the taxi strips and the revetment areas.  If an aircraft 
got off the PSP it would sink until the wing tip started to take the 
weight.  It was a big project to get them back on the PSP. Usually, Jack 
ed them up and laid PSP under the wheels back to the PSP they run off 
of. The runways up the Solomon Chain were coral - just dump spread and 
roll.  The CB"s built them in less than a week.  Bouganville was PSP and 
I believe Buka was also but I never landed there.
PSP would roll up like a wave in front of a B-24.  It made Take-off and 
landing different.  T.O was longer and Landing shorter. Believe me, at 
night with a heavy load and no lights it made take-off a very sporting 
event.  The runway was none too long and when it was hard to see the end 
it makes for worry when you are approaching the grass and you can't make 
it out very clearly.  There more than one pair of tire marks in the 
overrun and not all of the aircraft went on to the target. It is a hard 
way to start a mission when you lose and aircraft at home prior to 
departure.
PSP was available on civilian/surplus market after the war.  There must 
be some of it somewhere that could be purchased if cost was not a factor.
My two cents worth
Jim J
USAF Retired.
>
> I've seen two over lapping layers of heavy expanded metal raised edge 
> wired together for this purpose but the substrate must not be too 
> loose. A guy I used to work with (Now Deceased) was a WW2 vet who said 
> they used this method for emergency airfields on some pacific islands. 
> I don't remember if this was a landing surface or a base layer he 
> described, but I think it started as a landing surface and if needed 
> became more sophisticated.
> L Brown
>