[TheForge] Fw: PSP

[David E. Smucker]

In WWII it was made of steel.  In the 60's from aluminum and called "landing 
mats" by Alcoa.  Made at New Kensington Works when I started in 68.  I have 
seen the steel PSP use for fencing in Colorado just last summer.

Dave

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From: "Cindy and James" <jallcorn at suddenlink.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 11:44 AM
To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [TheForge] TheForge Digest, Vol 63, Issue 58

> 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
>>
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