[TheForge] TheForge Digest, Vol 63, Issue 58

[Rich Maynard]

There's still a lot around in the UK. It's popular with the off-road brigade
who like to strap a couple of pieces to the roof racks of their Land Rovers.

Rich M.

Richard Maynard - Artist Blacksmith
The Forge, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire SG10 6BS
 
The Forge Experience - be a blacksmith for a day!
http://www.muchhadhamforge.co.uk/experience.pdf
 
rich at muchhadhamforge.co.uk
www.muchhadhamforge.co.uk


-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of ries
Sent: 29 April 2009 16:53
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] TheForge Digest, Vol 63, Issue 58


I used to see a little bit of it in the seventies, at scrap yards- but  
I sure havent seen any for sale since.
Somewhere in the USA, there is probably an old junker sitting on a  
pile of it.
But it would not be an easy thing to find these days.
It was about 8 feet long, and, maybe a foot wide, and it did interlock  
into continuous sheets, end to end and side to side.
It was stamped from about 14 gage at the thickest. Not designed to  
last 60 years in humid environments- it was a quick, and cheap  
solution to temporary roads.
The pieces I saw were painted, but not galvanized, mild steel.

Oops- I am wrong- you CAN still buy it.
Here-

http://www.calumetindustries.com/index.php?s=psp

along with a great history of it, and pics.

Google is an amazing thing, isnt it?

Ries


On Apr 29, 2009, at 8:44 AM, Cindy and James wrote:

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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Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist
http://www.riesniemi.com/





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