Some trivia on GUIUAN AIRFIELD in Samar from archives of the USAAF in the Southwest Pacific.. The runway was built in 1945 by the 61st Naval Construction(Seabees) and actually two side by side runways were built through the jungle and were built of coral. The strip was used by F4U Corsairs of the Marines stationed there as well as the 22nd and 5th bomb groups of the Army Air Force. On one day the two strips hosted the most airplanes of any base in the Pacific. On that day over a thousand Navy Airplanes landed at the base. It was the main carrier force of the Navy as a Typhoon was coming and the carriers got rid of their aircraft. The Navy planes were parked among the B-24s and C-47s. The crews were put into the four-man tents during the Typhoon with half a dozen Navy Airmen sleeping with the Air force crews. Such bitter irony that this same airstrip is now being used again by the US NAVY in delivering relief goods to the victims of Typhoon Yolanda in Guiuan. Next photo shows USN Osprey landing on the WWII airfield which still exists today. This 2000 meter runway is capable of taking on the C130 and most commercial jet aircraft like the 737 and Airbus. The before and now photo shows that the second airstrip is now a coconut plantation and the coastline has already changed due to reclamation by the community.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 12:21:47 +0000