Saipan and Tinian Islands
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On August 15, 2003, a handful of Guam Chiefs ventured north to Tinian and Saipan islands from some training. Pictured from left to right are: Jeff Uhrig, Mike Higley, Tim Campbell (bottom), Jim Hunsuckle, Billy Cronin (bottom), Robin (ITCS from NCTS sorry can't remember her last name), Pete Parker (bottom), Missy Perez, Bob Hodges, Tom Wiley, Pat Beltran, Brett Keltz, who couldn't keep his eyes off Pat Beltran the entire trip. |
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Pete Parker just couldn't be outdone by me (look here) so he also re-enlisted at the Tinian Bomb Pits. |
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Here is an aerial view of the Tinian Bomb Pits. These were used to load the Enola Gay and Boxcar airplanes with their atomic payloads. The bombs were too large, so the bombs were lowered into the pits and the planes were placed over the pits to load them. |
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"5. JAPANESE AIR OPERATIONS BUILDING. This building was the control center for the Japanese Navy's 1st Air Fleet operations on Tinian, directing traffic on the runway to the south. It contained an office, the operations room, and a generator room. This is a standard design for World War II Japanese air operations buildings, with other examples located on Saipan and Chuuk. Ushi Field was captured by Americans on July 25, 1944, the day after the invasion. Two days later, it was back in operation by U.S. forces and used to support the continuing battle that pushed toward the southern end of Tinian. The building was repaired and used as a control tower by the 20th Air Force after the B-29 runways of North Field were constructed here." |
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Here is a distance shot of the air operations building. |
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Here is Brett Keltz in the operations room of the air operations building. Notice the huge spider in the center. |