Marston airport runway mats.....

[Lang]

Bob

I have about a dozen sheets.

When I was in New Guinea there are Marsten Matting sheets everywhere. They even built a machine to fold them so they could be used as fence posts.

The steel they are made off is unbelievably corrosion resistant. There are many sheets still sticking out of the salt water in the tide line which are recognizable 80 years later.

Once they were locked with the fingers they had flat pins about 2 inches wide made from steel strap folded in half with the "hinge" end flattened to stop them going right through. The pins stopped the sheets sliding back and unlocking the fingers as well as holding down.

I have seen round heavy pegs with a circular cap about 2 feet long which I presume were use on the approach ends when starting a run say on a road to stop the vehicles bending them up.

I am sure there were other systems, just what I have seen.