Marston airport runway mats.....

[Lang]

Matting being laid

[Lang]

More in Tarakan Borneo

[Mike Cecil]

For those who might wonder about the first image, it was taken in South Vietnam. The artillery weapon is a 105mm L5 pack howitzer. I understand that PSP is still an Engineer store item.

The other images posted by Lang are WW2.

Mike

[Lang]

I suspect the Vietnam picture shows Pierced (or perforated) Aluminum Plate which was a lighter almost exact copy of the old steel plate.

MATT-1.jpg download (1).jpg

[Ed Storey]

Attached is what was published in the Royal Engineers Supplementary Pcket Book No. 5A Roads - 1960 (9567) manual on prefabricated metal track.

Prefabricated Metal Track.jpg

[Lang]

Here is a great detailed movie of laying steel matting on Munda (Bougainville)

Laying starts after the tree clearing at about 3.30min in.

https://youtu.be/X5gZMY4r5qs

[Bob Carriere]

Thanks for posting.....

My comments/observations......

The myth that all WW2 soldiers were small guys is questionable when you see the arms/shoulders of some of those guys..... certainly was not the first runway they set up.....

Tried count the numbers of fingers crushed buyt noticed they used some form of hooks to move them then followed by the clipping crew....

The ubiquitous officer walking around with the pith hat and sucking on his pipe.

Must have been hell in the Southern Sun...even with the hot breeze blowing from the ocean......

they were lucky to have a soft sandy base to work from.......

It must have been some sort of plantation as the airshots shows the trees in neat rows....

No wonder they left them behind after the war......