WEBVTT 00:00.540 --> 00:02.920 The final United Nations victory has 00:02.930 --> 00:05.039 been won . The war is over . 00:09.489 --> 00:11.711 It's got to be one of the most historic 00:11.711 --> 00:13.619 bases on all of the air force . 00:15.399 --> 00:17.455 We faked the landing in the southern 00:17.455 --> 00:20.430 beaches . They were able to take over 00:20.440 --> 00:22.930 Tinian in only eight days that drew the 00:22.940 --> 00:25.899 Japanese south . They didn't expect at 00:25.909 --> 00:29.190 all . Tinian was the largest airfield 00:29.250 --> 00:31.709 during the Pacific and it was built so 00:31.719 --> 00:33.886 very quickly in order to prosecute the 00:33.886 --> 00:37.849 water where we are here is the final 00:37.860 --> 00:40.400 step of the Manhattan project , build 00:40.409 --> 00:42.659 the atomic bombs in World War Two . You 00:42.669 --> 00:44.780 can read about it in a textbook , but 00:44.780 --> 00:47.002 until you actually see it with your own 00:47.002 --> 00:49.002 eyes , it becomes a lot more real . 00:49.650 --> 00:52.029 This is a very pivotal time in history . 00:52.799 --> 00:54.743 We're looking back at the past and 00:54.743 --> 00:57.189 rebuilding these old airfields to 00:57.700 --> 00:59.533 possibly be used in the future . 01:04.598 --> 01:06.542 I like to say very frequently like 01:06.542 --> 01:08.908 we're going back to the future as part 01:08.918 --> 01:11.098 of our agile combat employment . We 01:11.109 --> 01:12.887 have taken a look at all of the 01:12.888 --> 01:15.918 historic airfields within the Pacific 01:15.929 --> 01:18.018 that helped to launch and execute 01:18.028 --> 01:21.790 successful campaigns . Building new 01:21.800 --> 01:23.744 is not the way to go and it's very 01:23.744 --> 01:26.470 expensive repairing and rehabilitating 01:26.480 --> 01:29.160 what exists is a much better economic 01:29.169 --> 01:32.569 solution . My name is 01:32.580 --> 01:36.169 Jeffrey Meyer . I'm a 36 wing historian . 01:36.529 --> 01:39.220 My job here is to collect the history 01:39.230 --> 01:42.620 of the base as it's happening . So 01:42.629 --> 01:45.199 these are different . Uh B 20 nine's 01:45.209 --> 01:48.190 here . This one here is actually one 01:48.199 --> 01:50.349 from the ninth bomb group that flew 01:50.360 --> 01:53.959 from Tinian after Pearl 01:53.970 --> 01:55.914 Harbor . This whole area was under 01:55.914 --> 01:59.849 Japan's control and SaiPan was the 01:59.860 --> 02:01.970 center of the communications for the 02:01.980 --> 02:05.139 Japanese forces . One was the 02:05.150 --> 02:08.669 supermarket of the Pacific taking these 02:08.679 --> 02:11.279 islands was definitely to get the B 29 02:11.289 --> 02:13.830 superfortress within round trip range 02:13.839 --> 02:15.789 of mainland Japan 02:18.289 --> 02:20.759 where Northfield is today , that field 02:20.770 --> 02:23.130 only had like a 4000 ft runway and a 02:23.139 --> 02:24.917 big tarmac was basically just a 02:24.917 --> 02:27.083 Japanese fighter base for one engine . 02:27.083 --> 02:29.195 Airplanes , aircraft started arriving 02:29.195 --> 02:31.479 there in January of 1945 . 02:33.350 --> 02:36.250 There was enough room to put 265 02:36.259 --> 02:38.426 aircraft and they had the four runways 02:38.426 --> 02:42.130 8500 by 150 then flew their first 02:42.139 --> 02:45.309 combat mission over Japan in February 02:45.320 --> 02:46.809 of 1945 . 03:01.130 --> 03:03.352 The battle for Tinian took about a week 03:03.352 --> 03:05.463 but less than three days later , even 03:05.463 --> 03:07.297 as fighting was still going on , 03:07.297 --> 03:09.630 engineers were rebuilding this airfield . 03:11.679 --> 03:13.830 Not many people come here to visit . 03:14.479 --> 03:17.059 It's a difficult journey , hard to 03:17.070 --> 03:19.399 reach , but it's still one of the most 03:19.410 --> 03:21.479 important battlegrounds and battle 03:21.490 --> 03:23.949 sites of the US Air Force and the US 03:23.960 --> 03:26.970 military I invite you to spend the next 03:26.979 --> 03:30.389 1015 minutes walking around the bomb 03:30.399 --> 03:32.309 pits and taking the area in 03:34.740 --> 03:36.600 the atomic bomb . Little boy was 03:36.610 --> 03:39.080 brought over by the USS Indianapolis . 03:39.089 --> 03:41.089 It was dropped off , put together . 03:42.110 --> 03:45.000 Once the devices were fully assembled , 03:45.009 --> 03:47.600 they were stored in these two pits . 03:47.809 --> 03:49.869 Basically , they backed the B 29 up 03:49.880 --> 03:52.047 over the hole and then they would lift 03:52.047 --> 03:54.740 it up inside . They didn't want to arm 03:54.750 --> 03:56.917 it until after it was off the ground . 03:57.270 --> 03:59.103 They had a significant amount of 03:59.103 --> 04:01.103 authority on the island . They were 04:01.103 --> 04:02.937 able to redirect work material , 04:02.937 --> 04:05.270 whatever they needed had to be provided . 04:06.970 --> 04:09.137 And then it was loaded up on the Enola 04:09.137 --> 04:11.248 Gay on the fifth or sixth of August , 04:11.248 --> 04:14.740 1945 Colonel Tibbets took off and they 04:14.750 --> 04:18.579 dropped the bomb . This 04:18.589 --> 04:22.519 secret isolated protected site was 04:22.529 --> 04:24.480 the most important part of Tinian 04:24.489 --> 04:28.429 Island . They pretty much shut 04:28.440 --> 04:32.000 down all of Tinian Saipan's operations 04:32.010 --> 04:35.760 1946 and then only what became Anderson 04:35.769 --> 04:38.559 Air Force Base was opened after 1949 . 04:40.440 --> 04:42.607 So obviously when the end of World War 04:42.607 --> 04:44.440 Two , they pulled everything out 04:44.440 --> 04:46.662 because obviously our focus was started 04:46.662 --> 04:48.940 to change . We've come back here to 10 . 04:48.940 --> 04:50.940 So we rehabilitated back to what it 04:50.940 --> 04:53.619 originally was . We're not coming in 04:53.630 --> 04:55.890 and building up , we're actually 04:55.899 --> 04:59.000 tearing down and building back up . So 04:59.049 --> 05:01.216 it's not considered new construction . 05:01.216 --> 05:02.882 It's considered restoration . 05:08.000 --> 05:11.579 It took 100,000 CBS back in 1945 05:11.809 --> 05:14.500 to build all four runways , taxiways 05:14.510 --> 05:16.700 and the ramps . Our team is trying to 05:16.709 --> 05:19.440 uncover all four of those taxiways , 05:19.450 --> 05:21.140 the ramps and the runways . 05:28.410 --> 05:31.190 I look forward to having red horse 05:31.200 --> 05:34.880 engineers and R CBS working jointly on 05:34.890 --> 05:37.001 that airfield to bring it back to the 05:37.001 --> 05:39.429 capability that it had back in the 19 05:39.440 --> 05:40.350 forties . 05:44.040 --> 05:45.984 Right now . I'm rocking about a 23 05:45.984 --> 05:49.320 personnel team . This is a huge scale . 05:49.329 --> 05:51.496 I mean , we're talking , it's like 500 05:51.496 --> 05:53.662 acres . This area is and they have the 05:53.662 --> 05:55.773 opportunity to come in . They run all 05:55.773 --> 05:58.107 the heavy equipment , you can't beat it . 05:58.107 --> 06:00.273 This is every dirt boy's dream , first 06:00.273 --> 06:02.440 engineering wide red horse unit in the 06:02.440 --> 06:04.440 Indo Pacific since world war 2 , 80 06:04.440 --> 06:04.799 years 06:08.859 --> 06:11.200 because it's a national historic 06:11.209 --> 06:14.029 landmark . We work very , very closely 06:14.040 --> 06:16.262 with our partners in the joint region , 06:16.262 --> 06:18.260 Mariano and the CMI historic 06:18.269 --> 06:21.079 preservation office . Our undertaking 06:21.089 --> 06:23.010 is consistent with their 06:23.019 --> 06:24.908 responsibilities to maintain this 06:24.908 --> 06:28.619 landmark . If we were starting 06:28.630 --> 06:30.852 from scratch , you're just able to just 06:30.852 --> 06:32.797 tear through the ground . But here 06:32.899 --> 06:35.010 we're trying to preserve the existing 06:35.010 --> 06:36.621 pavement as we're clearing . 06:39.529 --> 06:41.696 Seeing that we can rehabilitate this , 06:41.696 --> 06:43.918 start landing multiple aircraft on here 06:43.918 --> 06:45.918 and to do future joint exercises is 06:45.918 --> 06:48.085 pivotal to the future of this region . 06:48.269 --> 06:52.000 Our goal is to be in peace and to be 06:52.010 --> 06:53.760 able to successfully execute 06:53.769 --> 06:55.936 construction . While in this peacetime 06:55.936 --> 06:58.119 environment , it puts everything back 06:58.130 --> 07:01.040 into the realm of can do . The 07:01.049 --> 07:03.760 rehabilitation of Tia Northfield is 07:03.769 --> 07:06.880 hard to do and we're going to get it 07:06.890 --> 07:09.920 done . We are on the right track with 07:09.929 --> 07:11.762 bringing all of this engineering 07:11.762 --> 07:13.600 capability into the theater that 07:13.609 --> 07:16.250 demonstrates joint solutions in joint 07:16.260 --> 07:18.880 environments . What a better place to 07:18.890 --> 07:21.057 be able to do something like this than 07:21.057 --> 07:21.170 on city in Northville .