Pacific airfield that set stage for atomic bombing of Japan set for revival

Australia Broadcast Center

22-04-2025

Those who have heard of Tinian, a tiny island in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, know it for pristine waters, hot peppers and archaeological relics.
Not many know about the dark role the island played during World War II.
Locals like Juanita Mendiola however, haven't forgotten.
During the war, Tinian was a strategic location used to launch bombing raids on Japan.
The two US planes, nicknamed Enola Gay and Bockscar, that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, took off from a runway on this island.
"Since the late '60s, students from Hiroshima and Nagasaki would come to Tinian on the anniversary of those two events,"
Ms Mendiola said.
Now some in Tinian's community are worried history could one day repeat itself, due to a major US military project aimed at bringing the airfield back to life.
They fear rising geopolitical tensions and a bitter tariff war between the US and China could make Tinian a target in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.
'We don't know what is going on'
Ms Mendiola is the interim chief executive of the Tinian Women's Association. She's been closely following the project, which is part of a broader $US800-million ($1.2-billion) strategy by Washington to beef up security in the Pacific.
Juanita Mendiola is the interim chief executive of the Tinian Women's Association.
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The US Air Force says it is rehabilitating the airfield so it can "rapidly deploy and sustain forces in the region". Bulldozers and excavators have been deployed to the site, with work on two of the four runways expected to finish next month.
However, Ms Mendiola said the military had provided little detail about the work being carried out. And she is seeking assurance that areas once exposed to the nuclear bombs won't be a threat to the public if they are disturbed during land-clearing efforts.
''When they talk about rehabilitating the airfield, are they talking about the nuclear part of it where they stored nuclear weapons and took off in Enola Gay?" she said.
"Even with a rehabilitation plan, there needs to be documents outlining how it's planned out, which we haven't seen."
The crew of the B-29 bomber Enola Gay after dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
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AFP: US Air Force
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'Who knows what Tinian has'
Although self-governed, the Northern Marianas is an unincorporated US territory. Much like neighbouring US territory Guam, it was liberated from Japanese occupation in the 1940s and residents have US citizenship.
Leland Bettis is a director at the Guam-based think tank, the Pacific Centre for Island Security. His firm tracks military projects and geopolitical activity in the region.
He said the way hazardous materials had been handled by the military in the past concerned many Pacific Islanders.
"I know nuclear weapons were fairly well contained for the time back then, but there's radiological equipment that got used in aircraft, and we've had instances where that equipment turns up in makeshift dumps in Guam," he said.
"A place like Tinian has been off the map for 80 years, so who knows what Tinian has."
In terms of nuclear hazards on the island, nuclear expert Tillman Ruff, an honorary principal fellow in population and global health at the university of Melbourne, isn't too concerned.
Tillman Ruff, an honorary principal fellow in population and global health at the university of Melbourne.
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James Ross
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He said when the bombs were transported to Tinian in the 40s, they were finished products. And given they were stored underground in specialised bomb pits, any residual contamination from the bombs would have been unlikely.
What is of concern, he said, is the contamination of area due to other chemicals and materials from the time period.
"This was a massive airfield, the biggest in the world when they built it after the Battle of Tinian," he said.
"There would have been an awful lot of industrial work and operations involving fuel, weapons, as well as unexploded ordnance, which has since been grown over and covered by vegetation.
"So there's going to be heaps of residual chemical contamination which would have degraded in the environment."
This isn't a new issue for the Northern Marianas.
Saipan-based lawyer and cultural anthropologist Isa Arriola said in the years since the war, there's been a pattern of environmental regulations being circumvented to complete projects. She fears this project will be no different.
Saipan-based lawyer and cultural anthropologist Isa Arriola.
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"Sometimes there's very little oversight of what the military does because the community is not involved. It tends to take place at the agency level," she said.
"So if they aren't on top of it, the community is left to pick up the pieces."
'We are worried we are becoming a big target'
In terms of the project's broader significance, Ms Arriola said the community also has questions over what role the airfield will serve once completed.
"Language we are using is really important, because the work that's being done in Tinian by the military is being framed as infrastructure improvements," she said.
"But what we are seeing is an intense re-militarisation of the same runway from World War II, and it's not entirely clear what the threat is,"
she said.
Military documents obtained by Mr Bettis said the purpose of the Tinian airfield would be to support cargo planes, tankers, military exercises and humanitarian relief.
However Mr Bettis believes it's also a strategic chess piece in case Guam was incapacitated during a conflict.
Photo shows
Men in Chinese military uniforms march
Taiwan is a potential flashpoint for a war between China and the United States.
"It's really about creating this notion that says if you want to take us on, you'll have multiple airfields to contend with," he said.
Nicknamed "the tip of the spear" of the American armed forces, Guam is a hub for military operations in the Pacific and is home to a major Air Force base.
A report commissioned by the US Air Force last year outlined Guam as a potential target if a US-China conflict over Taiwan were to escalate.
This too is a concern for Tinian locals, who fear their home could also be in the crosshairs if geopolitical tensions were to spill over.
"We used to be just a tiny spec in the ocean," Ms Mendiola said.
"Now with the activities across Micronesia and tariff wars, we are worried we are becoming a big target."
The US military is yet to respond to questions from the ABC on the matters raised.