March 2023
Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command
The hangar of the USS Long Island with the Wildcats and Seagulls on June 17, 1942. All aircraft are from VGS-1.
A month later, this ship was carrying VMF-223 towards Guadalcanal.
The Henderson Field area as it looked shortly after the Marines captured it.
Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command
Invasion on a Shoestring
Once the Allied fleet had retreated from
the Guadalcanal area following the defeat
at Savo Island, the primary objective for
the abandoned Marines was getting the
captured Japanese airfield on the Lunga
plain operational as quickly as possible.
Without air support, they were completely
at the mercy of Japanese aerial and naval
attacks, and highly vulnerable to ground
assault.
Almost as soon as the runway had fallen
into the hands of the 3rd Battalion, 5th
Marines on August 8, the division air and
engineering officers sized things up. They
reported they could put down 2,600 feet
of usable runway by August 10, and that
another 1,200-by-160-foot section could
be completed in the week after that.
Rear Admiral Turner promised on August
8 that aircraft would arrive on August 11.
Unfortunately, when the fleet was forced
to retire following Savo Island, they left
with nearly all the 1st Engineer Battalion’s
equipment that had yet to be unloaded.
Construction of the airfield commenced
August 9 when the 1st Engineer and 1st
Pioneer battalions managed to gather
sufficient gear to get started. A miserable
15 percent of their equipment and supplies
had been landed, with none of the heavy
equipment making it ashore. Thus, they
were forced to manhandle 100,000 cubic
feet of earth fill to cover the depression
in the center of the field that had been
left by the Japanese, who had begun their
construction at both ends and built toward
the center.
The engineers used a huge steel girder
as a drag, while a captured Japanese
road roller was used to pack the fill.
Japanese gear contributed heavily to the
small store of engineering equipment
available to the Americans, though in
general, the captured equipment was
in poor condition; ingenious American
mechanics kept it working hour after
brutal hour in their race against time. The
only earth-moving equipment was one
angle-dozer the pioneers had managed
to land. Dump trucks were nonexistent.
The engineers performed incredible
feats of improvisation as they overcame
monumental difficulties.
On August 18, eight Betty bombers arrived
over Henderson in the largest air strike
since August 9 as the 25th Air Flotilla
began the aerial assault leading up to
the first Japanese effort to land troops
and retake the island. Forced to remain
above 25,000 feet by antiaircraft fire,
the bombers did little harm. But it was
clear to all that the enemy was resuming
Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command
HISTORY
Marines building a defensive line on the perimeter around Henderson Field.
INFO Eduard
11