The Snapshots in Time Collection

Aerial View of Airfield Construction, Ie Shima, Pacific Theater

Aerial View of Airfield Construction, Ie Shima, Pacific Theater

This weathered aerial photograph from a 345th Bombardment Group album documents airfield construction on Ie Shima during 1945. Following its capture in the Okinawa campaign, Ie Shima was rapidly developed by Army engineers into a major airbase, its graded runways and access roads visible cutting through the island's coastal terrain, supporting Allied bomber operations in the final months of the Pacific War. Project: 218239