This aerial reconnaissance photograph, preserved in a wartime scrapbook, shows bomb craters pockmarking an airfield or roadway in the Southwest Pacific, several already patched with rubble and empty fuel drums by Japanese repair crews. Photographs like this were used by Allied airmen, including those of the 312th Bombardment Group, to assess the effectiveness of strikes against enemy airfields and to track how quickly damaged runways were being restored to operation - a constant contest between American bombing campaigns and Japanese efforts to keep their air bases functional. Project: 218559