Us Official Photographs

Pierced steel plank runway in Italy

ITALY - Although pierced steel plank forms an all-weather surface, the earth base under it is subject to the vagaries of Nature. Here an entire section of assembled plank runway is rolled back so that the base can be regraded. The planks will outlast even this regraded sub-surface. Versatile Aviation Engineers invaded the Navy's province when they constructed several "baby flat-tops", converting LSTs by the addition of a flight deck of the steel planks.