Marston Mat
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Marston Mat, more properly called pierced (or perforated) steel planking (PSP), is standardized, perforated steel matting material developed by the United States at the Waterways Experiment Station shortly before World War II, primarily for the rapid construction of temporary runways and landing strips (also misspelled as Marsden matting). The nickname came from Marston, North Carolina, adjacent to Camp Mackall airfield where the material was first used.
RAF aircrew with one of their Bristol Beaufighters on a PSP airstrip at Biferno, Italy, August 1944
332nd Fighter Group pilots discuss combat flying. Walking on Marston matting.
Marston mat laid by CB 45 on the Navy's auxiliary field on Tanaga Island in the Aleutians.
A Curtiss P-40 Warhawk taxiing along Marston Mat at Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea in September 1942
Narsarsuaq Air Base
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Bluie West One, later known as Narsarsuaq Air Base and Narsarsuaq Airport, was built on a glacial moraine at what is now the village of Narsarsuaq, near the southern tip of Greenland. Construction by the United States Army began in June 1941. The first aircraft landed there in January 1942, as a link in the North Atlantic air ferry route in World War II. The base had a peak population of about 4,000 American servicemen, and it is estimated that some 10,000 aircraft landed there en route to the war in Europe and North Africa.
Narsarssuak Air Base in 1956