Airports - March April 2015

FEATURE
SAIPAN
Saipan
Asia’s Corfu
China
Philippines
Marco Finelli travels to the Western Pacific and visits a
paradise with a very violent past – Saipan, one of the
Mariana Islands.
Everyone likes a holiday, but in
most Asian countries’ workers get
much shorter breaks than their
counterparts in Europe or North
America. So they don’t want to waste time
travelling long distances to find somewhere
to relax. Enter Saipan – the largest island of
the US Commonwealth Northern Mariana
Islands (CNMI) – just a relatively short
flight from Seoul or Taipei. It has become
very popular with Japanese, Chinese and
Korean tourists eager to find some ‘sun and
fun’. Increasing numbers of budget airlines
are flying to Saipan’s international airport
(SPN) to satisfy this demand.
History
Saipan is probably best known as the site
of some horrifically fierce battles during
World War Two as the US military pushed
the Japanese Empire back to the west,
across the Pacific. The idyllic beaches now
so popular with holidaymakers were once
the scene of total carnage after US forces
landed on June 15, 1944. The battle for
the islands raged until July 9 and cost the
lives of 3,426 Americans, with more than
Delta Air Lines
employs Boeing
757-200s on its
flights to Tokyo/
Narita. (All photos
author)
10,000 injured. Of the 30,000 Japanese
defenders, only 921 were taken alive, and
a further 20,000 Japanese civilians are
thought to have died.
The island’s capture was a significant one
during the war in the Pacific, as an airfield
was established from which US Army Air
Force Boeing B-29 Superfortresses could
launch bombing raids against the Japanese
mainland. Remnants of the battle can
still be seen – from shelters and bunkers
to abandoned tanks at the water’s edge.
In 1933, the Imperial Japanese Navy
established a landing strip at the southern
tip of the island for training purposes. In
1937 the navy began expanding As Lito
Field for full military operations, despite an
international law prohibiting the construction
of military facilities in the Western Pacific.
After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii
on December 7, 1941, bringing the US into
World War Two, two squadrons of Mitsubishi
A6M Zeros were based on the island.
However, they were decimated during the
American invasion in 1944 in what became
known as the ‘Great Marianas Turkey Shoot’
when the overwhelming strength of the US
Australia
Navy carrier force practically wiped out its
Japanese opponent in a matter of days.
An estimated 645 Japanese aircraft were
destroyed and three of its fleet carriers
sunk; a decisive blow from which it never
recovered.
The Americans took control of the airfield
on June 18, 1944 and promptly renamed it
Isley Field. Once the islands were secure
new facilities were built quickly and a
further three airfields constructed to house
the B-29 bombers. Once hostilities ended
the following year, the name reverted to As
Lito Field, the bombers left for home and
the site returned to civilian use, although a
military presence remained into the 1990s.
The islands were administered by the US
as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific
Islands until 1978, when they became a
municipality of the CNMI.
In 1971, the then Mariana Islands District
of the Trust Territory decided to develop
the island as a tourist destination after the
district became eligible to apply for a grant
for airport development under
the National Airport Airways
Development Program.
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