North Field (Tinian)

North Field Ushi Point Airfield
Part of Twentieth Air Force
Oblique airphoto of North Field, Tinian, 1945, showing the massive runway system and number of hardstands. On each hardstand, a B-29 was parked and maintained.
Coordinates	15°04′19.36″N 145°38′18.13″E / 15.0720444°N 145.6383694°E / 15.0720444; 145.6383694
Type	Military airfield
Site information
Controlled by	United States Army Air Forces
Site history
Built	1944
In use	1944–1946

North Field was a World War II airfield on Tinian in the Mariana Islands. Abandoned after the war, today North Field is a tourist attraction. Along with several adjacent beaches on which U.S. Marines landed during the Battle of Tinian, the airfield is the major component of the National Historic Landmark District Tinian Landing Beaches, Ushi Point Field, Tinian Island.

North Field was one of several bases for Twentieth Air Force Boeing B-29 Superfortress operations against the Japanese Home Islands in 1944–45. North Field contributed aircraft to the 1945 campaign to burn out Japanese cities with incendiary bombs, including the 9 March 1945 bombing of Tokyo which still stands as the most destructive air raid ever. North Field was the base for the 313th Bombardment Wing which carried out Operation Starvation, the dropping of naval mines in the harbors and sea lanes used by Japan. North Field was also the base for the 509th Composite Group which flew the atomic bombing raids on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The incendiary campaign (which destroyed 40% of the targeted cities),^[1] the aerial mining campaign (which starved Japan of essential food imports) and the two atomic attacks have all been argued as major factors in the surrender of Japan.