Perforated Steel Planking / Marston Mat

Close-up of a soldier hammering in clips to secure two steel plates to create a temporary runway for airplanes. First Army Maneuvers, October-November 1941. This new PSP or perforated steel planking was new to the U.S. Army during the Carolina Maneuvers.  It allowed the United States Army to quickly create landing fields on any flat ground. Marston Mat, also misspelled as Marsden matting, but 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. The nickname came from Marston, North Carolina, adjacent to Camp Mackall airfield where the material was first used.

Soldiers laying steel mat plates to create a temporary runway for airplanes. First Army Maneuvers, October-November 1941. 

 

Soldiers laying steel mat plates to create a temporary runway for airplanes. First Army Maneuvers, October-November 1941. 

 

Soldiers laying steel mat plates to create a temporary runway for airplanes. First Army Maneuvers, October-November 1941. 

 

B-18 Bolo on the temporary landing field constructed of steel mat plates (PSP). First Army Maneuvers, October-November 1941. 

 

Aircrews of No. 16 Squadron SAAF and No. 227 Squadron RAF sitting on PSP in a dispersal at Biferno, Italy, prior to taking off to attack a German headquarters building in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. A Bristol Beaufighter Mark X, armed with rocket projectiles stands behind them. Imperial War Museum photo C 5894.

 

Marston mat laid by CB 45 on the Navy's auxiliary field on Tanaga Island in the Aleutians.

 

Spitfires of No. 66 Squadron, 132nd Wing, on PSP at Schijndel Airport, North Brabant, Schijndel, Netherlands, 14 February 1945.

 

P-47D-27-RE Thunderbolt (42-27376) of the 404th Fighter Squadron, 371st Fighter Group, 9th Air Force, on PSP at Tantonville Airfield (Y-1), France, 12 January 1945. USAAF photo.

 

Guadalcanal Campaign, August 1942-February 1943. This suspension bridge was erected in a day and a half by Seabees of the 6th Naval Construction Battalion on Guadalcanal. The bridge deck was Marsten pierced plank, handrails were of native bamboo, and the towers were taken from a portable military engineer field bridge. Photograph received March 2, 1944. Official U.S. Navy photograph 80-G-44225, now in the collections of the National Archives.

 

Dutch workmen dig drainage channels at B88/Heesch, Holland, while Supermarine Spitfire Mark IXs, MJ275 'VZ-J' and MJ452 'VZ-L', of No. 412 Squadron RCAF, loaded with 250-lb bombs, rest on pierced steel planking (PSP) in their dispersal. In the distance are parked other Spitfires of No. 401 Squadron RCAF. 

 

Pierced steel plating stacked at Tontouta Air Base, New Caledonia, 1 January 1942.

 

Seabees lay down pierced steel plating at Tontouta Air Base, New Caledonia, 1 January 1942.

 

U.S. Navy "SeaBees" laying matting for a hangar parking area for Patrol Squadron VP-42 on Amchitka Island, Alaska, in January 1944. U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo 2005.024.003.018.

 

Milne Bay, Papua. 1942-09. Squadron Leader K.W. Truscott, Commanding Officer of 76 Squadron RAAF, returns from an operational flight and taxis his P-40 up the Marston Mat metal runway to the dispersal bays set in among the coconut palms. Australian War Memorial photo 026647.

 

IX Engineering Command putting down a Pierced Steel Planking (PSP) Runway at an Advanced Landing Ground under construction in the Mediterranean in 1945. USAAF photo.

 

Merauke, New Guinea. 1943. The aircraft landing strip used by the 76th Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Battery. The landing strip is covered with pierced steel planking (also called Marston steel matting). Most Allied wartime landing strips were similar to this one. 1943.

 

Ingenuity of the American Airman

Total field mod. When your job is servicing the P-51s stationed on Iwo Jima, a motor scooter built from fuselage panels and cowling comes in handy. Notice the logo of North American Aviation on the scooter’s side.

 

On wash day at North Field on Guam, Marianas Islands. A homemade washing machine is driven by a rotating propeller.

While at war, there was understandably a shortage of chairs at camp. Luckily, some soldiers use the cockpit seats of inactive planes to keep themselves comfortable during their down time. It may not be a nice $400 leather office chair, but it certainly had the perks of a place to comfortably lounge.

Looking for a trim on a South Pacific island? Look for the Warhawk Barber Shop with its barber pole made of a bomb shell.

All air forces dropped their fuel tanks when empty, not just the Allies. This German tank was turned into a set of shelves by members of the 90th Photographic Reconnaissance Wing in Italy.

This bomber crew in Italy built a house from wooden crates salvaged from deliveries of drop tanks and unassembled aircraft.

Given a little downtime on Palau, a bomber crew of the 7th Air Force turned fuel tanks into racing sailboats.

United States Army Air Forces Lockheed P-38L Lightning aircraft (serial 44-25734 ) and a ground crew member of the 94th Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter Group, poses in his self-styled auto made from salvaged Lockheed P-38 Lightning parts including a fuel tank with wheels added and a Plexiglas windshield. This P-38 while assigned to 1st Fighter Group, 71st Fighter Squadron was shot down by AAA near Munich on April 15, 1945.

Sergeant Ray Petit of the 15th Air Force in Italy built a chair using the wood crate from a belly tank. His chair is equipped with a reading light, ashtray, magazine rack, and a radio that turns off on a timer once he dozes off.