Yunnan (China), construction of airfield by hand

Yunnan Province, China 1943 - 1945Here an air field was being completed. 200 harnessed Chinese are pulling a large diameter rock roller over a nearly-completed taxi strip and aircraft stand. The roller compressed various size rocks and stones into a 6-foot deep base. The Chinese had several of these rollers at the base. Airfields were built in this manner in China during World War II. Two supervisors chanted encouragement to the men to keep pulling. One was positioned in front of the group (to the left in the photo) with his occidental hat and the other was positioned on the roller itself. In the foreground Chinese ladies are putting finishing touches to a section of the taxi area by beating small rocks into the openings. These airfields handled all size aircraft, even fully loaded B-29's. The fields were well-engineered, built and maintained. Note in the background a B-24 follows another roller that is being pulled just ahead of the aircraft.GrayscaleBox