Kevin Brooks wrote:

Guy Alcala wrote in message ...
Phineas Pinkham wrote:

It was called Pierced Steel Planking in the Pacific Theatre!

"Gary Watson" wrote in message

I am looking for some info on PSP (perforated Steel Plates - that were/are
used for temporary runways, aprons and parking areas.

And the more modern variety, used in Vietnam and the Falklands and apparently
still used by the USMC, is called AM-2 (aluminum rather than steel).

Without resorting to diggin' out the old 5-34, IIRC there was little
similarity between PSP and the aluminum matting.

snip

Quite agree, the only similarity is what it was used for. BTW, you can go to the TRADOC Digital library website,

http://www.adtdl.army.mil/atdls.htm

click on "Documents" and then "Field Manuals", and download or look at just about any current FM you wish, including the one
(I think it's FM 5-430-00-2, but it might be in a different one) that tells you all about how to put together various types
of matting. ISTR that the Army uses something a bit different from AM-2 now, but the relevant FM still tells you all about
it.

The aluminum product
uses (it is still around as far as I know) a honeycomb interior with
solid (not perforated) external sheets (and is even more of a bitch to
install, since it is extremely unforgiving of the slightest uneveness
in the underlying base surface). I don't recall anyone actually
building a complete airstrip out of the stuff (though I am sure it has
been done, probably back when it was brand new), but it was one of the
better choices for apron and helipad construction until the advent of
modern geotextiles. My sole first-hand experience with putting it
together was during EOBC, and we only strung a few panels together to
get the gist of the procedure.

Chu Lai's 8,000 foot plank runway built back in 1965 was AM-2, as was the 860 foot or so long Sid's Strip/HMS Sheathbill in
the Falklands. They had to relay the runway several times, as it took them a while to figure out how to stabilize the sandy
(laterite?) soil. They'd pull up 4,000 feet and relay that while operating from the remaining 4,000 feet, then switch when
they'd finished the first half. The Marines apparently still have 3.8 million sq. ft. of the stuff stored at Futenma. The
full EAF packup kit, which includes lighting, fueling, etc.takes about 280 containers, and is normally distributed on three
MPS ships if thought necessary.

Guy