"Robert Moore" wrote in message
5.247...
Mitchell Holman wrote
Even had a water runway next to the tarmac one.

Do a "google" or "wikipedia" for "tarmac". You'll be surprised.
TARMAC is (was) a trademark for a surfacing product that is
not the Asphalt or Concrete that is used in highway or runway
construction today.

During 35 years of military and airline flying, we never used
the word tarmac.

Bob Moore

Hmmmm...... During my 26 years of pounding the flightline,
all greasy and sweaty (and sometimes freezing) we always called
the ramp and taxiways "tarmac" (even when it was clearly concrete).
I'll have to consult "wiki", evidently. Always assumed it was a
product named for "macadam" (crushed stone?) with a little asphaltic
tar mixed in. With which lots of ramps, taxiways and even runways seemed
to be surfaced.

Old Chief Lynn