North Field was the largest bomber base in the world at the time of its construction, built by US forces in 1944 after they captured Tinian from Japan. Four parallel runways stretched nearly two and a half kilometres each — a feat of military engineering achieved in a matter of months. From these runways the Enola Gay and Bockscar flew the two atomic bomb missions that ended the Second World War in the Pacific.
The airfield is long since abandoned and largely reclaimed by jungle and scrub, but the scale of the runways is still striking. Walking the cracked, overgrown tarmac — knowing what departed from here — is a genuinely affecting experience.