The island has a strong historical legacy remaining from the Pacific war of the 1940s.
Tinian was a Protectorate of Japan following World War I having been both a Spanish and then a German possession prior to coming under Japanese administration in 1914. Tinian was largely a sugar plantation area in the pre Pacific war period. Large-scale military construction began on Tinian in 1939, during the Japanese military build up in the Pacific,. 1,200 prisoners of war were sent to the island from Japan for the construction of airfields as part of the defense of the Mariana Islands. By 1944, the island had three military airfields with a fourth under construction. What would latter become North Field under US control was originally a Japanese fighter airstrip of 4,380 ft (1,335 m) in length, it was originally built as Ushi Point Airfield.
The island was captured from the Japanese in July 1944 in the Battle of Tinian. Following a 13-day naval bombardment of Tinian leading up to the invasion at Unai Chulu, U.S. forces utilized napalm bombs against the Japanese. It was the first time napalm bombs were used during warfare. The US Marine landing force overcame the numerically superior Japanese force on 1 August 1944 in what is considered to be the best-executed amphibious landing operation of the war. US Marine casualties were 328 dead with 1,571 wounded. The Japanese lost 8,010 dead. Only 313 Japanese were taken prisoner, many Japanese service personnel and civilians were reported to have committed suicide rather than face capture. Several hundred Japanese troops held out in the jungles for months following the capture of the island. Following the conquest of the island Tinian subsequently became an important operational base for the rest of the Pacific war.
The exact figure is unknown however it is understood that approximately 5,000 Korean civilian laborers died in the Marianas during the Pacific war. There is a small cluster of monuments on the island placed there in their memory.
B-29s of the 462d Bomb Group West Field Tinian Mariana Islands 1945
In December 1944, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff made the decision that the newly-captured islands in the Marianas in the central Pacific should have airfields built on them to support long range strategic bombing operations against the Japanese. Once under American control, a massive construction project was begun on the island in mid-August 1944. The previous Japanese airfield sited there was repaired and considerably expanded, being named as West Field, or Gurguan Point Airfield due to its geographical location. West Field became operationally ready in the early spring of 1945, and the Twentieth Air Force XXI Bomber Command 58th Bombardment Wing was assigned there and initiated strategic bombardment operations directly against the Japanese Home Islands. After the Japanese surrender, groups of the 58th Bomb Wing dropped food and supplies to Allied prisoners of war in Japan, Korea, and Formosa, and took part in show of force missions. Beginning in September, the vast majority of its fleet of B-29 superfortreses were returned to the United States as part of "Operation Sunset". The 58th Bomb Wing returned to the United States on 15 November 1945, and its subordinate units were either inactivated or reassigned to other bases in Okinawa or returned to the United States.
Rebuilding the captured Japanese air strip at the north end of the island was one of the largest engineering projects of WWII. The massive engineering project created the largest airfield in the world at that time. Four vast 2,600 m runways assisted in the launching of 19,000 combat missions against Japan. With the departure of the USAAF, a part of the former wartime airfield has been used as a commercial airport and for general aviation use. The island is still considered an important strategic asset by the US to ensure the ongoing availability of a potential forward basing location in the Pacific. In 1983, a lease agreement covering these lands was signed and the United States DoD assumed control and possession over the northern two-thirds of Tinian. The lease agreement was for 50 years, with a renewal option for an additional 50 years. The United States Navy continues to utilise the Northwest Field area north of the airport for artillery training, and offers tours of the area when not being used for training.
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay" landing at Tinian after returning from the atomic bombing mission on Hiroshima, Japan
The Enola Gay was one of fifteen Silverplate B-29 strategic bomber aircraft assigned to the 393rd Bombardment Squadron of the 509th Composite Group of the XXI Air Force on Tinian Island during the Pacific war. The aircraft arrived at Tinian on 6 July 1945. The Enola Gay took off from West Field at 2:45AM on 6 August 1945 carrying the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare and later released it over Hiroshima, Japan. 12 hours and 13 minutes later, the Enola Gay landed at Tinian Island having completed it's mission. Prior to flying the first atomic combat mission the Enola Gay had flown eight practice missions and two bombing missions over japan from Titian. The second bomb, dropped over Nagasaki was also flown from West Field on Titian. Titian was also the last port of call for the U.S.S. Indianapolis. Having carried the two atomic bomb cores to Titian for assembly into the weapons she departed for the Philippines but was sunk 4 days later. The ship was considered to be the pride of the US navy at that time and great controversy surrounded the sinking.
Over two thirds of the island is still retained by the U.S. military and the island has many historic relics of the Pacific war era.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Tinian
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Tinian - updated May 2024
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Tinian Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
