Ironically, if the islanders had built good runways instead of mockups, they would get more airplane arrivals. :) In Indonesia today, local tribes have a habit

Ironically, if the islanders had built good runways instead of mockups, they would get more airplane arrivals. :) In Indonesia today, local tribes have a habit of making the jungle and hill runways for aid too short, soft and tree-ringed, resulting in perpetual accidents affecting the long-term viability of cargo and passenger flights. (Their huts are often made of wrecked airplane wings and fuselages.) In WW2, the Chinese government charged the US a fortune in gold to build the Chengdu B-29 runway using 70,000 laborers with hand tools, which had to be about twice as wide and twice as long as any previous runways. The Chinese runways turned out to be too far from Japan, so they were largely abandoned after nearer islands were captured. Period Photo of Chengdu Runway Construction Using Hand Tools https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqaEb7GxZ3A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqaEb7GxZ3A (The infamous Gusdalcanal runway was built years earlier with modern equipment captured by surprise from the Japanese.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress#Forward_base_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress#Forw... Source: commercially-rated airplane pilot, WW2 student.