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History
PSP was used to rapidly build airfields for American combat aircraft in the various theaters of operation in World War II.
60,000 of these stamped steel, ten foot long, fifteen inch wide, 66.2 pound planks, locked together, made a durable all-weather runway that was 5,000 feet long by 150 feet wide. Such a landing strip routinely handled aircraft weighing up to 60,000 pounds (28t).
PSP is standardized, perforated steel matting material originally developed by the United States shortly before World War II, primarily for the rapid construction of temporary runways and landing strips. First Use in November 1941. The material was also used in the Korean and Vietnam Wars where its common name is pierced (or perforated) steel planking or PSP.
A runway two hundred feet wide and 5000 feet (1500 m) long could be created within two days by a small team of engineers.
Description
PSP matting consistd of steel strips with holes punched through it in rows and U-shaped channels formed between the holes. Hooks were formed along one long edge and slots along the other long edge so that they could be connected to each other. The short edges are straight cut with no holes or hooks. To achieve lengthwise interlocking, the mats were laid in a staggered pattern.
The hooks were usually held in the slots by a steel clip that filled the part of the slot that is empty when the adjacent sheets are properly engaged together. The holes were bent down at their edges so that the beveled edge stiffened the area around the hole.
The typical PSP mat's weight is about 66 pounds, it is 10 feet (~3.0 m) long by 15 inches (380 mm) wide. The hole pattern for the sheet was 3 holes wide by 29 holes long resulting in 87 holes per mat.
On Pacific islands the matting would typically have been covered with crushed and rolled coral or soil to form a level surface. The perforated and channeled design of the matting created strength and rigidity and facilitated drainage.
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