Road runway
The first road runways were constructed towards the end of World War II in Nazi Germany, where the well-developed Reichsautobahn system allowed their military aircraft to use their motorways.
[1][2] Countries which have built road runways include both West and East Germany, Singapore, North Korea, Taiwan, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria, Switzerland (military significance),[3] Poland, India, Pakistan, and Czechoslovakia.
[6] A number of countries around the world utilise the strategy of highways constructed to double as auxiliary runways for nearby airbases in the event of war.
While not designed for military use, in outback Australia, some sections of highway are maintained as emergency runways for use by the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).
The tactic was successful, with Soviet air raids on bases causing little damage, and the vastly outnumbered Finnish aircraft scoring a high number of aerial victories.
In the Baana 16 exercise in 2016, the Finnish Air Force flew F/A-18C and BAE Hawk, Pilatus PC-12, and C295M aircraft from a highway in Lusi.
The Finnish Air Force uses arresting cables to quickly stop F/A-18s, which were originally designed to operate from aircraft carriers.
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has used the M2 motorway as a road runway on two occasions: for the first time in 2000 when it landed an F-7P fighter, a Super Mushak trainer, and a C-130 transport, and again, in 2010.
On the last occasion, the PAF used a road runway section on the M2 motorway on 2 April 2010, to land, refuel, and take-off two jet fighters; a Mirage III and an F-7P, during its Highmark 2010 exercise.
[29] A large number of road runways (DOL - Polish: Drogowy Odcinek Lotniskowy, lit 'road airfield section') were built during the Cold War in Poland.
Signs, street lights and other fixtures were removed, and landing equipment installed temporarily, which included mobile arresting gear for the first time.
[36][37] Sweden started establishing road runways (Swedish: reservvägbaser) as alternative bases with the introduction of the Bas 60 system in the late 1950s.
Improvements in the Bas 90 system included construction of short backup runways in the direct vicinity of the airbases and further dispersion of ground operations.
Following several proposals made by the Joint Thai-US Military Research and Development Center, three road runways were constructed in 1963, and were put out of service in 1975-76.
[49] During the Cold War, the Royal Air Force (RAF) launched Jaguar aircraft from a newly-completed section of the M55 motorway between Preston and Blackpool.
A persistent myth claims that it is a legal requirement that "one mile in every five must be straight for use as an airstrip in times of war or other emergencies".
[54] The aircraft landed on state highway M-32 as part of Northern Strike 21, a large-scale training exercise, in Alpena, Michigan.
