Originally Posted by
ZeBedie
Was it a waste of resources during WW2 to build all runways 50 yards wide, when half of that would have been plenty for most purposes?
It wasn't just the paved runway width which mattered, each paved runway, even subsidiary ones, also had to have an unobstructed 'cleared and graded strip' usually covered in grass out to 300ft (100 yds) each side of the runway centreline in case an aircraft ran off the edge of the runway and the joint between the paved and unpaved surface had to be 'de-lethalised' in order to avoid damage to undercarriages.