The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Anchorage (149.875W
61.240N) boasted a rotten port
with a fairly good airfield in
1941. On 7 December 1941, Elmendorf
Field based 28
Composite
Group with 12 B-18As and 18 Fighter Squadron with 20 P-36s.
None of these were modern combat aircraft. There were
at least 43
50,000 gallon (190,000 liter) gasoline tanks in the airfield tank farm.
Fort Richardson (149.69W
61.26N) based 75
Coastal Artillery Regiment
(Antiaircraft), a semimobile
unit.
One of the problems with the port, then as now, is the
30' (9 m) tides in Cook Inlet. These
extreme tides make the berthing of large
vessels difficult
without considerable port development.
Like most of coastal Alaska, Anchorage has a cool climate that evaporates little of its rainfall. The Kuroshio Current (the Pacific equivalent of the Gulf Stream) and the barrier of the Alaska Range protect this portion of coastal Alaska from the Arctic cold to the north.
Climate Information:
Elevation 132’
Temperatures: Jan 19/5, Apr 44/27, Jul 65/49, Oct 43/29, record 92/-36
Rainfall: Jan 7/0.8, Apr 4/0.4, Jul 10/1.6, Oct 12/2.2 == 14.6" per annum
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007 by Kent G. Budge. Index
