Swan Island's wartime yard occupied land reshaped by earlier improvements to Portland's port. Moving the shipping channel to the island's west side and filling the eastern channel with dredged material connected the island to the bank. The enlarged site covered about 900 acres and became Portland's first airport. By 1935 its runway was considered too short for the latest airliners, prompting the choice of a new airport beside the Columbia River. When another wave of merchant shipyards was planned in 1941, the former airport offered a site for a third Kaiser yard.
Notable Point · 1:37:02-1:39:01
How an airport became Swan Island's shipyard site
Port dredging created the land, and the airport's relocation made it available for emergency shipbuilding.