schoolchildren on the island, who were obliged to leave at age 18. Although considered a United States Air Force (USAF) base, the US military garrison consisted of just one man, the base commander, Lieutenant Colonel William D. Bryden. Wideawake Airfield was built on the island by the US during the Second World War. The runway was extended to in 1966 by the USAF to meet the demands of the Eastern Test Range, and the airfield operated on behalf of the US government by Pan Am. Although it had an excellent runway, there was only a small hardstand area for parking aircraft, and no parallel taxiways. In the year prior to April 1982, it handled an average of 24.4 aircraft arrivals per month. Ascension had an anchorage, but no port facilities—just a lone jetty. The island was resupplied on a regular basis by a charter flight, which brought fresh produce, and a freighter, . When the Falklands War broke out, St Helena was due and the charter flight had just departed. The island was therefore fortuitously well-stocked. There were two shops on the island, run by NAAFI under contract. As such they looked like NAAFI stores, but charged much higher prices. At first these were open to service personnel, but as stocks quickly became low they were placed off limits to them. The Expeditionary Forces Institute (EFI) then established a third shop, exclusively for service personnel. After some delay, space was made available for a weekly supply run for the civilians. Their morale plummeted when it was announced that the Ministry of Defence had chartered St Helena, their only means of shipping baggage, receiving sea mail, and returning to St Helena, which had no airport. MV Stena Inspector and had to be diverted from operational tasks to perform these duties. A dozen RAF Lockheed C-130 Hercules transports flew to Ascension via Gibraltar and Dakar on 3 April, bringing stores and RAF and Royal Navy personnel to establish a base on Ascension. Royal Navy Captain Robert McQueen was appointed to command the British Forces Support Unit (BFSU) on Ascension, and arrived on 8 April. The BFSU ballooned to over 800 personnel in the first three weeks. It began operating Westland Sea King and Wessex helicopters. Aviation fuel storage facilities on Ascension were controlled by the United States. On 13 April, the US agreed that the British forces could use of the stored