During the close of WWII, Patton's army came upon a very unusual find. General Patton described a huge runway that was 200 feet wide, 11,300 feet long, and was made of concrete which was 14 feet thick. The memo stated that the runway was built by the Germans using thousands of slave laborers, and took several years to complete. It was his opinion that the construction materials and labor force "surpassed that of the great pyramids". The runway incorporated an upward turned "ski slope" built into the runway to allow larger aircraft with heavy cargo loads to take off more easily. The "ski slope" feature was later incorporated into the designs of British and Russian aircraft carriers.
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