The Airlines Join The Army Air Corp
One of My Favorite Flights
As the United States
drew closer to being drawn into the war in Europe operation plans were under
way. A need to have an Air Corp capable
of moving personnel and cargo long distances rapidly was apparent. There was a plan under foot for the
government to take over the civil airlines to meet this end in the short
run. The airlines where adamantly
against any such action and came up with their own plan. They would provide the government with up to
fifty percent of their aircraft, personnel and equipment to include those
aircraft currently under construction on contract, while the Air Corp rapidly
increased its size and trained the crews.
Early
in January 1942, Colonel Olds called Sam Solomon, President of Northeast
Airline, asking if Northeast was
capable to conduct a feasability study flight for flying a great circle route
to Great Britain. The flight would
basically inspect existing facilities over the route to determine the
practicality of such a route. To also
come up with a list of equipment, facilities and personnel required.
Solomon
assured the Colonel that Northeast could do the job. The Colonel asked when Northeast could leave. “Tomorrow” replied Solomon. Actually it was several days before they
could leave. First, Northeast didn’t
have a plane immediately available for such a mission. Second, a crew had to be assembled and the
cargo delivered to Northeast. The Air
Corp provided a plane, a C-39, which was a hybrid DC-2 with a DC-3 tail.
Solomon
selected Capt. Milt Anderson, Northeast’s Chief Pilot . To head up the
flight. After Anderson selected his
crew, Solomon insisted that he go along, promising to do any job Anderson
assigned him. Anderson made him the
Steward, and he was kept busy providing sandwiches and coffee to the crew. The flight would take just short of a week
as they would have to evaluate the situation at each stop. The route as Anderson drew it up was: Boston,
Presque Isle, Moncton, Goose Bay, Gander, Narsarsuak - Greenland, Reykjavik -
Iceland, Prestwik - Scotland.
KBOS - KPQI , the first leg of the flight, 296 miles, departed
Boston at 0800 hors (1200 GMT) on January 23, 1942. The fully loaded plane departed on ryw 4 and after climb out
picked up 031 deg radial of ENE VOR 117.1.
Reaching ENE pick up radial 059 of BGR VOR 114.8. At BGR proceed to MLT VOR 117.9 radial
037. Out of MLT turn to 037 degrees to
PQI. Land on rwy 1. The elevation at PQI is 534'.
Note:
We will be using the available VOR’s and NDB’s as the beacons in use then are
non-existent now. Also along the way
you might question the route taken.
Remember the flight was taken in January 1942, few airports were in
existence at that time. Just think,
Florida, none of the airports south of Tampa, Tampa included, were in existence then, most of the
airports were a result of the Air Corp needs in 1942.
We
arrive at Presque Isle at 0853 (1353 GMT), please operate on GMT for this
flight. You will notice that actual is
5 hours behind GMT, when we get to our destination, we will be 1 hour ahead.
KPQI - CYQM, 172 miles.
Depart Presque Isle on rwy 1 at 1000 hours (1400 GMT) January 24, 1942
on a heading of 187 to HUL VOR 117.5, then 117 to YFC VOR 113.0. At YFC pick up a heading of 099 to Moncton.
Airport data for Moncton:
Rwy 11/29, RWY 6/25. Elevation 232'.
Note: I have run through my
mind as to whether or not to include any ILS’s. Since you have no trouble finding them and might decide to use
them, I will include them here.
Rwy 6 and 29 have an
ILS. Rwy 6 109.7 heading 063; Rwy 29
117.3 heading 289. Moncton VOR is N/E
of the field - YQM 117.3. Just
remember they didn’t have ILS then.
We arrive at Moncton at 1113
hours (1513 GMT).
CYQM - CYYR, 462 miles.
Depart Moncton on Rwy 6 at 1330 (1730 GMT) January 24, 1942, on a
heading of 040 to YYR VOR 117.3. This
is a long flight mostly over water.
Goose
Bay, Labrador was a small field with one runway carved out of a dense forest
with a radio beacon. There will be more
than one rwy when we get there. The
Royal Canadian Air Force operates the field.
Capt
Anderson was soon to learn that the most important items needed for these
flights would be improved navigational aids and reliable weather reporting
equipment and personnel.
Airport data for Goose Bay:
Rwy 8 11046' 110.3 heading 083 Elevation
160'
Rwy 26 11046'
Rwy 16 9580
Rwy 34 9580
VOR 117.3 NDB
257
At
the time they only had one rwy, not sure of the length, probably near 5000',
and most likely it was 8/26. A good
friend of mine, a former Northeast Capt
who lives nearby, remembers it as a sort of hard earth surface. He also remembered the mountains coming up
on you rather suddenly.
We arrive at Goose Bay at
1625 (2025 GMT). It gets dark up here
in a hurry. Just imagine them in those
days, without the basic navaids as we would know them now. Also I would like to mention that we a owe
a lot to those gallant gals who flew just about everything over these same
routes. They have, in my mind, never
gotten the rewards, recognition or gratitude of their fellow Americans. God Bless You gals!
CYYR - CYQX, 344 miles. We
depart Goose Bay at 0800 (1200 GMT) January 25, 1942 on a heading of 165
degrees to Gander, Newfoundland. Gander
VOR 112.7.
When
I saw this routing I queried my friend Cal, as to why they flew Moncton to
Goose to Gander. Why Goose Bay? He reminded me that this was an exploratory
mission to check all the locations and facilities. Some flights later went via Goose and some by way of Gander.
Airport data for Gander:
RWY 4 10500' 109.5 heading 036 Elevation
496'
RWY 22 10500
RWY 13 8900 109.9 heading 133
RWY 31 8900
VOR 112.7 NDB
280
Arrived at Gander at 1013
(1413 GMT)
CYQX - BGBW, 797 miles.
Depart at 0800 (1200 GMT) January 26,1942 turn to a heading of 044
degrees for NARSARSUAQ, Greenland. This
will be the longest leg so far and just about all over water.
These
survey flights by Northeast Airline would prove to be lifesavers for those
thousands of pilots who would follow over these routes.
I
haven’t flown any of this flight before so am feeling my way as are you. From my readings this leg is the toughest one of the flight. I have read much on the approach to
Narsarsurq . Such as “ You MUST head
for the NDB at Simiutrq 279, and then, and only then, pick up the VOR NQ 111.85
for the field.”
I
quote a passage from one book I read:
“Every arriving aircraft would head for a
radio station erected on a barren island located at the entrance to
Tunugliarfik Fjord, the only fjord that led to the airport. The fjord itself
was narrow, lined with perpendicular cliffs, and filled with a number of blind
alleys that looked innocent but in reality invited disaster. If a pilot took any one of these false
passageways, he’d suddenly find himself heading straight for some glacier with
no time to climb out of danger and no room to turn around.
So
finding that crucial fjord –Tunugliarfik–was imperative.”
I
don’t know how accurate FS2K has the scenery.
The weather was almost always just plain lousy. Capt Anderson approached in a blinding snow
storm with less than a mile visibility, surface winds were of sixty miles per
hour and shifted 180 degrees as he was trying to locate the fjord that led to
the filed.
Narsarsurq airport data:
RWY 7 Elevation
112'
RWY 25
VOR DME 111.85 NDB
359
Looks
to me as if FS2K is 100% accurate.
First lets get down to 2100', locate NDB SI 279. At the NDB pick up 78 degrees roughly to NDB
NS 404. From here on fly visual, stay
in the middle of the fjord. You will
see a large opening to the left, turn to the left, and watch out for the
walls. The runway should appear off to
the right . Line up with the
runway. Did you make it? Some challenge eh what?
Arrive at Narsarurq at 1354
(1654 GMT).
BGOW - BIRK, 667 miles.
Depart for Reykjavik at 0800 (1100 GMT) January 27,1942, climb straight
out to an altitude of 2,000' before
turning to course of 097 degrees.
Continue climbing to 10,000' to clear the mountains. When finally clear of the mountains and
water is visible ahead, descend to 5,000'.
Reykjavik airport data: Elevation 445'
RWY 2
RWY 20 109.7 heading 197
RWY 7
RWY 25
RWY 14 109.1 heading 135
RWY 32
NDB NS 370
Arrived at Reyjkavik at 1507 (1507
GMT)
BIRK - EGPK, 730 miles.
Depart for Prestwik, Scotland at 0800 (0800 GMT) January 28, 1942, after
at altitude turn to 149 degrees. This
again is a very long flight over water.
Prestwik, Scotland airport data: Elevation 66'
RWY 13 110.3 heading 130
RWY 31 110.3 heading 310
RWY 3
RWY 21
NDB MH 426
Arrived at Prestwik at 1329
(1229 GMT)
Northeast’s
crews never knew from day to day what assignment they might draw. Very early in the war (as far as the US was
concerned), when a major enemy raid on Iceland was rumored, they had to muster
all available aircraft and transport combat troops between Reykavik and
Melgardi.
Perhaps
Northeast’s most significant wartime contributions however, were those first
pathfinding flights that established the principal North Atlantic airways from
Presque Isle to England. Not long after
the survey flights were completed, the ATC rushed fifty airplanes from six
contract carriers to Presque Isle where they were joined by sixty planes from
Troop Carrier Command, for a total of 110 C-47's.
Trip
Summary
KBOS - KPQI 298
miles 1:58 hrs
KPQI- CYQM 172 1:13
CYQM - CYYR 633 3:05
CYYR - CYQX 343 2:13
CYQX - BGBW 797 4:54
BGBW - BIRK 667 4:07
BIRK – EGPK 730 4:29
________________________________________
3640 miles 21:59
hours