BAZflyer: Bluie-1

The air route that crosses the North Atlantic via Goose Bay, Narsarsuaq and Reykjavik deserves its unique immortalisation in history and legend. Like linking hands, strategic airports constructed and resourced in Greenland and Iceland during World War Two, enabled new aircraft built in the USA to fly across the Atlantic Ocean to Great Britain. Single engine fighter aircraft needed for the war effort lacked the necessary range to make a non stop Atlantic crossing. Furthermore, the airports also provided safe sanctuary for aircraft operating over the North Atlantic on anti-submarine and maritime patrol operations.

Greenland and Iceland were both Danish territories when World War II broke out but that changed almost overnight when Germany invaded Denmark. US Armed Forces established bases in Greenland, notably at Narsarsuaq, while Britain formally invaded Iceland. By the end of the war, thousands of aircraft had been ferried across the Atlantic by staging through Narsarsuaq and Reykjavik. The air route was code named ‘Bluie-1’.

Nowadays these wartime airports serve essentially the same purpose, however it is for small aircraft being flown between Europe and North America, and this week one such small single engine aircraft was Comanche ZK-BAZ.

Weather patterns across the North Atlantic are notoriously fickle. Good weather can rapidly degenerate into appalling conditions. Just like those wartime pilots who flew from Goose Bay to Narsarsuaq and onto Reykjavik, the Bazflyers judicially studied on route weather patterns for some days prior to their own ‘Bluie-1’ departure. Indeed, their originally scheduled departure date was delayed two days while waiting for more favourable flight conditions.

While flying inland from the Greenland coast 120 kms to Narsarsuaq, the two fjords Ernest K Gann graphically wrote about in his legendary book “Fate is the Hunter”, were clearly visible to the Bazflyers. In the book Gann graphically describes flying into Narsarsuaq in poor weather conditions, and how pilots had to be sure they were entering the correct fjord because once in they were trapped, unable to climb out or turn around.

Fortunately weather for the Bazflyers arrival at Narsarsuaq was uncommonly near perfect, just a slightly tricky wind on the landing approach. Needless to say it wasn’t difficult to empathetically feel for those courageous wartime ferry pilots flying into Narsarsuaq in marginal weather conditions, and as Bazflyer2 rightly pointed out, many of them were women.

In the book about his 1969 flight round the world, “Flight of the Kiwi”, Cliff Tait describes flying from Goose Bay to Narsarsuaq and his inability to land there due to low cloud conditions. With insufficient fuel remaining to either return to Goose Bay or continue onto Reykjavik, the only option available to Tait was to find the American airbase at Sondre Stromfjord about 800 kms further north. Situated at the head of a long fjord the former military base is nowadays known as Kangerlussuaq (BGSF).

Flying parallel to the unforgiving and rugged Greenland coast, in cloud and with unreliable compass information, Tait’s small airplane was miraculously spotted on military radar, and provided with vectors to the air base where he landed safely with very little fuel remaining.

Gratefully, the Bazflyers enjoyed reasonably good flight conditions along the way from Goose Bay through to Reykjavik. Following three nights playing tourists in Reykjavik, the final leg of their ‘Bluie-1’ journey is tomorrow’s 4.5 hour flight south to Wick in the north of Scotland. Ample time to dwell on the efforts of all the men and women stationed at Narsarsuaq and Reykjavik during WW2 and the valuable contribution they made to world peace.

Flight planning prior to departure from Goose Bay

Crossing the Greenland coast heading inland towards Narsarsuaq