A TRIP TO THULE

First Draft
Dr. James H Turnock
Not Dated

On December 27, 1951 in the gray early morning hours, a small group of men were preparing a C-54 for a trip into the Arctic, which would prove to be one of the most unusual flights of that particular winter.  Flying in the North Country is never pleasant- the cold itself magnifies difficulties which would be annoying in other climates into battles for existence.  This year the winder climate had been unusually severe; the Northeast Air Command crews had been hard put to continue the supply of the far north air bases and weather stations.

Torbay Airport, St. Johns, Newfoundland.  Thule Air Force Base desperately in need of replacements.  After almost a year in Northern Greenland, men are drained dry, they lose their ability and desire to perform their tasks.  New blood is needed to continue the work of building avital air bar in the Arctic wilderness.  Four hundred specialists had been in Newfoundland for many weeks anxiously awaiting transportation to Greenland and they new assignments.  Now, at the first break in the weather in many weeks, they were ready to be loaded in the aircraft for the long journey.  To these men this was the start of a new adventure—to the aircrew, already veterans of Arctic flying, this was a routine mission, that is, as routine as a flight to the most northern part of the world can be.

All five of the crew were busy with separate but related tasks.  All had first attended a weather briefing.  Except for extreme cold, no cloud cover, fog or storm situations appeared likely to interfere with the flight.  While the Flight Commander, Major Biscayart, was preparing the clearance, I was also in the Operations Room calculating the flight plan.  As navigator, I was determining the courses, flying times, and fuel consumption for the first two legs of the journey.  We were planning for fly from Torbay to Goose Bay, Labrador, stop to refuel, and then continue to Thule, Greenland.  After unloading the forty-five passengers, we were to remain overnight for crew rest and then return to Newfoundland.  I had set out on the same trip many times, some of them with the same crew.

It was at this time that the first incident occurred which would have indicated, in retrospect, that this was not to be a routine flight.  While the flight engineer was completing his pre-flight check of the fuel and the radio operator was checking his equipment, the copilot, Captain Mueller, who had completed his inspection of the airplane, decided to help the ground crew scrape the accumulated ice off the wing.  It was none of his business but he wanted to be helpful.  We heard the sirens and looked out to see the ambulance approaching the plane.  Rushing out we found that Mueller had fallen off of the wing and was on his way to the base hospital with what proved to be a broken back.

Captain Early Stout had just reported to the flight for his day’s duty as operations officer, expecting to go to the club for a leisurely Martini before going home to dinner after his stint.  Instead of that, he gathered his flight equipment and the ever-present shaving kit, which we all kept at the flight line for just such emergencies, and he was on his way to Thule with us as copilot.  We worried somewhat about Jerry Mueller but we soon had problems of our own.

About three hours after departing Torbay, we landed at Goose Bay.  While taxiing up to the operations building, the pilot noticed that the airplane did not steer properly.  We discovered that the nose-wheel strut was flat.  While the passengers debarked for food, we dated whether or not to put the plane in for maintenance and take off later.  When we were advised that hanger space was at a premium and that we would have to keep the aircraft outside all night, sporadically running the engines to keep them from freezing up, we decided to continue the trip.  After all, a flat nose-wheel strut is unlikely to cause an accident.  Also, the temperature at Goose was about forty degrees below zero—we felt that Thule could not be any worse.  Consequently, we again made the airplane read, prepared the necessary paper work, reloade4d the troops, and left for Thule.

Nine hours later a fatigues group of young men landed at Thule Air Force Base.  Thule-Ultima Thule- from an old Norse expression meaning “the end of the earth.”  Now Thule is an almost decent station with enough material comforts, except women, to be livable.  But this trip took place in the early days.  One big item lacking at Thule in 1951, which we sorely needed on that night, was hangar space.  We had been looking for many hours to put the C-54 in the hangar for repairs, downing a couple of bottles of Canadian whiskey we carried on trips for just such emergencies, and sleeping for about twelve hours.  Our simple request for hangar space was greeted with laughter.  Not only was there only one hangar on the base at that time and full of planes but also the hangar doors were frozen shut.  It was a mere sixty below.

            Faced with the unlovely prospect of having an airplane frozen-up in the far north of Greenland and the resultant possibility of being stuck there for quite a few days, we again decided to push on.  After a couple of hours sleep while Thule people kept the engines going to prevent freezing, we took off from Thule for Goose Bay.

            About one hour out of Thule our first real troubles started.  An electrical failure brought about by the extreme cold, caused all of the electrical navigation equipment to go out.  This meant that we were flying far above the Arctic Circle with no radar, no radio compass, no Loran, and no radio Altimeter, all very helpful instruments in navigating in any locale but particularly in the far north where a navigator cannot even use a compass.  Our position could almost be likened to that of Christopher Columbus in that we only had left the stars with which to determine our position.

            Since we were all old hands at flying in the Arctic we recognized the perils in such a situation, but we were not unduly alarmed.  We had an extremely able navigator, one of the best in the Air Force (this high opinion I hold of myself is shared by others), who was very proficient in Celestial Navigation.  Our weather briefing had indicated clear skies all the way.  Considering these factors as well as the conditions back at Thule, we properly decided not to turn back.  Fliers as a rule, all other things being equal, like to push on.

            Another hour passed and we encountered a difficult situation, which was always looked upon with disfavor by those of us who made their livelihoods flying up in latitudes where only Polar bears, walrus and seal and Eskimos can be happy.  We were flying under an overcast and over an overcast.  Such a development is particularly unfortunate when you have nothing but your own eyes and the heavens to steer by.  During this period we could do nothing but navigate by dead reckoning, that is, predict ahead using our last known position, and hope for a break in the cloud cover.  We passed Frobisher Bay, a possible landing place while still flying between the clouds.  Contacting Frobisher on radio, we found that their conditions were zero-zero, and, consequently, we could not consider attempting a landing there.

 

<<< THAT WAS ALL THAT WAS WRITTEN.  HOWEVER, HERE IS AN EXCERPT FROM HIS OUTLINE REGARDING THIS TRIP>>

 

Flight from Thule to Goose Bay

            First trouble with instruments- Overcast and undercast – No fix –

            Passed Frobisher Bay with no sighting- Finally a celestial fix-

            Engines start to lose oil- Heading for Fort Chimo

Landing at Fort Chimo

No radio contact- No landing lights- Shooting of flares- Choice of a spot on the river- Radio contact with rescue- Instructions from them- Landed No second chance- Loss of oil could cause fire- Arrival of rescue plane- Decision to leave plane and return a maintenance crew- Trouble with B-17—putting frozen oil in engines—Loss of oil again- Remain overnight- Again filling with oil- Departure

Chimo to Goose Bay to Torbay To Gander

Chimo to Goose uneventful- picked up by White in C-47—Made a pass at Torbay- Returned to Gander—Wait at Gander—Finally weather O.K.—Come on in- Loss of power on take-off-Committed- Narrowly missed- Hangar Finally home- Decision to get off flying status- Flight next day letter to Lib.