Northern Air Ventures

            by Bill Odell

 

 

 

The Workhorses of World War II and Korea,

    Go To Work In Alaska

 

I have written, or been involved with writing, quite a few adventures involving many types of aircraft such as:  “When The Airlines Went To War”; “The Berlin Airlift”, “South America in a DC-3”, “The Clipper Ships” and several others.  This one is for those grand old ladies that served their country so well, The L-20’s; U-1A’s; C-46’s; C-47’s; C-119’s and C-54’s. These aircraft all had a part in my life with the exception of the C-46; my connection to that aircraft is through a personal friend who was a Captain on with Northeast Airlines.  Two of them I actually had to jump from. These are the aircraft that I have written this adventure for, there where lots of other aircraft used and feel free, if you so desire, use them. An example of aircraft used is Interior Airways, who had a contract with the DEW Line, their aircraft were; Cessna 170’s and 180’s, Piper Cubs’ and Pacers, a Travelair 6000, Stinson SRJR, a Norseman, Howard DGA and a Widgeon.  The aircraft that I have chosen are readily available; when, choosing a Beaver or Otter, you might want to try Stephan Grants versions, for the C- 119 I suggest Bob Trembly’s update of Dean Reimer’s plane, Tom Gibson and Greg Peppers have a wonderful C-46, C-54’s are all readily available at www.flightsim.com.  I am expecting my own “Northern Air”, Beaver, Otter and DC-3 paint jobs very shortly.  

 

To use all of these aircraft in one adventure, a great idea I thought, but how?  Deciding finally on a theme that would make maximum use of each aircraft, “The construction of the DEW Line” was a natural. Without the help from Bear Baker and his buddy Al Gay though, this adventure would have ended here, as the DEW Line sites are not in FS.  Bear and Al have agreed to let me use their wonderful DEW Line sites.  With that, right here and now, down load http://www.timberwolfaviation.com at download/scenery look for the DEW line scenery on Scenery page 2, lot’s of other great stuff there also, make sure you take time to look.

 

            Lets stress the point for all to understand, we are only doing the construction phase of the DEW Line, saving that which came along later for a possible sequel.  With the DEW Line, we will be covering the sites from Cape Sabine in the west of Alaska east across Canada to Kulusuk in Greenland.  BAF and LAB sites were added much later as part of the NWS system.  NWS sites within the DEW Line were also added later and with that addition some of the DEW sites where closed down.  My good friend Curt Jardey on his own, has broken his back putting together detailed information on the DEW Line for me, but got a step ahead by getting into the later years.

 

                All of the sites and some valuable info may be found in the Bear Bakers files at his website. The site types are identified as follows:

 “A” – Aux.;  “I” - Intermediate;  “M” – Main;  “R” Relay; “S” – Support;  “LRR” – Long Range Radar;  “SRR” – Short Range Radar (the LRR and SRR are actually with the next phase);  “COM” – Rearward Communication Site.  The Beacon frequencies of the DEW sites are listed as well as the runway lengths.

 

Location                                                Site                         Type                       Beacon                   Runway                 State/Terr.            

Anchorage                            AGE-X                   COM                                                      7494’                       Alaska

Fort Nelson                           NEL-X                    COM                                                      2500’                       BC

Cold Bay                                COB Main            M                                                            5114’                     Alaska

Nikolski                                  COB – 1                 A                             417                          3500’                       Alaska

Driftwood Bay                      COB – 2                 I                               410                          4000’                       Alaska

Cape Sarichef                        COB – 3                 I                               433                          3500’                       Alaska

Port Moller                            COB – 4                 I                               412                          4000’                       Alaska

Port Heiden                           COB – 5                 I                               371                          6250’                       Alaska

Cape Sabine                          LIZ-A                     I                               373                          2700’                       Alaska

Point Lay                              LIZ-2                      A-LRR                    347                          3519’                       Alaska

Icy Cape                                                LIZ-B                      I                               411                          3200’                       Alaska

Wainwright                           LIZ-3                      A-SRR                    338                          3000’                       Alaska

Peard Bay                              LIZ-C                      I                               414                          4000’                       Alaska                   

Point Barrow                        POW-Main           M-LRR                  281                         6500’                     Alaska                  

Cape Simpson                       POW-A                  I                               233                          3500’                       Alaska

Lonely                                    POW-1                   A                             316                          5000’                       Alaska

Kogru River                          POW-B                  I                               257                          1800’                       Alaska

Oliktok Point                         POW-2                   A-LRR                    329                          4020’                       Alaska

Point McIntyre                     POW-C                  I                               293                          1540’                       Alaska

Flaxman Island                      POW-3                   A-SRR                    275                          3500’                       Alaska

Camden Bay                          POW-D                  I                               267                          2300’                       Alaska

Barter Island                        BAR-Main            M-LRR                  BTB 308               4820’                     Alaska

Demarcation Bay                  BAR-A                   I                               416                          4000’                       Alaska

Komakuk Beach                   BAR–1                   A-SRR                    239                          3500’                       Yukon

Stokes Point                          BAR-B                   I -SRR                     229                          4000’                       Yukon

Shingle Point                        BAR-2                   A-LRR                    221                          3800’                       Yukon

Tununuk Camp                     BAR-C                   I                               270                          3400’                       Yukon

Tuktoyaktuk                         BAR-3                    A-SRR                    380                          5005’                       NWT

Atkinson Point                     BAR-D                   I                               223                          3400’                       Yukon

Nicholson Peninsula           BAR- 4                   A-SRR                    215                          3400’                       NWT

Horton River                         BAR-E                    I-SRR                      261                          4000’                       NWT

Cape Parry                           PIN-Main              M-LRR                  203                         5000’                     NWT

Pearce Point                          PIN-A                     I                               202                          4000’                       NWT

Clinton Point                         PIN-1                      A                             209                          3200’                       Nunuvut

Clifton Point                          PIN-B                     I                               213                          3200’                       Nunuvut

Cape Young                          PIN-2                      A                             260                          4680’                       Nunuvut

Bernard Harbour                  PIN-C                     I                               214                          4000’                       Nunuvut

Lady Franklin Point             PIN-3                      A-LRR                    227                          4550’                       Nunuvut

Ross Point                             PIN-D                     I                               273                          3000’                       Nunuvut

Byron Bay                             PIN-4                      A                             272                          4530’                       Nunuvut

Cambridge Bay                    CAM Main            M                            245                         5000’                     Nunuvut

Jenny Lind Island                                CAM-1                   A                             218                          4500’                       Nunuvut

Gladman Point                      CAM-2                   A                             300                          4750’                       Nunuvut

Shepherd Bay                       CAM-3                   A                             321                          4510’                       Nunuvut

Pelly Bay                               CAM-4                   A                             263                          4996’                       Nunuvut

Mackar Inlet                          CAM-5                   A                             212                          3800’                       Nunuvut

Hat Island                              CAM-B                  I                               220                          2910’                       Nunuvut

Matheson Point                   CAM-C                  I                               302                          2850’                       Nunuvut

Simpson Lake                       CAM-D                  I                               322                          3500’                       Nunuvut

Keith Bay                              CAM-E                  I                               264                          4500’                       Nunuvut

Hall Beach                            FOX Main             M                            378                         5000’                     Nunuvut

Rowley Island                       FOX – 1                 A                             257                          3500’                       Nunuvut

Longstaff Bluff                     FOX – 2                 A                             275                          4000’                       Nunuvut

Dewar Lakes                         FOX – 3                 A                             315                          4410’                       Nunuvut

Cape Hooper                         FOX – 4                 A                             286                          3021’                       Nunuvut

Broughton Island                 FOX – 5                 A                             237                          3487’                       Nunuvut

Bray Island                            FOX – A                I                               258                          3600’                       Nunuvut

Nudluardjuk Lake FOX –B                  I                               276                          3500’                       Nunuvut

Ekalugad                                FOX – C I                               318                          2800’                       Nunuvut

Kivitoo                                   FOX – D                I                               278                          2800’                       Nunuvut

Durban Island Padloping    FOX – E I                               235                          3400’                       Nunuvut

Cape Dyer                             DYE Main              M                            248                         5015’                     Nunuvut

Sisimiut                                  DYE – 1                  A                             328/341                   2613’                       Greenland

Ice Cap 1                                DYE – 2                  A                             383                          4000’                       Greenland

Ice Cap 2                                DYE – 3                  A                             285                          4000’                       Greenland

Kulusuk                                 DYE – 4                  A                             377                          4000’                       Greenland

               

                At Anchorage, plans were put into operation.  The contractors wanted an aircraft to fly their engineers from Barter Island east along the coast locating and laying out the sites.  This was going to be a lengthy mission in marginal living conditions.  It was decided to fly a Beaver to Barter Island and meet the engineers arriving from Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage in a C-47.

 

                A USAF C-47 is on the ramp at Elmendorf fueled and loaded ready to go for Barter Island, just waiting for some engineers to board. The route will be PAED – BGQ  (112.5) – PAFA (108.6) – PEE (305) – UMM (326) – ICW (525 – FOX (350) - PABA. The return flight will be empty.  This flight should give you practice in using your ADF.

 

The Beaver flight from Fairbanks to Barter Island (BAR Main) was a routine flight with a lot of personal gear for an extended stay loaded the back seats.  After getting quarters established and going over their plans, everyone was ready to start the next morning.  On that stretch from Barter Island flying east toward Canada, military aerial photos were used to pick out, and land at the line stations.  Flying in the Beaver over the desolate country, it was very difficult to define the land or sea. They soon discovered that flying in the Arctic was quite different from what they had been flying.  They found it was necessary to drain the oil from the engines at night and remove the battery and take them inside the building to keep them from freezing.  Going through the cargo that came in on the C-47, they discovered a couple of Herman Nelson heaters that would solve that problem. So lets hop in the Beaver at Barters Island heading east and follow the coast stopping at each BAR site.  The sites will be there as you fly (they weren’t when they flew the survey flight).  I suggest using ski’s if you have them and just assume the strip isn’t there landing on the snow/ice alongside, (just for the effect).  Fly to all sites up to BAR E at Horton River.  Otters with work crews and supplies follow right along to each site and construction gets underway at a rapid pace.

 

In order to keep these planes flying it is essential that we have AvGas at Barter Island.  An Air Force C-46 is loaded with 5 gal cans of AvGas sitting on the ramp at Eielson AFB, Fairbanks waiting for the pilot.  The route from Eielson is PAEI - PEE (305) – UMM (326) – ICW (525) – FOX (350) – BAR-A. The return flight will carry back anything for Fairbanks.

 

Things are starting to move pretty fast now as a USAF C-54 is on the ramp at Elmendorf fueled and loaded for Barter Island. Following the same route as the C-47, with the exception that the destination is BAR Main, the C-54 starts its takeoff roll; lets get this stuff on its way.

 

As the site layouts are progressing site by site, Otters are loaded with supplies that came in on the C-54’s and delivered to each site as it becomes available for its materials.  Just as soon as the Otter is unloaded it will head back to BAR Main for another load.  It isn’t long before several Otter’s were in the air. Air Force C-46’s now join in the movement of cargo from Elmendorf to BAR Main.  It is decided that the C-47’s can supply the strips with 4000’ and up runways, leaving the smaller strips to the Otter’s; this is going to greatly speed up the movement of supplies.

 

The supply flights from BAR Main to the sites are broken down to the sites with less than 4000’ serviced by aircraft in the Otter category.  The flights, round trip, are to each site flying as many flights possible in a day to keep up with the incoming loads.  The Otters will fly to BAR1, BAR2, BARC, and BARD.  Sites with strips over 4000’ will be serviced by aircraft in the category of C-47’s.  They will fly to BARA, BARB, BAR3, BAR4 and BARE.  It will be very important that you keep check on your fuel as Avgas is only available at BAR Main, aircraft will, in addition to the cargo, fly at least one 55 gal drum of Avgas to each site for emergency purposes only.

 

Work is progressing at a rapid rate and the move is to the west where the Beaver’s will fly the engineers from POW-Main  (Barrow) to set up the LIZ and POW sites starting way out there at Cape Sabine and LIZ-A.  There are 5 sites west of Barrow and 7 between Barrow and Barter Island.  Otters are arriving to move the personnel; equipment and supplies to develop the sites as the engineers move on several of the sites have very short strips and will be serviced by aircraft in the Beaver size.  Again C-47’s are arriving to fly the supplies to the longer strips.

 

 C-46’s and C-119’s are flying direct from Elmendorf if the runways are adequate. Anything, to move the supplies, material and equipment with minimum delay.  At Eielson AFB, one Air Force C-46 is loaded with Avgas while several C-119’s are loaded with pre-fabs for POW sites.  Lets get a move on this stuff is piling up here and there aren’t a whole lot of hours in the days.  

 

DHC-2’s (Beaver) will be supporting the following sites.  Flights will be made from and to POW Main at Barrow: LIZ-A, POW-B, POW-C and POW-D.  While DHC-3’s (Otter) will support, again from POW Main at Barrow: LIZ-2, LIZ-3, LIZ-B, POW-3 and POW-A.  The larger strips that are served by the C-47 size aircraft from POW – Main are:  LIZ-C, POW-M, POW-1 and POW-2.  One of the C-47’s is ready to roll from POW – Main with pre-fab buildings for POW-2 while a Otter taxis out with a load of equipment for LIZ-B.

 

The COB sites are being built by the Air Force with their personnel and all flights are made with Air Force aircraft.  A C-47 is loaded and ready to roll at Elmendorf AFB heading for Cold Bay (COB –Main).  Aboard are personnel and equipment to start the layout and construction of the sites.  When the work gets going C-46’s and C-47’s will be doing the bulk of the work. 

 

While all of this is going on in Alaska the same thing is moving along in Canada and at that same hectic pace.  Several Beavers have been dispatched from Ft. Nelson to Cambridge Bay, from where the site explorations for the PIN and CAM sites will commence. At Winnipeg, initial loads of supplies are being loaded on Canadian Air Force C-46’s and C-119’s for Cambridge Bay; Otters and C-47’s that will do the deliveries to the sites are enroute to Cambridge Bay. A RCAF C-119 has a load of pre-fabs for CAM Main while 2 RCAF C-46’s are loaded with Avgas for CAM Main. 

 

With the length of the runways dictating, Otters and C-47’s will be the supporting aircraft.  The Otters will supply PIN-B, PIN- D and PIN-E while the C-47’s will supply the balance of the PIN sites.  The CAM sites will also be supplied by C-47’s and Otters with C-47’s the principal aircraft for CAM-1, CAM-2, CAM-3, CAM-4 (Pelly Bay will also see an occasional C-46) and CAM-E with the balance of the CAM sites supplied by DHC-3 Otters.

 

At Yellowknife a C-46 is loaded with equipment for Cape Parry (PIN-H) it is hurry up deal as the C-46 has to get back to Yellowknife for yet another load today.  The equipment for the second flight is essential in the continued construction at Cape Parry

 

Movement to the east is continuing at a hectic pace without let-up. The FOX sites are supplied by Otter’s but will see an occasional C-47, as they become available, supplies for the FOX sites are out of Churchill.  A shipment of equipment and supplies has arrived at Churchill rail side and is being hauled to the airstrip where the C-46’s await.  This load of equipment and supplies is destined for Hall Beach.  There are also about 3 loads of pre-fabs also for Hall Beach these will be flown by RCAF C-119’s that are inbound to Churchill.

 

At PIN Main (Cape Parry) a C-47 is taxiing out with a load of supplies and equipment for PIN-D (Ross Point), starting to get way out there far from civilization now.  After Ross Point we head towards Greenland, almost the end of the line.

 

There is much activity at Dorval in Montreal.  RCAF C-54’s seem to be leaving every couple of hours heading for Goose Bay with all sorts of cargo for DYE Main (Cape Dyer).  At Goose Bay theses shipments are being transferred to C-119’s for the trip to Cape Dyer.

 

A C-119 is being loaded with supplies that just arrived from Goose Bay.  This shipment will be heading out to DYE-2 (Ice Cap-1) in Greenland.  This flight is a little different than any of the others so far and this is due to altitude.  Ice Cap 1 sits at 7517 feet and Ice Cap 2 is even higher at 8093’.  This flight as the others is over water and barren land, no place for trouble with the aircraft.  The terrain is very rugged and there is a nice challenge as you approach.

 

The Otter for DYE-1 (Sisimiut) is loaded and ready for take off.  This a long flight in that it is all over water.  The load is building materials that were not delivered with the equipment and pre-fab buildings that arrived on a Sea-Link ship.  The flight is a boring one but the pucker factor will come active as you attempt your approach to 32.  Closest thing to down hill skiing I have ever seen.  Let me now how you make out.

 

Well that is how the DEW Line came into being, fortunately for all of us it never had to be used.  The cold war came to an end, plus better surveillance equipment came into being.  For me, well I will go over to another of my adventures and fly my Beaver and Otter out of Red Lake for the summer while I gather everything for my DEW Line sequel.

 

Good flying!  Visit me at my email address or my website.

 

Bill Odell, ATP Captain, BGAS004

 

wradodel@tampabay.rr.com

 

www.flyingwithbill.com