Airlift to the Top of the World
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Cover image – Published Linden Hill Ltd (Summer, 2020)
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A Reader's Review
by Fred Hutcheson
by Fred Hutcheson
This book is a well-written summary of the RAF operations in support of the Expedition. It provides a description of some of the most unusual uses of the Sunderland. Several close calls are described, but there was only one death during the Expedition.
Before meeting this book, I had not heard of the British North Greenland Expedition (BNGE). The Expedition was developed to study the Greenland Icecap and to produce a map of a unique area on the east coast of Greenland between 77° and 78° N latitude.
The beginning of the Expedition was a 1950 trip by a Royal Navy Lieutenant-Commander, C.J.W. Simpson, along the east coast of Greenland in a Catalina (actually an ex-RCAF Canso A) ferrying supplies to the Danish Pearyland Expedition at the northern tip of Greenland.
Along the east coast of Greenland, the ice cap is restrained by a ring of mountains with occasional glaciers thrusting through the lower elevations making access to the main ice cap difficult. In one area, called Donning Louise Land (“Queen Louise Land” in English), the slope up from the shore is more gentle and the main ice cap is held back by a series of mountains about 30 miles inland. There was also a lake next to the mountains that would allow easier access to the central ice cap and it was suitable for use by the Sunderland flying boats. This area had not been explored or mapped.
Simpson managed to get the British military services interested in the idea as a means to “provide further training and experience in far north operations.” But first, a reconnaissance (in 1951) was needed. The RAF thus provided a Sunderland to take a small group to the area and pick them up four weeks later.
This book details the RAF efforts to support the Expedition and only summarizes the movement of people during the Expedition. There is an entry on the BNGE in the large online wiki which lists the people that stayed in the camps and notes a book by Lt Cdr Simpson and two journal articles which resulted from the Expedition.
Being aviation-history-centric, the book identifies the aircraft involved by serial number and squadron codes, and side profiles are included. Plane captains are also usually identified. There were 14 different Short Sunderland GR.5s involved, along with three Handley Page Hastings C.2s and one A V Roe Lancaster ASR.3.
Other equipment used included eight M-29C Weasel arctic terrain vehicles and, at least, five ships, of which only 2 are identified. The identified ships were used, in 1952 and 1953, to bring equipment and supplies to a staging location on the coast, from where they were then airlifted to the camp site at the lake. The arrival of the ships was critical due to the short period that the flying boats could safely operate.
The full Expedition covered the two winters of 1952-53 and 1953-54 with set-up in 1952, resupply in 1953 and extraction, and a photo survey mission, in 1954. The main base near the east coast was supported by Sunderland flying boats, while a smaller camp near the centre of the island was supplied by Hastings staging through the US Air Force’s AFB Thule on the west coast.
There is only a short ‘window’ when the east coast of Greenland will allow the operation of flying boats due to ice on and in the water. Typically, this would be only about two weeks, so the flying boat work was very concentrated, but, at this latitude in summer, the sun never really sets.
The Sunderlands performed several ‘firsts’ during the Expedition, and their use as transports made for heavy work for the crews since all the freight had to be loaded and unloaded through the bomb trolley doors. The usual load was 8,000 pounds.
The large aircraft performed the needed tasks with only a few hiccups. One engine on one plane went U/S, but, via an interesting and hurried “in the field” repair, it was switched to another position for the flight home (with high winds coming). A second Sunderland had a hull puncture at the base camp. Again, a field repair ensued. A very rough patch was installed, and the plane survived several landings on the long flight to the RAF repair depot (where it was written off).
The use of the Sunderland as an air-photo survey plane was also unique. The survey requirement led to some problem-solving since it had to be flown at 10,000 feet (the type’s operational ceiling) and a visual check was needed to verify the flight lines had been followed. During the mission, a magnetic anomaly was found that required the redoing of some lines.
The Thule-based Hastings, which supplied the camp in the centre of the ice cap, had a longer window for the supply work. Although operated from a well-equipped USAF base, it was still a difficult mission. All the fuel and some supplies were “free dropped” from the same altitude as the ‘Ruhr Dams Bombing Raid’, albeit in somewhat poorer conditions. One aircraft flew into a whiteout after a drop and then crashed. All the crew survived with only 2 injured. USAF Col Bernt Balchen of AFB Thule organized the rescue using a SA-16 Albatross tri-phibian (for the injured), and a ski-equipped SC-47 Skytrain (for the rest of the crew). Both landed on the snow and took off using JATO units without a packed runway.
The book includes the profiles of the RAF aircraft previously mentioned, and it is illustrated with many contemporary photographs. There are several maps, some resulting from the survey, and others of more recent vintage.
The book is a well-written summary of the RAF operations in support of the Expedition. It provides a description of some of the most unusual uses of the Sunderland. Several close calls are described, but there was only one death during the Expedition.
For the scale modeller:
Linden Hill has prepared a set of 1:72 scale decals for the Sunderlands. I have seen only the promotional page included in the back of the book so I cannot fully evaluate the decals. Codes (serial numbers (sides & underwing) and ‘plane in squadron’ letters) for ten aircraft are provided with enough other items to completely mark two aircraft (roundels, fin flashes, & Squadron badges).
The beginning of the Expedition was a 1950 trip by a Royal Navy Lieutenant-Commander, C.J.W. Simpson, along the east coast of Greenland in a Catalina (actually an ex-RCAF Canso A) ferrying supplies to the Danish Pearyland Expedition at the northern tip of Greenland.
Along the east coast of Greenland, the ice cap is restrained by a ring of mountains with occasional glaciers thrusting through the lower elevations making access to the main ice cap difficult. In one area, called Donning Louise Land (“Queen Louise Land” in English), the slope up from the shore is more gentle and the main ice cap is held back by a series of mountains about 30 miles inland. There was also a lake next to the mountains that would allow easier access to the central ice cap and it was suitable for use by the Sunderland flying boats. This area had not been explored or mapped.
Simpson managed to get the British military services interested in the idea as a means to “provide further training and experience in far north operations.” But first, a reconnaissance (in 1951) was needed. The RAF thus provided a Sunderland to take a small group to the area and pick them up four weeks later.
This book details the RAF efforts to support the Expedition and only summarizes the movement of people during the Expedition. There is an entry on the BNGE in the large online wiki which lists the people that stayed in the camps and notes a book by Lt Cdr Simpson and two journal articles which resulted from the Expedition.
Being aviation-history-centric, the book identifies the aircraft involved by serial number and squadron codes, and side profiles are included. Plane captains are also usually identified. There were 14 different Short Sunderland GR.5s involved, along with three Handley Page Hastings C.2s and one A V Roe Lancaster ASR.3.
Other equipment used included eight M-29C Weasel arctic terrain vehicles and, at least, five ships, of which only 2 are identified. The identified ships were used, in 1952 and 1953, to bring equipment and supplies to a staging location on the coast, from where they were then airlifted to the camp site at the lake. The arrival of the ships was critical due to the short period that the flying boats could safely operate.
The full Expedition covered the two winters of 1952-53 and 1953-54 with set-up in 1952, resupply in 1953 and extraction, and a photo survey mission, in 1954. The main base near the east coast was supported by Sunderland flying boats, while a smaller camp near the centre of the island was supplied by Hastings staging through the US Air Force’s AFB Thule on the west coast.
There is only a short ‘window’ when the east coast of Greenland will allow the operation of flying boats due to ice on and in the water. Typically, this would be only about two weeks, so the flying boat work was very concentrated, but, at this latitude in summer, the sun never really sets.
The Sunderlands performed several ‘firsts’ during the Expedition, and their use as transports made for heavy work for the crews since all the freight had to be loaded and unloaded through the bomb trolley doors. The usual load was 8,000 pounds.
The large aircraft performed the needed tasks with only a few hiccups. One engine on one plane went U/S, but, via an interesting and hurried “in the field” repair, it was switched to another position for the flight home (with high winds coming). A second Sunderland had a hull puncture at the base camp. Again, a field repair ensued. A very rough patch was installed, and the plane survived several landings on the long flight to the RAF repair depot (where it was written off).
The use of the Sunderland as an air-photo survey plane was also unique. The survey requirement led to some problem-solving since it had to be flown at 10,000 feet (the type’s operational ceiling) and a visual check was needed to verify the flight lines had been followed. During the mission, a magnetic anomaly was found that required the redoing of some lines.
The Thule-based Hastings, which supplied the camp in the centre of the ice cap, had a longer window for the supply work. Although operated from a well-equipped USAF base, it was still a difficult mission. All the fuel and some supplies were “free dropped” from the same altitude as the ‘Ruhr Dams Bombing Raid’, albeit in somewhat poorer conditions. One aircraft flew into a whiteout after a drop and then crashed. All the crew survived with only 2 injured. USAF Col Bernt Balchen of AFB Thule organized the rescue using a SA-16 Albatross tri-phibian (for the injured), and a ski-equipped SC-47 Skytrain (for the rest of the crew). Both landed on the snow and took off using JATO units without a packed runway.
The book includes the profiles of the RAF aircraft previously mentioned, and it is illustrated with many contemporary photographs. There are several maps, some resulting from the survey, and others of more recent vintage.
The book is a well-written summary of the RAF operations in support of the Expedition. It provides a description of some of the most unusual uses of the Sunderland. Several close calls are described, but there was only one death during the Expedition.
For the scale modeller:
Linden Hill has prepared a set of 1:72 scale decals for the Sunderlands. I have seen only the promotional page included in the back of the book so I cannot fully evaluate the decals. Codes (serial numbers (sides & underwing) and ‘plane in squadron’ letters) for ten aircraft are provided with enough other items to completely mark two aircraft (roundels, fin flashes, & Squadron badges).