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Sondrestrom Air Force Base
Click on the photos for a larger view
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The inside of a military air command (MAC) C-141
Starlifter taking me to Sondrestrom Air Force Base and the DEW
Line for the first time in August 1976. This was an interesting
flight. We departed McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey at approximately
2 a.m. About a third of the way to our destination, the cockpit
windshield collapsed, causing the plane, which flew at high altitudes,
to depressurize and forcing the pilots to dive. We turned around
and landed under emergency conditions at the military air base
in Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada. Eventually, we returned to McGuire.
Several hours later, aboard another Starlifter loaded with gear
from the original flight, we departed again. Believe it or not,
I don’t remember the dive. I was sound asleep and the wax
plugs in my ears, which every passenger wore to block the noise,
also blocked the commotion around me. |
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Our C-141 on the tarmac at Sondrestomfjord (now Kangerlussuaq),
Greenland. It was a big airplane with impressive technology. Pilots
could insert a card into a cockpit reader that gave an on-board
computer information for automatic take off, course maintenance
and landing. Tragically, one of these monsters crashed and burned
on the Sonde runway, killing everyone aboard, during my year in
Greenland. |
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In my initial visit to Sonde, I enjoyed a long weekend exploring
areas immediately adjacent to the base. Each summer, the nearby
fjord was an active if modest port, through which fishing boats
plied arctic waters for shrimp and fish. Military landing craft
also used the docks. For another view of Sonde today, and an
informative visual tour of Greenland, go to:
www.greenland-guide.dk/kangerlussuaq/info/
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Another view of the fjord. The air base was situated
at the eastern terminus of this very long inlet. |
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Mirror Lake, near Sonde. |
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Sondrestrom was headquarters for the Greenland operations
of Felec Services Inc., my employer. Here, FSI employees Mimi Simmons
and Dick Corkery grin for the camera. A big European guy by the
name of Sven, whose last name I forget, was DYE Sector Chief. |
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The military barracks and support buildings of Sondrestrom
Air Force Base. |
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The workhorse of the DEW Line, a DeHaviland Twin Otter turbo
prop. These flew me to and from my DYE Sector assignments.
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Danish pilots map a course from Sonde to DYE 4 and
back aboard the hardy Twin Otter. |
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