The three operators across the Arctic between Europe and the West Coast with propeller aircraft were Pan Am and SAS, with DC7Cs, and TWA, with Lockheed L-1649 Starliners. The key years were 1958-59, after which jets started to come in. These were so much faster that a jet routing via say New York was quicker than a prop service flying direct. The 1950s services did not have the frequency of their current equivalents, just a few flights a week.
In their 1958 timetable Pan Am had four flights a week, all routed differently, one each apparently nonstop London to LA, San Francisco and Seattle, and one Paris to LA. There were various continuations to San Francisco, which seems to have been the operating base. Departure from London at 2130 got to LA at 1055 the next morning, 21.5 hours flying.
TWA had a lesser operation with their Starliners, two Polar flights a week to San Francisco, and thence down to LA, one from London and one from Paris. The London one left just before midnight and got to San Francisco at 1305, 21 hours flying, with "a fuel stop may be necessary".
SAS actually have the biggest service, with daily DC7C flights in summer 1959 from Copenhagen departing at 2205, with an "optional" landing at Winnipeg, getting to LA at 1150. The return left LA just before midnight and flew through TWO nights, if the optional Winnipeg stop wasn't made, getting to Copenhagen at 0515 on the third morning. This daily operation would require a minimum of three aircraft. One of the DC7Cs appears to have been configured with economy seats only, and operated two flights a week. SAS was also operating the ultimate Polar flight for those days, also with DC7Cs three times a week, the pioneer Copenhagen to Anchorage flight, and on to Tokyo. This presented some significant navigational challenges for those days which SAS were the first to crack, including the Spring and Autumn periods of long Polar twilight, sun below the horizon but still some twilight so stars not visible, so no astral navigation possible. Invention of special adapted sextants overcame this.
SAS in 1959 also had a once-weekly DC6B service to Los Angeles, which additionally stopped in Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland, and took an extra five hours to LA, so the big final generation aircraft didn't have a complete monopoly.
Pan Am and TWA don't say where they might stop on the way, and Frobisher Bay (nowadays Iqaluit) would be a good emergency point, but I really would expect them to use Winnipeg when necessary instead. hauling fuel all the way up to Frobisher would be a real nuisance, the tanker ships can only get there in the summer, and this would surely be reflected in the price.
Last edited by WHBM; 17th Aug 2012 at 23:03.