Which Aerodrome?

[twochai]

This might last until the sun is over the yard arm, but maybe not!

[John Hill]

Banff? (Says he guessing wildly)

[evansb]

A corny old movie from the 1940s called 'Lake Louise Weekend' featured a DC-4 flying entertainers in from New York and Hollywood for the guests.
Where they landed the aircraft was not shown.

I think twochai's challenge is Bluie West One, Narsarsuaq, Greenland. An exciting approach, if there ever was one.

[twochai]

EvansB wins the golden globe once more.

It is Bluie West One, BW1, located near the village of Narsarsuaq; built by the Americans in 1941 as a refuelling stop for use by the lend lease B-24's, etc., enroute from Dorval to Blighty.

In the 1950's BW1 was used by the USAF as a transit stop and by the RCAF's mighty Canadair Sabre 6 squadrons on cold war Operation Leap Frog deliveries to the Air Division in Germany.

But, for many centuries, Narssarssuaq was known as one of the transit points used by the Norse hordes (remember Eric the Red, etc?) enroute to l'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, pre-dating Columbus' discovery of the 'New World' by five centuries!

Greenland - Narsarsuaq - Official Greenland Travel Guide

The ruins of the Norse dwellings are still visible on the Northwest side of the fjord, just after passing the sunken ship marker, which for many pilots was the confirmation they needed to know they were in the correct arm of the fjord. (The wrong turn was almost always deadly)

The shipwreck has long since disappeared below the surface, but it remains an approach requiring careful planning and precise execution. VERY uncomfortable in winds over 25 knots! The masters are Air Greenland, who operate today in most weathers with Dash 7's and A330-200's!

Over to you, EvansB, you have control.

[evansb]

Thank you twochai! Great challenge and excellent information! Here is the next challenge:

[India Four Two]

The Narsarsuaq Freighter

A good thread on Narsarsuaq and the freighter, including a great post by Milt on his "interesting" approach in a Beverley can be found here:
http://www.pprune.org/forums/aviatio...freighter.html

Intriguing post bri. The trees look tropical but it doesn't look like any of the SE Asian cities I know, so how about Brasil?

OK, scratch Brasil. The Norfolk pines were whispering to me "Oz, Oz". It's a city I do know. Perth, WA with a fly-in in Langley Park.

What's going on, bri?

[evansb]

Hey Simon! Yes, it is indeed Perth's Langley Park, An occasional airstrip. The city reopens the strip every three years to aviation to host an experimental amateur-built fly-in. A Red Bull Air Race performed over Langley in 2006. Langley Park was one of the first aerodromes in Australia, and was home to one of the first Australian airlines. You have control.

[India Four Two]

Sorry for the delay chaps. My real life (and sleeping) occasionally gets in the way of my PPRuNing.

That's what I call an inner city airport



Here's the next aerodrome - one of Mel's "easy ones":

[John Hill]

That looks like Mitre Peak with the Footstall to the right and Sinbad Gully right ahead. It is of course Milford Sound in SW New Zealand.

I worked there most of 1969 to 1973..

Here is a (very poor) picture from my time there...

[India Four Two]

Well done, John. I would have been surprised if it wasn't a Kiwi who answered first. Even without my clumsy deletion of the words "Air Fiordland" from the upper wings, it was pretty obvious.

Here is a (very poor) picture from my time there...

But what a picture, aaaaah de Havilland!

My first ever flight was in a Rapide. I wonder how many of those in your picture are still around.

Over to you.

[John Hill]

I think most of those, if not all, are still around...

Now for the next challenge and again sorry for the poor quality of the picture...

[henry crun]

Wellington Airport opening day air display, 1959, pilots name was M. Gunton I think

[John Hill]

Full marks Henry, you have control..

[henry crun]

I do not have anything to hand, the floor is open.

[John Hill]

Another from me then!

[India Four Two]

John,

You are having a busy day!

Re the Sunderland "oops", there is a video of the same incident here:
YouTube - sunderland fly past

And as I'm sure you know, that's the same day that a Vulcan nearly crashed, when it broke a gear leg, landing in the undershoot, followed by a go-around streaming fuel and a crash-landing at Ohakea. More info here:

http://www.*************************.../gallery3.html
(for some reason this link won't post properly - replace the 'asterisks and dots' with 'thunder-and-lightnings dot co dot uk/vulcan)
Vulcans in Camera - Avro Vulcan B1 XH498 Wellington.
Vulcans in Camera - Avro Vulcan B1s XH498 at RNZAF Ohakea



Re your current challenge, no idea where it is, but what a fascinating picture. A nice Art Deco control tower, an American officer (Ike?) inspecting a vertically-challenged British Guard of Honour with No. 4 rifles (Army Cadets or the King's Own Hobbits?) and are those Russian officers under the clock?

[John Hill]

Yes I42, it is cold as a penguins chuff here today and it has been blowing a freezing gale straight of the ocean and I presume Antarctica, so plenty of time for online play!

That sure was a busy day at Wellington with two very close shaves and only one or two comparabe incidents since!

Yes, that is a nice looking control tower and it still exists! It is Ike, sorry I dont know if the big guys are Russians.

Those are good pictures you linked of the Vulcan at Wellington, I wonder if you can identify the vehicle the woman in red is sitting on in your picture Vulcans in Camera - Avro Vulcan B1 XH498 Wellington. ?

[Warmtoast]

Yes, that is a nice looking control tower and it still exists! It is Ike, sorry I dont know if the big guys are Russians

Yanks, Brits and Russians and possibly some French in there somwhere so I guess it's 4-Power Berlin and with the British troops forming the guard of honour, my guess is RAF Gatow.

[India Four Two]

John,

[Thread drift]

Sorry to hear about the weather, but what do you expect, living in the throat of a venturi in the Southern Ocean? You probably don't want to hear that it was 32C here today, but we did have a torrential thunderstorm to cool things down a bit.

I don't know what car that is - I thought possibly a Fiat, but the windows are wrong.

After my previous post, I found this piece of 8mm colour footage from the opening day airshow:
YouTube - Opening of Wellington Airport, New Zealand, 1959

Ironically, both incidents were just missed, but there are some nice (grainy) shots of quite a few of the participants. I've managed to ID the following: Globemaster, Sunderland, formation of 3 Ansons (?) and 12 Harvards, Canberra, DC-3, Dart Herald (in BEA colours!), C-130, Voodoo (?), Comet, Britannia, Beverly and Vulcans. Any guesses on the ones I missed?

[evansb]

Amazingly untouched from the ravages of WW.II, it is the Praugue-Ruzyne Airport Terminal, Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic.