Narsarsuaq Air Base

Narsarsuaq Air Base
AMSL		112 ft / 34 m
Coordinates	61°9′38.29″N 45°25′33.16″W / 61.1606361°N 45.4258778°W / 61.1606361; -45.4258778
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 07/25 6,000 1,835 concrete 17/35 4,300 1,300 gravel

Bluie West One, later known as Narsarsuaq Air Base and

. The base had a peak population of about 4,000 American servicemen, and it is estimated that some 10,000 aircraft landed there en route to the war in Europe and North Africa.

Soon after the United States entered the war, the War Department decided to deploy Major General

bombers.

With stops at the Canadian-built base at

]

Bad weather is frequent in Southern Greenland, and Narsarsuaq is virtually surrounded by high mountains, making the approach to the steel-mat runway exceedingly difficult. The usual approach was a low-level flight up a fjord. Because the runway slopes up west to east, landings were (and still are predominantly) made to the east, with take-offs to the west, regardless of the wind direction.^[1]

BW-1's importance declined post World War II, but the

]

The advent of

]

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

External links

• Remembering Bluie West One
• Narsarssuak Air Base BW-1 - John Stott