History.
The Airfield at Narsarsuaq was first built by The American Ministry of Defense as an army airbase. Construction began 6. Juli 1941, and the first aircraft landed 24. January 1942. The airbase with the code name ” Bluie West One ” had during World War II squadrons of PBY Catalinas and B-25 Mitchells with the assignment to escort allied convoys and track and destroy German submarines. A military hospital with 250 beds was completed in 1943, and during World War II the population was approximately 4.000 people.
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B24 on the Airstrip 1942. |
Bluie West One 1948. |
It is estimated, that during the war more than 10.000 aircraft was ferried through Narsarsuaq, and the local ” 1`st Arctic Search and Rescue Squadron ” had a busy time.
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The Habor 1953. |
Hospital Valley 1953. |
On 6.
July 1942 the supply ship ” S/S Montrose ” was wrecked on a cliff in
Narsarsuaq Fjord 16 NM southwest of the airbase.
The first
aircraft from Danish Air Force stationed at Narsarsuaq was a Catalina in 1947
and a B-17 in 1948, and civil air traffic began in 1949 with DC-4`s from SAS
and Icelandair.
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Narsarsuaq 1953. |
Stork Club 1953. |
USA and
Denmark signed ” The Agreement related to the defense of Greenland ” 27. April
1951. Bluie West One was now shared as airbase between USA and Denmark, and in
1952 Danish Air Force stationed ” Airgroup West ” with a PBY Catalina at
Narsarsuaq.
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Narsarsuaq 1953. |
The Airfield 1953. |
US Air Force
left Bluie West One in November 1958, and the airbase was closed, but in
January 1959 the Danish ship " Hans Hedtoft " an all onboard was lost
near the southern tip of Greenland, and the Danish Authorities decided to
reopen Narsarsuaq. From November 1959 Danish Air Force had 3 PBY Catalinas
stationed at Narsarsuaq with the assignment to make ice-observations along the
Greenlandic coast, and these observations was broadcasted to ships in the area.
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Greenlandair DC-6 on Apron. |
In 1960
Greenlandair was formed and began operations with Sikorsky S-55 and DC-4. From
1962 Greenlandair was using Catalina and Otter on domestic routes in Greenland,
and from 1965 Sikorsky S-61. In the 60`s and 70`s GreenlandAir and SAS were
operating with DC-6 and IcelandAir with B727 in Greenland, and in the 80`s SAS
was using DC-8 at Narsarsuaq.
From 1.
January 1988 Narsarsuaq Airport has been operated by The Greenlandic Homerule.
Today
Narsarsuaq has connections to Nuuk and Sondrestrom with DHC7, to Reykjavik with
FK50 and BA46 and to Copenhagen with B757. Ice-observations are still based at
Narsarsuaq and carried out with Equreuil AS50.