Northern Route

g F a c t s
t e r e s t i n
In t l a n t i c
u t t h e A
A b o
o u t e s
Air R
W I I
of W
By Kelsey McMillan
(389th BG Associate Member)

Southern Route
 because of steam rising from geothermal hot springs.
Stopovers on the Southern Route included tropical
paradises of the Caribbean, and the steamy, exotic mouth
of the Amazon River. From bleak tiny volcanic islands
T h e
in the middle of the Atlantic, to the primitive grasslands
Luftwaffe
and deserts on the west African coast, and the exotic
onslaught against
Casbahs of northwest African cities, this route offered
England in the summer
infinite cultural variety.
of 1940 alarmed Americans
Right: C-87
Liberator receives a who feared that England might
thorough check-up fall, bringing the Nazis one step closer west to the
by maintenance United States. Americans continued to eschew direct
crews before the
long hop eastward involvement in the war, however. Not so the Roosevelt
over the Atlantic. Administration which devised several creative and
(Credit: Flight to
Everywhere. Ivan covert means for aiding our Allies and preparing the
Dmitri.) U.S. for war while maintaining a façade of neutrality.
One step was to establish numerous defensive
Below/Left: Bluie
West 1 Narsarsuag, positions outside the Continental U.S. and its
Greenland territories, including the construction of airfields
Below/Right: throughout the North and South Atlantic. After
Lieutenants Frank the U.S. joined the fight, these airfields formed
R. Choura and the backbone of America’s military air routes to
Bruce E. Pintér
Pass time under theaters of operations in the western hemisphere. Most
Marrakech date Many of the airfields also
were in regions alien and exotic to Americans.
palm. (Credit: Flight doubled as weather stations or bases for air squadrons
to Everywhere. Ivan On the Northern Route, the stopovers in Canada
assigned to hunt U-boats or to escort and protect Allied
Dmitri.) were surrounded by coniferous forests, lakes and rocky
shipping convoys across the Atlantic.
terrain, or they skirted
Gaining a foothold in September 1940, President
the Arctic Ocean within
Roosevelt traded 50 aging destroyers for
glacier-carved valleys
the right to establish
and mountains. Airfields
American air and naval
on the sub-arctic coasts
bases in seven British
of Greenland were
possessions in the
secreted away within
western hemisphere.
crooked, glacial fjords
In November the War
with dicey approaches.
Department secretly
The mild, yet
contracted with Pan
changeable climate of
American Airways
Iceland’s coasts were
to build or expand
a surprising contrast
commercial
to the inland ice
airfields in
fields. Reykjavik, the
Central and South
capital of Iceland,
America and the
means “Smoky Bay”,
Caribbean with
so named by the
the understanding
first settler in the 9th century
24 Volume1#4 Bomber Legends
they would be designed to accommodate future
military conversion. The U.S. government fully funded
all construction, but as far as the host nations knew, they
were strictly commercial enterprises. This covert plan
precluded any appearance of U.S. mobilization and
obviated the need for any formal military accords with
those countries. In cooperation with the Army Corps of
Engineers, Pan Am built several of the Brazilian airfields
on the Southern Route including Amapá, São Lúis, Natal,
Recife, and Belém. In April 1941 the U.S. entered an
agreement with the Free Danish authorities whereby the
U.S would provide defense of Greenland in exchange for
the right to construct air bases and other facilities
on the subcontinent.
The U.S. also
took over defense of Iceland in July
1941 in a similar agreement with Britain, releasing
His Majesty’s forces there for more essential military
operations elsewhere.
The Northern Route – Red, White and Bluie
The U.S. War Department originally conceived a plan
to build secret AAF bases on the subcontinent of
Greenland as a forward defense, and from which a
bombing campaign could be conducted against the
Nazis in the event that Great Britain was conquered.
Code named “Bluie” by Secretary of War Harry
Stimson, there were eventually nine bases on the
west side of Greenland commonly used on the ferry
route: Bluie West 1 through 9, and five bases on the
east side known as Bluie East 1 through 5.
Bluie West 1, or BW-1, stands out in the
memories of the many Air Transport Command
pilots and combat replacement crews
that landed there en route to the United Kingdom.
Above: C-87
It was primarily used by these ferrying groups in the Liberator at
events of emergency or bad weather on the leg from Bluie West 1,
Greenland. Photo
Newfoundland to Iceland. The landing strip, which credit: Richard A.
was located inside an inverted L-shaped fjord, was Peterson.
carved into the base of a mountain at sea level.
A comparatively short runway ran uphill from the
water’s edge and ended at the foot of the mountain.
Large chunks of ice floating in the azure blue waters
were visible from the air. Not your typical landing
approach! Most of the BW and BE air bases also Left: Outside engine
included weather stations, artillery emplacements, change of the B-17
rescue support sites, and navigation aids. Weather by the 2nd Air Base
Group, Iceland. 25
fronts sweeping down from the arctic toward the July 1942.
European continent encountered Greenland first,
enabling meteorologists at Bluie and other Greenland
stations to provide fairly reliable forecasts to Headquarters
8th AF where bombing targets were selected each day.
The Crimson Route – Short-Lived. As deployments
of AAF combat units to Great Britain were planned, it was
anticipated the airfields in New England and
Left: Fowler,
a ground crew
member from the
389th Bomb Group,
standing next to a
B-24 at Goose Bay
Labrador. The crew
was heading home
at the time.May-
June 1945. Photo
credit: Richard A.
Peterson.

Bomber Legends Volume1#4 25

 Southern Route – The Loooooooooong Way!

The Southern Atlantic Route covered roughly 10,000

miles.  Despite being almost four times longer than the
Northern Route at 2,700 miles,its superior weather made it
generally safer, especially in the winter months. President
Roosevelt used this route when traveling to and from the
Casablanca and Teheran conferences in January and
November 1943.  But its long legs across empty ocean on
the Southern Route required precise navigation; the hop
to tiny Ascension Island was particularly unforgiving.  The
Labrador would be unable to handle an danger was flouted with dark humor in the couplet, “If
Above: Quonset
Huts at Meeks ever-increasing volume of overseas movement and ferry you should miss Ascension, your wife will get a pension.”
Field, Iceland. traffic. Thus, an alternate route from the western states to Fliers of this route likely hoped to bypass Ascension
Burrrrr... the British Isles was devised.The AAF first began using this Island’s Wideawake Field and fly direct from South
route in the summer of 1942. Code named the Crimson America to Africa. This dismal and isolated volcanic rock
Route, it included bases in Manitoba, Southampton isle of 34 square miles was about midway between Brazil
Island, and Baffin Island, the Canadian jumping-off point and Africa. When the landing strip was first opened,
Right: B-24D of huge flocks of birds posed a serious danger to air traffic
6th Antisubmarine as they swarmed into the flight path during airplane
Squadron, 479th takeoffs. The birds were finally persuaded to relocate
Antisubmarine
Group, returning to another part of the island thanks to an ornithologist
from patrol. Gander, from the American Museum of Natural History. Water was
Newfoundland,
1943. Photo scarce, amenities nonexistent. Everything was in short
credit: Richard A. supply except bird guano. Leave it to the Army Corps of
Peterson. Engineers to find a use for this resource... housing on the
post was constructed of guano bricks. Lovely.
From intriguing to boring,beautiful to dreary, freezing
to Greenland. Two of the bases, code-named Crystal 2 to broiling, heavenly to hellish, it is not surprising that 60-
and Crystal 3, were also weather stations. The AAF’s use year-old memories of these way stations have not faded,
of the Crimson Route tapered off and eventually was and are often vividly recounted in veterans’ articles and
discontinued in late 1943 as additional airfields built or letters. Their fascinating stories inspired this writer to
enlarged in New England and Newfoundland proved learn more and share this article.
capable of handling the increasing traffic.

Left: Quonset
Huts in Iceland
used by bomber
crews transitioning
back to the states,
1945. Photo
credit: Richard A.
Peterson.

26 Volume1#4 Bomber Legends

Right: Ascension’s only
vegetation grows on
perpetually cloud-capped
Green Mountain (in
distance) which serves as
landmark for pilots. Credit:
Ivan Dmitri— Flight to
Everywhere.

Left: The Gold Coast of Africa,

300 miles north of the equator.
Credit: Ivan Dmitri— Flight to
Everywhere.

Right: Wideawake Field on

Ascension Island. Water and
supplies were strictly rationed
on this tiny island in the
Atlantic nearly 1200 miles
from the nearest continent.
Comforts and entertaining
diversions were also in short
supply. Credit: National
Archives Courtesy N.A., USAF
Collection (#342-FH-3A-
00654-B-26677-AC)

Bomber Legends Volume1#4 27