RCAF To Thule and Alert

[Kip Powick]

This is a bit of a "hero" story about the Air Force's flights to supply Alert, via Thule. 

I did not fly the C-17 but can attest to  doing  88 of these missions with the C-130 during my time with 436(T) and 426(T) Squadrons at Trenton. The remarks about the dubious weather, at times, are spot on,

PS...If you didn't know it, Thule's runway is painted White with red markings...White so it reflects the sunlight, does not get warm, and settle into the permafrost landscape......and their golf course is gravel / tundra with poor  beach sand 'greens".....One carries a piece of AstroTurf to place the ball on for each shot...except the "greens".

 

Flying North

[conehead]

It would have been nice if the reporter got the titles of the crew correct.  There is no such thing as a "machinist" or "electrician" in the RCAF.  They would have been AVN or AVS Techs, or possibly a Flight Engineer.

[GDR]

I'm not sure about the "hero" thing. Like Kip I flew a number of "Boxtop" missions into Alert and it was as much fun as I ever had flying. We didn't have GPS  or usually even an ILS. The navigator could pick up the barrels on the end of the runway on the radar, we could get down low over the ocean and land. Mind you, landing a Herc in Alert is probably a bit easier than a C!17. )