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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 0708.PDF
MARCH 19, 1936. FLIGHT. TO AMERICA via the ARCTIC Possibilities of the Northern Route for Air Line Operation : Comparatively Short " Hops " : London to New York in 36 Hours ? By JOHN GRIERSON HAVING been laughed at ever since I returned from Canada in 1934 for wasting (a) my time and (b) my money in flying over the icy deserts of the Arctic, I now find some consolation in Pan American's proposals for Arctic Air Route test flights. Had this enterprising firm been British, the consolation would have been greater, but in air trans port one must adopt an international outlook, even if it means that others may develop an Empire airway. The reason why I flew across Greenland was because I believed that a transatlantic route, using Nature's stepping- stones to keep the stages down to about 600 miles, should have a great future. And my experiences, despite the considerable handicaps of handling a seaplane solo and of being backed by insufficient funds, have strengthened my initial belief. There are no insuperable obstacles. The route which I suggest, allowing the stages to reach a maximum of 700 miles, in view of recent progress in flying-boat design, would be as follows: — Statute miles London (Rochester)—Scalloway (Shetlands) Scalloway—Reykjavik (Iceland) . . (Emergency harbours at Thorshavn, Faroes, 225 miles, and at Hornafjord, Iceland, 525 miles.) Reykjavik—Angmagssalik (Greenland) Angmagssalik—Godthaab (Greenland) Godthaab—Wakeham Bay (Hudson Strait) Wakeham Bay—Povungnetuk (Hudson Bay) Povungnetuk—Eastmain (Hudson Bay) Eastmain—Ottawa Ottawa—New York Total approx. 600 700 480 430 685 225 53° 500 340 4,490 miles. The author at Ottawa during his flight ; with him is Wing Cdr. Godfrey, C/O of the Royal Canadian Air Force at Ottawa. (Below) A photograph taken by Mr. Grierson of the coastal mountains of East Greenland, with icebergs floating in the sea. Pan-American Airways, in conjunction with Danish Air Lines, are to make test flights this summer over the Greenland route between New York and Copenhagen. Mr. John Grierson, who flew a fox Moth seaplane solo along this line in 1934, describes the route's potentialities in this article, specially written for "Flight." ^fmrnmr
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