The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
for the use of BW-8 contemplated also a landing field on the east
coast of Greenland on the direct line of flight to Iceland, but surveys
conducted during 1941 by Capt. Elliott Roosevelt and others failed
to locate a suitable site for an airdrome.120A satisfactory site near
Angmagssalik was found the following summer, and construction of
the landing strip was completed in the fall of 1942.~" The route
through BW-8 was planned as an alternate line of flight for aircraft
moving from Goose Bay to Iceland during the periods when bad
weather made landings impossible a t BW-I or when facilities a t the
latter base were overloaded. Surprisingly enough, the flying weather
proved to be better along the alternate route through BW-8 and
across the icecap of central Greenland than to the south along the
route through BW-1.lZ2
T w o British airdromes in Iceland, at Reykjavik and Kaldadarnes,
had been developed prior to the arrival of the first American occupa-
tion forces in July 1941. Built to accommodate the lighter types of
aircraft used for defensive purposes, neither of the fields was suitable
for large-scale ferrying of multi-engine bombers, and considerable
improvement of the two bases became necessary in 1942. Sites for two
other bases were found in the Keflavik area, and construction of what
were to become Meeks and Patterson fields was begun in the spring
At the western end of the North Atlantic route the principal termi-
nal bases were located a t Presque Isle and Houlton, Maine, and a t
Dorval airport near Montreal. Prestwick in Scotland became the east-
ern terminal of the route, with Stornoway in the Hebrides serving as
an alternate landing field. The Presque Isle and Houlton bases had
been planned originally to serve as transfer points at which Ferrying
Command crews would turn over aircraft to the British for trans-
oceanic delivery. Construction of facilities at the bases was authorized
in August 1941, and the work proceeded through the fall under the
direction of Ferrying Command control officers. The Presque Isle
base, ready for limited operations by October, became the main port
of embarkation for American aircraft flying the Atlantic either direct
or by the short-range route. Here, in January 1942, the headquarters
of the newly activated North Atlantic Sector of the Ferrying Com-
mand was established. Houlton became an alternate landing field.lz4
All of these preparations would have been incomplete without pro-
vision for the weather service and communications system which are
Of 1942
34-4