laststandonzombieisland

The new and more permanent (the old 1951 pact was only in effect as long as NATO existed) three-way military agreement between Greenland, Denmark, and the U.S. has a couple of big takeaways.

One is the green light for the U.S. to modernize and expand its activities in Pituffik Space Base (the old Thule AB from 1951-2023, formerly Bluie West-6 Air Field from 1943-1946), as well as “to be allowed to establish an additional Defense Area at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig in accordance with modalities and technical details to be mutually agreed by the Parties.”

The thing is, we’ve been there before.

Bluie West One Memories

Starting with 14 U.S. Coast Guardsmen recently “discharged” from the service who took up newly established positions as uniformed security guards on the staff of the Invigtut cryolite mine, delivered by the USCGC Comanche in May 1940– just a month after Germany occupied Denmark– the U.S. military established no less than 26 bases dotted around the Greenlandic coastline by 1945.

One of the larger bases was Bluie West One (BW-1) on the island’s southern tip. With construction that started in June 1941, before the end of the war, the base housed 4,000 personnel and was the key waypoint along with Bluie West Eight (Sondre Stromfjord / Kangerlussuaq) in the “Blue Spruce” northern ferry route, which saw aircraft leave from RCAF Gander/Goose Bay in Newfoundland/Labrador and make it to Scotland using Greenland and Iceland as refueling stops. More than 10,000 Allied aircraft crossed the Atlantic that way during the war.

The HQ of the Greenland Command, BW-1 was just 776 miles from Gander to the southwest and 748 miles from Meeks Field (later Keflavik AB) in Iceland to the southeast, the perfect midway point, making it possible for even P-38 and P-39 fighters to self-deploy across the Atlantic.

Of course, there were challenges, as the base was located essentially in a bowl.

As noted dryly by DANS-VP:

“Operational conditions from the field were primitive, with 4,000-foot mountains on either side of the runway and the Narasarssuak Fjord at the far end. Flying conditions were frequently IFR, with the installation of radar sets on the aircraft in 1943 a welcome addition.”

VPB-6 (CG)

Further, it proved ideal to base a PBY unit there to help cover convoys across the North Atlantic; only the Navy was cool with somebody else doing it.

On 6 August 1943, Patrol Bombing Squadron (VPB) 6, manned entirely by Coast Guardsmen, began operating from BW-1.

Bombing 6, commanded by USCG CDR Donald B. “Bo Bo” McDiarmid, was to earn a reputation as one of the busiest and most effective in Coast Guard aviation history.

Like every other Coast Guard unit in Greenland, “Bo Bo’s Flying Circus” had to “do a little of everything.” Its PBY-5A Catalinas searched for U-boats and German weather stations, escorted convoys, delivered mail, reported on the movements of the ice, and, on several dozen occasions, guided rescue parties to crashed Army and Navy aircraft.

By November 1944, Bombing 6 had flown 638,998 miles in 6,325 flying hours, searching more than 3 million square miles of ice cap and ocean, and BW-1 had become known as NAF Narsarsuak.

VPB-6 (CG) was ordered back home on 10 July 1945, and the much-reduced NAF was disestablished on 5 February 1951, transferring it to the USAF to operate as Narsarssuak Air Base until November 1958, when it was turned over to the Royal Danish Navy who in 1988 turned it over to the Greenlandic government.

The old 6,000-foot airstrip is still there as the Narsarsuaq Airport. However, with Air Greenland moving its hub to the new strip 30 miles away at Qaqortoq earlier this year, Narsarsuaq is largely empty now– making it ideal for use as a military base once again!

So, logically, let’s base a rotational P-8 (or USCG HC-130J) detachment out of there and bring in occasional rotations of USAF and NATO F-16s, F-18s, and F-35s.

Um,

Kinda like what NORAD and NATO are doing right now with Operation Arctic Vanguard.

Check out this flightline last week at Kangerlussuaq, Greenland (formerly Bluie West-8 during WWII and Sondrestrom Air Base from 1952-92):

As for Mestersvig, the Royal Danish Navy established a Sirius dog sled patrol outpost there in 1988 at the old Blyklippen zinc mine, which was active from 1956-62, and SF teams have exercised there in the past. You could definitely see it expanded to house a rotational company from the 10th Mountain or 11th Airborne a few months a year to give the island subcontinent a bit of a “fire brigade.”