Evening star., 1934-04-29

~ NtlIiltI 10 ItleSIdpu IultS, Railways,
radio beacons. lis hted arways or
NJ even landing fields point out the
worlds most northern airman run to
the pilots who have been flying it
for the last five Winters and four Summers
Only three fatal accidents have occurred along
the route. and these were not on scheduled
runs of the Arctic airman.
While in the United States and other coun-
tries intercity airmail services have been de-
veloped, in Canada the airmail only speeds to
outlying settlements which mail would other
wise reach but few times a year. Beyond
the railways the airplanes travel with mall
newspapers and parcel post starting where the
iron horse leaves of. Each year sees more
settlements receiving airmail.
This year the airmail service touched the
Arctic Ocean.
The radio operator at Cameron Bay, Great
Bear Lake, received word from the operator at
Rae, 800 miles to the south, that Walter Gil
bert and Postal Inspector r. w. Hale of
Edmonton had hoped off northward bound.
They had had bad trip with their heavy
load Of inaugural mail. Snowstorms had forced
the ski-equipped cabin ship down more than
once. But they had successfully crossed frozen
Great Slave Lake, from Fort Resolution, 700
miles on the way on the new airman route.
DELOW the plane, Gilbert, his mechanic, Lou
- Parmenter, and Hale only desolate
waste Of ice and snow and some scrubby trees.
Frozen lakes, winding frozen rivers connect
ing the lakes, stood out even in that expanSe
OF white barrens. That white ribbon was their
map
No signs of habitation only snow and ice,
sometimes windswept rock below. From Rae
to Cameron Bay there was no habitation.
crash meant being marooned for days till a
rescue plane would come, perhaps death in this
coolest Winter the Canadian Arctic has had in
years.
A forced landing in this area was not to be
thought of. In the few hours Of daylight It
would mean spending the night on the wind
swept ice, and then hours of work to thaw out
the frozen oil in the engine before the engine
would roar again. Even a minor break was
not to be considered
Often had Parmenter and Gilbert on other
Arctic runs been forced down in Midwinter to
make repair Sometimes they carried small
portable stove, and tarpaulins to stretch over
the engine and down to the ground. The stove
and the shelter served to keep the engine warm
as well as the men.
Frequently had they worked while the ther-
mometer stood at 80 or more below zero to fix
some part that they could go on with the
mail That was bitter work, with m1ttened
hands and cold metal parts in that extreme
cold, and only portable stove at most to give
q little heat.
On this trip they had luck. There were no
forced landings from Rae to Cameron Bay,
Wfere neSte among Tile Hills tIlc uilAnl6 CoAhkS
of the Great Bear Lake silver-radium field
Here much of the airman was left, the plane
refueled checked out and headed for the Arctic
Ocean. The radio sped word north to Cop
permine. The first airman to the shores OF
the Arctic Ocean had left.
It was a 15O-mile flight. The thermometer
dropped. The sky darkened early, snow was
in the air and far off the fog from the ocean
could be seen drifting to meet them
TOWN and down went the mercury, till 40
- and so below passed. and still 1t
dropped. It would seem engines could not run
In this cold, but still Gilbert headed North.
Flat rock, rolling rocky hills, frozen rivers,
marked the way. No trees no vegetation, only
whiteness and wndswept gray rock Inhospi-
table country to those who passed above it in
heated cabin plane.
few cabins came into view below. A few
people could be seen standing about, looking
aloft Up above it was colder than so below
Eero the ground temperature at Coppermine
that morning Of January ID, 1894. But the