| Sondrestrom Air Base | |
|---|---|
| Type | Military airfield |
| Built | 1941 |
| In use | 1941-1992 |
| Controlled by | United States Air Force |
Sondrestrom Air Base (Bluie West-8) is a former United States Air Force base in Greenland, located 60 mi (97 km) north of the Arctic Circle, 90 mi (140 km) from the northeast end of Kangerlussuaq Fjord (then: Danish: Søndre Strømfjord), after which it was named, approximately 11 mi (18 km) west northwest of Ravneklippen, and 70 mi (110 km) west of Sisimiut.
The base was turned over to the Greenland government in 1992 and is now a civilian community (Kangerlussuaq) and airport (Kangerlussuaq Airport), although the USAF operates a small Air National Guard detachment in the former base.
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.Note: Base not under United States Control 9 October 1950-20 July 1951
Sondrestrom Air Base was founded on 7 October 1941, at the east end of Kangerlussuaq Fjord, under the supervision of Colonel Bernt Balchen of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF).
Use of the northernmost Bluie West 8 field in Greenland involved a l,000-mile hop from Goose Bay, Labrador but provided an alternate landing site when the weather was bad in southern Greenland. A few planes arrived at Bluie West 8 from the Western U.S. via the Crimson route, a line of fields stretching from Manitoba to Baffin Island in northern Canada that the Canadians and the North Atlantic Division of the Corps built in 1942 and 1943.
All told, 920 warplanes attempted the North Atlantic crossing during 1942, and with the aid of the fields built by the Corps, 882, or roughly 95 percent, arrived safely. Air ferry traffic peaked in 1944 when some 5,900 planes successfully crossed the North Atlantic.
Following the fall of Denmark to Germany in World War II, responsibility for the security of Greenland passed to the American military. Military leaders responded by building several bases in Greenland, the largest of which were Bluie West One in Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland and Bluie West Eight, at the Kangerlussuaq fjord.
The base returned briefly to Danish control in 1950, but following mounting concerns about the Cold War threat, a renewed agreement saw the United States reopen Bluie West Eight up under the name of Sondrestrom Air Base on 27 April 1951.
It served as one of the Distant Early Warning Line bases and a supply station for similar early warning facilities. Following the fall of the Soviet Union the usefulness of the base was greatly diminished and the last U.S. Air Force personnel left the base on 30 September 1992.
Since 1971, rockets such as the Nike Apache, Petrel, Nike Tomahawk, Black Brant, Terrier Malemute, Taurus Orion, Terrier Malemute and Taurus Nike Tomahawk TNT have been launched from a site close to Kangerlussuaq (specifically, at ) for examinations of the upper atmosphere.[1]
| Date | Vehicle | Mission | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 August 1971 | Nike-Apache | (DK) | S (225 km) |
| 24 August 1971 | Nike-Apache | (DK) | S (225 km) |
| 10 December 1972 | Nike-Tomahawk | (DK) | S (300 km) |
| 2 July 1974 | Nike-Tomahawk | NASA 18.156IE/UE | S (235 km) |
| 8 July 1974 | Nike-Tomahawk | NASA 18.157IE/UE | S (235 km) |
| 17 December 1974 | Black Brant IV | (GER) MPI | S (595 km) |
| 17 December 1974 | Petrel | (UK) P86G | S (175 km) |
| 17 December 1974 | Petrel | (UK) P87G | S (170 km) |
| 18 December 1974 | Black Brant IV | (GER) MPI | S (550 km) |
| 18 December 1974 | Nike-Tomahawk | (DK) | E (20 km) |
| 18 December 1974 | Petrel | (UK) P166G | S (170 km) |
| 18 December 1974 | Petrel | (UK) P167G | S (170 km) |
| 11 January 1975 | Black Brant IV | (GER) MPI | S (610 km) |
| 22 August 1976 | Nike-Tomahawk | NASA 18.209IE CUSP II | S |
| 27 August 1976 | Nike-Tomahawk | NASA 18.210IE SEC II | S |
| 23 January 1985 | Terrier-Malemute | NASA 29.023UE | S |
| 23 January 1985 | Black Brant X | NASA 35.009UE | S |
| 10 February 1985 | Terrier-Malemute | NASA 29.015UE | S |
| 10 February 1985 | Black Brant X | NASA 35.012UE TOPAZ | S |
| 5 March 1985 | Taurus-Orion | NASA 33.044UE | S |
| 15 March 1985 | Black Brant IX | AFGL A21.426 | |
| 20 March 1985 | Taurus-Tomahawk | NASA 34.006UE | S |
| 20 March 1985 | Nike-Tomahawk | NASA 18.219UE | S |
| 26 February 1987 | Terrier-Malemute | NASA 29.025UE | S |
| 26 February 1987 | Black Brant IX | AFGL A21.628 | |
| 5 March 1987 | Terrier-Malemute | NASA 29.026UE | S |
| 5 March 1987 | Taurus-Nike-Tomahawk | NASA 38.012UE | S |
| 21 March 1987 | Taurus-Tomahawk | NASA 34.014UE | S |
| 21 March 1987 | Nike-Tomahawk | NASA 18.220UE | S |
| 21 March 1987 | Black Brant VIII?IX | AFGL A19.426 | |
| 31 March 1987 | Black Brant IX | NASA 36.014UE COPE II | S (436 km) |
| 31 March 1987 | Taurus-Nike-Tomahawk | NASA 38.010UE COPE II | S (467 km) |
| 31 March 1987 | Taurus-Nike-Tomahawk | NASA 38.011UE COPE II | S (441 km) |
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.