Air Force the Official Service Journal - Air Force Historical Studies ...

Lifeline to the US,S R
BY HERBERT RINGOLD
T
lIE 1'--+0 \\'as blown into a blizzard hv a so mile an
hour wind. The pilot climhed to I-Ul()O feet without
oxygen~his pl.mc had no o'(\'gen, Ile couldn't contact
h i, hlse~he had no radio, I lc couldn't see~the snow
froze to his windsh ickl. lIe couldu' t Lmd~the terra in \I;IS
covered hv gi;mt trees .mc] ja£';ged mouu tu in peaks. I Ic
couldn't hail out-c-at the hriefing he had been told th.rt even
if thcv knew where he went clown it would take three
montl;s to rescue him, Turning hack I\'as ;111 academic que,tion-i--hc
didn't know where he Iyas. There \ya, nothing he
could do hnt ,L\\' there and flv his airplane. linullv, after
battling conditions as bad as am' ever faced bv American
airmcn, he brought his plane into Ladd Field, Ah,ka. lie
had completed a flight over the treacherous A'ortll\le,t Route
from Crcat Falls, Vlout., to Fa irb.mks. Alaska, where a
Russian pilot \\'as \I'aiting to move his plane across Sibcriu
aru] into battle.
This Il'as I (H2. The wa r I\'as not going according to plan.
In June, the [aps bombed Dutch Harbor. Our small defense
forces could not prevent them from making three successful
landings in the Aleutians. In Africa, Rommel had captured
'I'obruk and was pushing toward Alexandria. Onlv a hnstilv
reorgani/,ed British .mnv stood between his Afrika Korps and
German control of the Suez Canal. The USSR had lost
Rostov and Scvastopol. 0:;lI,i Ccncral Von Bock was grinding
up in force for the critical battle of Stalingrad. Both the
Alaskan Air Forces and the Russians needed airpluucs-c--and
in one hell of a hurrv.
Some felY planes were going to the Soviet Union the hard
\Yay-around Africa and up the Persian Gulf bv bo.rt and
then
were
ovcrl.md
sh ippcd
across
via the
Iran-I1,OOO tortuous miles, Others
l\ runna nsk route. but a m urdcrous percentage
of the ships was heing lost to U-boats and i\'orwa\,based
Dorniers. It W:lS obvious th.it a more efficient ferry
route would have to he opened to Russia. .
24
Air Force Staff
It lIas opened. Bv mid-l C)H. more th.iu :;.000 planes had
been delivered to the Rusvi.uis mer the :\ortlllle,t Route,
lrf tv-u inc percent were P-1()s, hut :\-20" p-())S and B,2)s
were moved up the run as hst ;IS the Ruv.i.m., could take
them into Sibcri». TOc!;1\', deliveries arc heing made at the
Lite of one cvcrv h;1If hour. It's an ach icvcmcnt of which
Americans can {\'ell he proud. It has played an important
p;lrt in the \\'inning of this war.
In the heginning, 11O\\CI'er, it was a rough deal. Back in
i\'melllher, 1(HO, the Uuitc«] Stites-Canadian Pcnu.mcut
Joint Board of Defense had rcconuucudcd the development
of an air route from the United St.i tcs to luirb.mkx. }