Photos taken by James Louis Blilie,
1951-1952: Thule Greenland, Goose Bay Labrador
"Arctic Days"
All images are copyright © James W. Blilie, 2010, All rights reserved
This page is under
construction.
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1940s and 1950s Photos by James L Blilie
Korea and the Philippines 1952-53
Arctic Days, by James L. Blilie
"In the years 1951 and 1952, I, James L. Blilie, while on duty with the United States Air Force, spent about 13 months
on assignment in Greenland and in northern Labrador, six months in Thule Greenland, six months in Goose Bay Labrador,
and month or so, a few days at a time, in various places in those regions.
"During these times, I took quite a number of photographs -- some in black and white, and some as color slides [Kodachrome,
a relatively new film at the time], from a selected few of which I had color prints made. [my note: I have scanned and posted
all of the available, usable slides he took in the Arctic. Some of his old slides were damaged due to exposure to high
humidity environments such as Florida and Manila, the Philippines.]
"I also include color prints made from slides given me by my friend Stand Olson, who was also a navigator. ..."
Continued ... Click HERE for complete text. [I'll have this up as text here soon. My Dad put this together as a book.]
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| Navigation diagram of the high arctic of eastern North America. Figure 1 in "Arctic Days" | View of Greenland, passing Neville Bay | C-54 nearing touch-down at Thule, Greenland | The deluxe quarters at Thule | Photo of the Thule airstrip from the high ridge running parallel to the airstrip |
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| The distinctive landmark for Thule: The Dundas mount, north of Thule. A mesa near the tip of a long, very low peninsula. Looking N from the beach at Thule | The "Shack" at Thule. Flight Ops and much more. | C-54 - the most frequent visitor at Thule | "Operations Shack, also control tower, electrical power generation site, and more." | Stan Olson on the Ridge at Thule |
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| Thule: Casey | Thule: Burns |
Thule Inuit
"A Friendly Lot" |
Thule Inuit | Thule Inuit |
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| Thule Inuit |
Thule Inuit
"This old man went with Peary on the final dash to the North Pole in 1908" |
"Sgt Ed Peck, Our medical technician. I called him "Doc". We had no MD so one man's leg was broken unloading cargo and we got him on our next plane to Goose Bay." | James L. Blilie and "Aknatakalic" (Thule) | Danish B-17, "Store Bjorn" (Big Bear) over shoots the runway |
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| Store Bjorn stuck in the mud | "Handy, Thompson, and Wood ready to pull loose Store Bjorn" | "All Heave!!!" | Store Bjorn unstuck | Store Bjorn's nose artwork |
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| Floating ice | Building the "New Mess" Lt. John Rogers and Fish Hassel | Angel Soto, from Puerto Rico | Game of Swish, Thule | Newcomers to Thule: John Duke and Alan Edwards |
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| Fleet approaching Thule with materials and equipment to build a new airfield. | Supply fleet passing Saunders Island | Supply fleet at the Dundas | Launching the landing craft | Supply fleet LSTs unloading at Thule beach |
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| Construction work | Construction work | Visitor from the supply fleet flag ship | The processing hut | Thule |
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| West coast of Greenland near Sonderstrum Fjord | Coast of Greenland | Goose Bay Labrador: Black spruce | Goose Bay | Sgt Peterson |
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| Goose Bay James L Blilie MATS Liaison Officer | Goose Bay: James L Blilie and John Kasper | Goose Bay | James L Blilie at Narsarssuak, Greenland | Goose Bay Labrador |
 
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| Goose Bay Labrador | Goose Bay, James L Blilie | Goose Bay Labrador | Goose Bay Labrador | Goose Bay Labrador |
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| Goose Bay, Sgt Lemen | Goose Bay Labrador | Goose Bay Labrador | Goose Bay Labrador | Sonderstrum, Greenland, Pete Skopic |
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| Sonderstrum, Greenland, Lt. James L Blilie | Sonderstrum, Greenland | Pete Skopic at Airstrip BW8, up at the end of Greenland's Sonderstrum Fjord | James L Blilie at BW8 | at BW8 |
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| Weathermen at BW8 |
Back to James L. Blilie Index Page
1940s and 1950s Photos by James L Blilie
Korea and the Philippines 1952-53
Background image is black spruce near Goose Bay Labrador, 1951
Last updated: 25-Sep-2010
