{"id":24249703,"date":"2026-09-23T14:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/bluie-west-one-narsarsuaq-greenland-airfield-closed-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T14:42:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:42:54","slug":"bluie-west-one-narsarsuaq-greenland-airfield-closed-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/bluie-west-one-narsarsuaq-greenland-airfield-closed-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Bluie West One: The Fjord Airfield That Fed a War and Just Closed"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n\r\n<p>There is a moment on the approach to Narsarsuaq where the decision stops being yours. You have turned into the fjord. The water is below, the rock is on both sides, and the channel is too narrow and the walls too high to turn around in. The only way out is forward, to a runway you cannot yet see.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>For eighty-four years, pilots flew that approach. On 17 April 2026 the last one did.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Greenland moved its fixed-wing services to a new airport at Qaqortoq the day before, and Bluie West One \u2014 the airfield that fed ten thousand aircraft into the war against Germany \u2014 became a heliport.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f8;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:18px 22px;margin:26px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:17px;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><table style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Name<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Bluie West One, later Narsarsuaq Air Base, then Narsarsuaq Airport (BGBW)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Built<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">US Army construction from mid-1941; first aircraft landed January 1942<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Why there<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">A wide patch of glacial moraine at the head of a navigable fjord, the only usable ground for miles<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Wartime role<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Link in the North Atlantic ferry route to Britain<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Peak strength<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">About 4,000 American servicemen<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Aircraft passed through<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Roughly 10,000<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Handed to Denmark<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">1958<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Closed to aeroplanes<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">17 April 2026; fixed-wing traffic moved to the new airport at Qaqortoq on 16 April<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Status now<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Heliport only, serving the local community<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why Greenland mattered<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>In 1941 Britain was losing supply ships faster than it could replace them. Aircraft shipped across the Atlantic in crates were being sunk in the crates. The answer was to fly them instead, and flying them meant stepping stones.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>There was a second reason, less often told. Southern Greenland held the largest cryolite mine in the world, and cryolite was essential to smelting aluminium. Germany had been interested in it since the 1930s. An aluminium supply is an aircraft industry, and nobody wanted to find out what Germany would do with the mine.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Roosevelt and Churchill settled the arrangement at a secret meeting in Newfoundland. American reconnaissance flights went looking for somewhere in southern Greenland flat enough to build on, which in a country of fjords and ice is a genuinely difficult request. They found one patch of glacial moraine at the head of a navigable fjord, near a tiny settlement called Narsarssuaq.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/bluie-west-one-narsarsuaq-air-base-greenland-1942-aerial.jpg\" alt=\"Aerial view of Bluie West One air base in Greenland in 1942\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Bluie West One in 1942. Two runways cut into a glacial moraine, with mountains on three sides and the fjord as the only way in. Photo: US Army Air Forces<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Construction started in mid-1941 and took a year: a 5,000-foot pierced-steel-mat runway, barracks, a radar station on top of a mountain, and a non-directional beacon on the island of Simiutaq at the fjord mouth so that crews could confirm they were entering the right fjord. A half-sunken freighter provided a mid-fjord checkpoint until it sank completely.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Bluie was the code word for Greenland. West meant the western coast. One meant this was the southernmost of the airfields. Bluie West Eight, built by October 1941 some 250 miles north, is the field the Danish F-35s landed at last week \u2014 today it is called Kangerlussuaq.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Ten thousand aircraft<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The route ran Presque Isle in Maine, Goose Bay in Labrador, Bluie West One, then Reykjavik or Keflavik, then Prestwick in Scotland \u2014 with no single leg longer than about 850 miles. It was built so that single-engine fighters could cross an ocean.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>In mid-June 1942 Major General Carl Spaatz radioed from Bluie West One, mid-crossing, and ordered the Eighth Air Force movement to Britain to begin. P-38s and P-39s went over shepherded by longer-legged B-17s. Four thousand troops were stationed at BW-1 at its peak. An Army hospital arrived in 1943.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Once the pilot entered the fjord, he was essentially committed: The fjord\u2019s narrow channel and mountainous walls made a 180-degree turn practically impossible.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Thomas A. Horne<\/strong> &mdash; AOPA, on the approach into Narsarsuaq, March 2026<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/sb-17-rescue-aircraft-narsarsuaq-air-base-greenland.jpg\" alt=\"Two SB-17 rescue aircraft of the 51st Rescue Squadron on the ramp at Narsarsuaq Air Base\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">SB-17 rescue aircraft of the 51st Rescue Squadron on the Narsarsuaq ramp. In the Cold War the base became a refuelling stop for jets and helicopters crossing the North Atlantic. Photo: US Air Force<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The tugboat and the icebergs<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The base did not stop being strange after the war. The USAF kept it through the early Cold War as a refuelling station for jet fighters and helicopters crossing the Atlantic, and paved the runway in concrete.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Jets need a longer take-off run than propeller aircraft, and take-offs at Narsarsuaq are made westward, out over the basin. So the base kept a small tugboat whose job was to push icebergs out of the way of departing aircraft.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;We went swimming in a pond atop a mountain overlooking the glacier behind the base. The water was crystal clear and very cold. There was a very large rock jutting out into the water and we would dive off of it and immediately swim to shore, lay out in the sun to warm up and dry.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Harold Patton<\/strong> &mdash; US Air Police at Bluie West One, 1952\u201353<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Aerial refuelling and the opening of Thule in the far north eventually made BW-1 redundant. It was handed to the Danish government of Greenland in 1958 and carried on as a civil airport, with a 6,000-foot paved runway, serving Air Greenland and \u2014 crucially for a certain kind of aviator \u2014 light aircraft crossing the Atlantic.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LVCv60SKs8U\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The approach from the cockpit of a King Air, which is the clearest way to understand why this airfield had a reputation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A rite of passage, and a long list of reasons not to<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Narsarsuaq sits roughly midway between Goose Bay and Reykjavik, which makes it the natural fuel stop for piston singles and twins with ferry tanks and four to seven hours of endurance. Generations of ferry pilots therefore had no realistic alternative.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>What they got in exchange: low ceilings, high terrain, minimums around 1,800 feet, high winds, a final approach fix nine miles out, a missed approach point three miles from the threshold, and a missed approach procedure full of tight turns near mountains. The field closed at night and on holidays. You were fined for landing on a Sunday. For a long time there were no terminal forecasts at all, and the weather reports only existed while the tower was open.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;The mountains press so close to the runway that, if you are in the window seat of your Air Iceland Bombardier, you can\u2019t help wondering if the wingtip is going to scrape on the rock.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Daniel Ford<\/strong> &mdash; Writer and historian, on visiting Narsarsuaq in 2005<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The nominated alternate was Kangerlussuaq, 250 miles away, which has better weather and a 9,000-foot runway \u2014 and which is a deeply unpleasant leg to contemplate when you are short of fuel.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The last landing<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Greenland decided in 2018 to close the field to aeroplanes and build a proper airport at Qaqortoq, 37 nautical miles south and much closer to the people it serves. Qaqortoq has a 4,900-foot runway and terrain that, while not flat, is nothing like the three-thousand-footers wrapped around Narsarsuaq. In October 2025 the layoffs began; around seventy jobs went as the field wound down.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sSQ-I81Z28U\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The last aeroplane to land at BGBW, filmed from the cockpit of a Cessna Caravan.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The airfield is still there. The runway is still there. The mountains are certainly still there.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YHFVKPueOfs\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Greenland Airports still points a live camera down the field, which is a peculiar thing to watch: a runway in working order, in daylight, with nothing coming.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: AOPA (Thomas A. Horne, March 2026); Air Force Historical Research Agency; warbirdforum.com (Daniel Ford), including correspondence from Harold Patton and Harold Case; Greenland Airports; Ernest K. Gann, Fate Is the Hunter.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What was Bluie West One?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Bluie West One was the American air base built in southern Greenland in 1941 at what is now Narsarsuaq. It became the key refuelling stop on the North Atlantic ferry route, and an estimated 10,000 aircraft passed through it on their way to the war in Europe and North Africa.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why was it called Bluie West One?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Bluie was the American code word for Greenland. West indicated the western coast, and One meant it was the most southerly of the Greenland airfields and harbours. Bluie West Eight, about 250 nautical miles north, is today Kangerlussuaq Airport.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why is the approach into Narsarsuaq so difficult?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The airfield sits at the head of a long fjord, surrounded by mountains rising to around 3,000 feet. The standard arrival is a low-level flight up the fjord, and once inside it a 180-degree turn is effectively impossible. Weather in southern Greenland is frequently poor.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why do aircraft always land in one direction at Narsarsuaq?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The runway slopes uphill from west to east, so landings are made to the east and take-offs to the west almost regardless of wind direction. Sloping-runway airfields trade the usual into-wind logic for gravity.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>When did Narsarsuaq Airport close?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Fixed-wing services transferred to the newly built airport at Qaqortoq on 16 April 2026, and Narsarsuaq closed to aeroplanes the following day. The field remains open as a heliport for the local community after eighty-four years of aircraft operations.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did Greenland close Narsarsuaq?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The decision was taken in 2018. The terrain, weather and approach made it a difficult and limited airfield, and Qaqortoq about 37 nautical miles south is closer to the population it serves. Qaqortoq has a 4,900-foot runway and far less surrounding terrain.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What role did Greenland play in the Second World War?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Beyond the ferry route, Greenland held the world\u2019s largest cryolite mine, which Germany had shown interest in since the 1930s. Cryolite was essential to aluminium production and therefore to aircraft manufacture, which sharpened American interest in defending the island.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Can civilians still fly into Narsarsuaq?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Not in an aeroplane. The airfield is now helicopter-only. Transatlantic light aircraft that once used it as the natural midpoint between Goose Bay and Reykjavik now plan around Qaqortoq or Kangerlussuaq instead.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was Bluie West One?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Bluie West One was the American air base built in southern Greenland in 1941 at what is now Narsarsuaq. It became the key refuelling stop on the North Atlantic ferry route, and an estimated 10,000 aircraft passed through it on their way to the war in Europe and North Africa.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why was it called Bluie West One?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Bluie was the American code word for Greenland. West indicated the western coast, and One meant it was the most southerly of the Greenland airfields and harbours. 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Transatlantic light aircraft that once used it as the natural midpoint between Goose Bay and Reykjavik now plan around Qaqortoq or Kangerlussuaq instead.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/danish-f-35a-kangerlussuaq-greenland-arctic-sentry-2026\/\">Danish F-35s Land in Greenland for the First Time<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thule-1968-b-52-crash-broken-arrow-project-crested-ice\/\">Thule 1968: Four Hydrogen Bombs on the Greenland Ice<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/kee-bird-b29-greenland-recovery-1995\/\">The B-29 That Almost Came Home<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ten thousand aircraft crossed the Atlantic through a strip of glacial moraine at the head of a Greenland fjord. In April 2026 the last aeroplane landed there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":24249329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24249703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bluie West One: Greenland\u2019s Fjord Airfield Closes | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ten thousand aircraft crossed the Atlantic through Bluie West One at Narsarsuaq. 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