Happy Valley Goose Bay
I was fortunate enough to do a few charters trips last summer giving me a break from the exciting world of scheduled flying. We had to pick up Air Cadets from a few cities in the east and bring them to 14 Wing Military base in Greenwood, Nova Scotia. My first flight left at dawn and it was beautiful flight up from Halifax. We flew across Cape Breton Island, across the Gulf of St. Lawrence and along the rocky, fjord-ridden, western coast of Newfoundland to St. Anthony. I don't have too much else to say because there was only an airport.........on a rock......with some little lakes nearby.
Here is the magnificent landscape of northern Newfoundand, near St. Anthony. Absolutely nothin!
Oh......I do see a hill. That's it! We loaded up our Cadets and we were off.
Then we arrived in Goose Bay......Happy Valley Goose Bay, that is. For those of you that know anything about it, I am sorry to be so surprised as to what is here...
This airplane is truly a thing of beauty. Le Dash-Huit, as we call it here in Quebec. This is the Dash 8 100 model and I actually fly a 300 model as well, which is longer and holds a few more passengers.
Looking eastward, this is the mouth of the Churchill River that flows into Lake Melville which in turn flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
Looking to the West, the Churchill River meanders through the rocky landscape of Labrador to the coast.
Well, finally the goods about this place. Goose Bay was a very important military airport during the Cold War. Many countries used it as a staging area for whatever their needs may have been. This photo is of a retired Avro Vulcan. It was a subsonic nuclear bomber used by the RAF from 1953 to 1984 when it was retired from service. Only 136 were built and only one operates to this day. Maybe this one was was tired after all of it's work and decided to skip the trip home and stay here......forever.
There are acres and acres of paved parking for airplanes. I was absolutely amazed that an airport of this size was here. The terminal is tiny but that is not what the airport was built to serve.
There are massive hangars all over the base. Until only a few years ago, many countries would bring their military planes here and practice, high speed, low level flying. It was quite a busy military airport for many years after the Cold War.
This is a DC-3 and is somewhat of a common sight to see the further north a person travels, but not this particular one. Instead of radial engines, this one has gone through a turbine conversion. Kind-of a rare sight and actually quite exciting for us pilots.
Finally we arrived at 14 Wing Greenwood. There were half a dozen P-3 Auroras parked on the ramp. The last time I saw a P-3 was back out on the west coast in Comox, BC.
And so we come to the conclusion of my trip to Happy Valley, Goose Bay.
Here is the magnificent landscape of northern Newfoundand, near St. Anthony. Absolutely nothin!
Oh......I do see a hill. That's it! We loaded up our Cadets and we were off.
Then we arrived in Goose Bay......Happy Valley Goose Bay, that is. For those of you that know anything about it, I am sorry to be so surprised as to what is here...
This airplane is truly a thing of beauty. Le Dash-Huit, as we call it here in Quebec. This is the Dash 8 100 model and I actually fly a 300 model as well, which is longer and holds a few more passengers.
Looking eastward, this is the mouth of the Churchill River that flows into Lake Melville which in turn flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
Looking to the West, the Churchill River meanders through the rocky landscape of Labrador to the coast.
Well, finally the goods about this place. Goose Bay was a very important military airport during the Cold War. Many countries used it as a staging area for whatever their needs may have been. This photo is of a retired Avro Vulcan. It was a subsonic nuclear bomber used by the RAF from 1953 to 1984 when it was retired from service. Only 136 were built and only one operates to this day. Maybe this one was was tired after all of it's work and decided to skip the trip home and stay here......forever.
There are acres and acres of paved parking for airplanes. I was absolutely amazed that an airport of this size was here. The terminal is tiny but that is not what the airport was built to serve.
There are massive hangars all over the base. Until only a few years ago, many countries would bring their military planes here and practice, high speed, low level flying. It was quite a busy military airport for many years after the Cold War.
This is a DC-3 and is somewhat of a common sight to see the further north a person travels, but not this particular one. Instead of radial engines, this one has gone through a turbine conversion. Kind-of a rare sight and actually quite exciting for us pilots.
Finally we arrived at 14 Wing Greenwood. There were half a dozen P-3 Auroras parked on the ramp. The last time I saw a P-3 was back out on the west coast in Comox, BC.
And so we come to the conclusion of my trip to Happy Valley, Goose Bay.
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