Iqaluit (airport)

Choosing an airport location

At the end of July 1941, a group of the led by Captain conducted a survey of the area around , which was aimed at finding a suitable location for the airport to be used in transatlantic flights. In accordance with the Roosevelt report, Rammelsberg Cape was chosen as a suitable place for future construction. In mid-October, three trawlers — Lark, Polarbjoern, and Selis — reached its vicinity, however, due to the inaccuracy of the maps, they could not find the intended location. Instead, a crew of eight people, under the command of Captain John Crowell, landed on a small island located "about eight miles southeast of the cape recommended by Captain Roosevelt." The expedition reported that "this island has a height of about 400 feet and is well suited, as it provides a natural runway more than a mile long."

In July of the following year, an expedition arrived in the proposed construction area, which was to assess the relief of the proposed area. As a result, the options proposed by Roosevelt and Crowell were rejected in favor of the discovered area on the shore of Baffin Island . On July 30, the ships "Polaris" and "Effie M. Morrissey" anchored in the Gulf of Cudges and began to explore the area. According to the researchers, the terrain was ideally suited for the construction of the airport - almost 6,000 feet of ground was flat, which made it possible to place the runway here, and ships of any size could moor here due to the wide bay surrounding the area.

World War II

By the summer of 1943, an air base was built in Cudges Bay. It was named "Crystal II", and in the coded messages it was designated as "Chaplet" (from English. - "wreath"). It also houses one of the three meteorological centers in the Arctic region of Canada (along with Fort-Shimo (now - Kuudzhuak) - "Crystal I" and the station on Island - "Crystal III"). The original purpose of Crystal stations was to collect weather information to provide information to the British armed forces.

Civil Use

From March 2010 to August 2011, Air Canada carried passengers to Ottawa and Montreal ^[1] .

Trucking