Harbour Grace Airstrip

 

Construction of the Harbour Grace Airstrip

During the summer of 1927, Stinson Aircraft Corporation and Waco Oil were sponsoring an around-the-world flight.  However, they had a minor problem: Newfoundland, an ideal waypoint between eastern North America and Europe, had no official airstrip.

Fred Koehler, a representative of Stinson Aircraft Co., was soon sent to Newfoundland, where he met John L. Oke, of Harbour Grace, on a train out of St. John’s. Oke suggested he knew just the spot: near Crow Hill, Harbour Grace, the grade and length of the land suited an airstrip. As well, the promontory, Crow Hill, offered an ideal natural landmark for wayward flyers.

Koehler successfully pitched his plan to the Town of Harbour Grace in 1927. The townspeople considered the airstrip a worthwhile endeavour, too, a way to put Harbour Grace on the map in this new, exciting era of transatlantic aviation. At public meeting at the Town Hall on July 25, a twenty-one-person committee was formed, the Harbour Grace Airport Trust Co. Each member contributed monies on a non-profit-sharing, non-interest-bearing basis. The officers of the committee were Magistrate John Casey (president), H. Herman Archibald (vice-president), and Ernest Simmonds (secretary-treasurer). The flight’s backers also made a contribution, which Koehler relayed to the town. The Newfoundland government also provided a financial grant toward clearing and levelling the runway. T.A. Hall, government engineer, and R.H.K. Cochius, of the Highroads Commission, offered technical advice.

Work began in earnest on August 8, 1927. With money and equipment from private investors and the Newfoundland government, local labourers clear cut an area measuring 4,000 feet in length by 300 feet in width. The work took eighteen days, finishing on August 26, just in time for the arrival of the Pride of Detroit and pilot William S. Brock and Edward Schlee, president of Waco Oil Co.

Brock and Schlee arrived on August 26 at 4:16 p.m. The two were attempting to break the record for the fastest round-the-world trip, set by Edward Evans and Linton Wells in 1926. Sir John R. Bennett, colonial secretary, was in Harbour Grace to welcome the crew. On arriving in town, Brock and Schlee praised the new airstrip as one of the finest they’d seen.

The pair spent the night at the Cochrane House, a popular overnight establishment for aviators in Harbour Grace. In the early morning, at 7:43 a.m., the Pride of Detroit left Harbour Grace and headed for Croyden, England, the first call for their proposed round-the-world flight.

Today, the airstrip is still in use, with amateur aviation club Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) Flight 97 maintaining the land. To visit the airstrip, the easiest route is following Military Rd onto Lady Lake Rd, a graded gravel road. Hang left when you come to the first fork in the road and turn left on Earhart Rd. We recommend parking at the bottom of Earhart Rd and making the short walk up to the airstrip. There, you’ll find a Government of Newfoundland and Labrador memorial plaque and Newfoundland’s oldest civilian airstrip.

 

 Location: 

GPS Coordinates: 47.687775, -53.247055
Street Address: Earhart Strip (off Lady Lake Rd), Harbour Grace, NL

Getting There from Route 75 N:

– Turn right onto Jamie’s Way, first entrance to Harbour Grace (before the Community Centre)
– Turn left on Harvey St
– Continue on Harvey St
– Turn left on Military Rd
– Continue on Military Rd (this road will eventually become Lady Lake Rd)
– Lady Lake Rd will turn to a gravel path past Kitchen’s Hill
– Hang left at the fork in the road
– Turn left at Earhart Rd (we recommend parking at the bottom and taking the short walk up)

Getting There from Route 70 S:

– Turn left on Route 70 (Cathedral St / Harvey St extension); do not follow Route 75 S (Veteran’s Memorial Highway)
– Turn right on Military Rd
– Continue on Military Rd (this road will eventually become a gravel path, Lady Lake Rd)
– Hang left at the fork in the road
– Turn left at Earhart Rd (we recommend parking at the bottom and taking the short walk up)

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Timeline of Flights Utilizing the Harbour Grace Airstrip

1927

– Pride of Detroit. Failed round-the-world flight attempt. Crew: Edward Schlee and William S. Brock. Arrived August 26 at 4:16 p.m. Departed August 27. Labourers from Harbour Grace constructed the airstrip for the purposes of this flight. The two pilots were attempting to beat the round-the-world record, set in 1926.

– Sir John Carling. Failed transatlantic flight attempt. Crew: Terrence Tully & James V. Medcalf.  Arrived September 5. Departed September 7.  Plane and crew went missing and never arrived at their destination, London, England.

– Royal Windsor. Cancelled transatlantic flight attempt. Crew: Duke Schiller and Phil Wood. Arrived September 7. Departed September 14 for Windsor, Ontario. Flight’s backers cancelled this transatlantic flight attempt because of the tragic news of the Sir John Carling. Left Harbour Grace and went to Windsor, Ontario.

 

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1928

– Columbia. Cancelled transatlantic flight attempt. Crew: Captain Oliver Colin LeBoutillier (pilot), Captain Arthur Argles (navigator), and Ms. Mabel Boll (passenger). Arrived June 12. Departed June 20 for New York, USA. The crew wanted to become the first to take a female passenger across the Atlantic. Amelia Earhart beat the crew of the Columbia to this feat, leaving Trepassey, Newfoundland, and arriving in Burry Point, Wales, on June 17. The Columbia‘s female passenger was Mabel Boll, Broadway actress and socialite. Crew spent their evenings at the Cochrane Hotel, Harbour Grace.

– DeHaviland Gypsy Moth. Failed transatlantic flight attempt. Crew: Lieutenant Commander H.C. MacDonald. Departed October 7 for England. Last spotted by SS Hardenberg seven hundred miles east of Newfoundland.

 

 

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1929

– Bluenose. Pleasure cruise. Crew: Vernon Darrell. Arrived July 25. Departed July 27 for Sydney, Nova Scotia.  

– Golden Hind. Failed transatlantic flight attempt. Crew: Urban F. Diteman Jr. Arrived October 19 at 2:00 p.m. Departed October 22 at 12:10 p.m. Diteman left a letter stating he was bound for England. No report of his whereabouts thereafter.

 

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1930

– Southern Cross. First complete east-west transatlantic flight. Charles Kingsford Smith (pilot), Everett Van Dyke (copilot), J.D. Soul (navigator), and John W. Stannish (radio operator). Arrived from Dublin, Ireland, on June 25 at 8:25 a.m. Departed for New York, USA, on June 25 at 5:30 p.m.

– City of New York. Failed transatlantic flight attempt. Crew: H.J. Brown (pilot) and John Henry Mears (owner). Arrived August 2 at 1:50 p.m. Plane crashed on the airstrip shortly after takeoff. Mears’s dog, Tailwind, went missing before a Harbour Grace resident found him. Mary Pickford gifted the dog to Mears.

– Columbia. First Canadians to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean in an aircraft. Crew: Captain Errol Boyd (pilot) and Lieutenant Harry P. Connor (navigator). Arrived September 23 at 7:00 p.m. Departed for London, England, on October 9 at 12:59 p.m. Connor and Boyd landed at Tresco, Scilly Islands, United Kingdom, on October 10 at 11:30 a.m., after running out of fuel. The Harbour Grace Airstrip had previously hosted the Columbia aircraft in 1928.

 

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1931

– Liberty. Successful transatlantic flight. Crew: Lieutenant Holger Horiis (pilot) and Otto Hillig (passenger). Arrived June 22 at 4:25 p.m. Departed for Copenhagen, Denmark, on June 24 at 5:52 a.m. Arrived in Cressel, Germany, on June 25 and made it to Copenhagen on June 26.

– Winnie Mae. Successful transatlantic flight. Wiley Post (pilot) and Harold Gatty (navigator). Arrived June 23 at 10:42 a.m. Departed June 23 at 2:22 p.m. Their destination was Berlin, Germany, and arrived at the Sealand Airdrome near Chester, England.

– Justice for Hungary. Successful transatlantic flight. Crew: Gyorgy Endresz (pilot) and Alex Magyar (navigator). Arrived July 13 at 8:40 p.m. Departed for Budapest, Hungary, July 15 at 1:52 p.m. The Hungarian-American diaspora largely sponsored this flight, attempting to bring international attention to the Treaty of Trianon.

 

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1932

– Liberty. Failed transatlantic flight. Crew: Lou Reichers (pilot). Arrived May 13 at 6:24 a.m. Departed for Bal-Dominal, Ireland, on May 13 at 8:29 a.m. Attempting a high-speed, solo Atlantic crossing, Reichers ran into trouble and was forced to land at sea. SS President Roosevelt rescued the stranded pilot.

– Lockheed Vega. Successful solo transatlantic flight. Crew: Bernt Balchen (pilot), Ed Gorsky (mechanic), and Amelia Earhart (passenger/pilot). Arrived May 20 at 2:00 p.m. Earhart departed solo at 7:20 p.m for Paris, France. Balchen handled the flying from New York to Harbour Grace, staying behind with Gorsky after Earhart departed. Though Paris was her original destination, Earhart landed in Culmore, outside Londonderry, Northern Ireland, after fourteen hours and fifty six minutes of flying.

– Century of Progress. Failed round-the-world flight. Crew: Jimmy Matern (pilot) and Bennett Griffin (co-pilot). Arrived July 5 at 2:30 p.m. Departed for Berlin, Germany, July 5 at 5:00 p.m. Matern and Griffin abandoned their round-the-world attempt in Siberia, USSR.

– Green Mountain Boy. Failed transatlantic flight. Crew: Clyde A. Lee (pilot) and John Bochon (navigator). Arrived August 24 at 9:55 a.m. Departed for Oslo, Norwary, August 25 at 8:07 p.m. Lee and Bochon were never heard from after leaving Harbour Grace.

– Sikorsky Amphibian. Pleasure trip. Crew: Ralph Wickford (pilot), William Calder (passenger) and Louis L’Esperance (passenger). Arrived August 28 at 11:35 a.m. Departed for New York, USA, August 30 at 10:40 a.m. Calder and L’Esperance represented Shell Eastern Petroleum Products. L’Esperance had been in Harbour Grace previously, when he represented Shell for Amelia Earhart’s solo transatlantic flight.

 

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1933

– Bellanca. Crew: George Pond (pilot). Arrived July 29 at 11:30 a.m. Departed for New York, USA, August 1 at 5:15 p.m. Ferried special airmail to connect with General Lee Balbo’s Armada at New York for transportation to Rome, Italy.

– White Eagle. Failed transatlantic flight. Crew: Benjamin Adamowitz (pilot) and Joseph Adamowitz (co-pilot). Arrived August 8 at 4:30 p.m. Crashed. No injuries.

 

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1934

– Warsaw. Successful transatlantic flight. Crew: Benjamin Adamowitz (pilot), Joseph Adamowitz (co-pilot), and Holger Horiis (passenger). Arrived June 28 at 5:44 p.m. Departed June 29 at 6:24 a.m. for Warsaw, Poland. Landed at St. Andre, France, on June 30 at 3:00 p.m.

– Pleasure cruise. Crew: Paul Beso (pilot). Arrived July 30. Departed July 31. Destination unknown.

 

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1935

– Northrop Alpha. Pleasure cruise. Crew: Frederick D. Lee (pilot). Arrived September 9 at 2:05 p.m. Departed September 11 at 11:30 a.m. for Saint John, New Brunswick.

 

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1936

– Waco. Crew: Duke Kranz. Arrived September 15 at 12:35 p.m. Departed September 16 at 8:00 a.m. for New York, USA. Owned by New York Daily News, this plane arrived in Harbour Grace to cover the Lady Peace flight.

– Great Silver Fleet. Crew: George W. Branson (pilot), Joe Kelly (co-pilot), and Eddy Rickenbacker (passenger-owner of Eastern Air Line). Arrived September 15 at 2:00 p.m. Departed September 20 for New York, USA. The Great Silver Fleet was the largest plane, a 12-seater, to have landed at Harbour Grace. The plane carried mechanical equipment to assist the Lady Peace.

– Beachcraft. Crew: Johnny Shobe (pilot). Arrived September 16 at 2:30 p.m. Departed September 16. Owned by Shobe Airlines Inc., this plane flew to Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland, for pictures and news releases of the Lady Peace.

– Beachcraft. Crew: Carl Chader (pilot) and passengers. Arrived September 15 at 2:00 p.m. Owned by O.J. Whitney Flying Services, the plane carried newspapermen to cover Harry Richman and Dick Merrill’s rescue in the Lady Peace.

– Lady Peace. Crew: Dick Merrill (pilot) and Harry Richman (passenger). Arrived September 18 at 7:00 p.m. from Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland. Departed September 20 for New York, USA. This botched flight attracted much attention, due to Merrill’s position as chief pilot with Eastern Air Lines; his passenger, Richman, a nightclub celebrity and singer; and their rescuer, Eddy Rickenbacker, the famous WWI ace. The plane went missing over Musgrave Harbour and came to Harbour Grace after repairs.

– Miss Dorothy. Successful transatlantic flight. Crew: Jimmy Mollison (pilot). Arrived October 28 at 5:00 p.m. Departed October 29 at 5:10 p.m. for London, England. The flight took Mollison twelve hours and fifty minutes from takeoff. The Miss Dorothy was the last plane to utilize the airstrip for a transatlantic flight.

 

 

– For further information, check out Bill Parsons & Bill Bowman’s The Challenge of the Atlantic: A Photo-Illustrated History of Early Aviation in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland (Robinson-Blackmore, 1983).

 

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Aviation in Harbour Grace Blog Series

• The Spirit of Harbour Grace (2020)
• Claude Stevenson (2020)
• Windswept Tail (2020)
• Round-Trip (2020)
• Pipsqueak (2020)
• Humble Heroics (2020)
• CBC St. John’s Morning Show: Harbour Grace Aviation (2020)
• ‘Aviation in Harbour Grace’ Series to Feature on CBC’s St. John’s Morning Show (2020)
• Queen of Diamonds (2020)
• Trailblazing Spirits (2020)
• Pride of Harbour Grace, and Detroit (2020)
• Harbour Grace Takes Off (2020)
• The Handley Page “Atlantic” at Sea Level (2020)
• Tangible Ireland Presentation: Southern Cross in Harbour Grace (2020)
• Liberty or Death: Lou Reichers’s Atlantic Attempt (2019)

– Hosted on conceptionbaymuseum.com.

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High Frequency Direction Finding Station 

In 1936 the Miss Dorothy was the last plane to use Harbour Grace as a hop-off point to cross the Atlantic. In 1941, during WWII, the Royal Canadian Navy leased the airstrip from the Harbour Grace Airport Trust Co., to construct a high frequency direction finding site. Called the Harbour Grace Special Wireless Telegraphy Station, the site consisted of an operations building and direction finding shack. RCN radio operators were responsible for tracking enemy U-boat locations, intercepting messages, and providing other valuable intelligence data. Operators came from all over Canada, with residents providing private lodgings. A civilian operator with a station wagon transported operators between the station and their lodgings in the community.

For further information, visit Jerry Proc’s website: http://jproc.ca/rrp/h_grace.html