Twelve members of No. 99 Squadron RAF have spent the past week in the Arctic Circle to help resupply the most northerly station on Earth.
The RAF C-17 Globemaster aircrew and ground support crew have been working alongside their Canadian counterparts as they resupply Canadian Forcers Station (CFS) Alert, more than 1,100 miles inside the Arctic Circle.
At more than 82 degrees North, CFS Alert is the most northerly permanent settlement on Earth that conducts critical climate change research as well as a number of Canadian Forces operations, but when the Arctic Sea freezes over every year, the only way in or out is by C-17 or C-130 aircraft landing on a 5,500 foot long snow and gravel runway.
Known as Operation Boxtop, the resupply happens twice a year when a C-17 from 429 (T) Squadron RCAF shuttles between Pituffik Space Base in Greenland and CFS Alert, delivering fuel and equipment in order to keep it running throughout the brutal Arctic winters, and now, for the second year running, the RAF crews joined them to study how their allies from the Great White North conduct polar operations and to learn their techniques for landing on semi-prepared ice runways.
Over the total two week duration of Operation Boxtop, the crews delivered nearly two million litres of jet fuel straight from the aircraft’s tanks to containers in Alert that will run everything from heaters and generators to radios and scientific equipment.
Flight Lieutenant Chandler
RAF detachment commander
“Flying in the extreme north presents a number of challenges that us Brits aren’t used to. When it’s -40°C even the simplest things can get difficult real quick, and when you’re landing a 200-ton jet on a strip less than half the length of Heathrow, that’s also covered in ice, it’s far from simple!”
