The White Falcon - 06.08.1971, Qupperneq 6

JAN
MAYEN
Story & Photos by AN Fred Davidson
The famous "Woodpecker", emblems of Patrol Squad-
ron 49.
Patrol Squadron 49, currently stationed at the
Keflavik naval base, assumed additional duties re-
cently in an effort to "get the mail through".
One of the squadron's P3C aircraft was utilized to
deliver mail to the Canes, stationed on the island
of Jan Mayen,a small island well north of the Arc-
tic Circle.
The flight was successfully completed by the
"Woodpeckers" Crew Four, under the guidance of
their pilot-in-command, Lt. Michael R. Holland.
Preparation for the mail drop included gather-
ing and sorting nearly four months of backlogged
mail, and coordinating the drop procedures with the
personnel on the island. A major problem encount-
ered was how to package the mail for an air drop
delivery. Jan Mayen, being a small island, is not
capable of accommodating large aircraft for land-
ing. Therefore, support items must be physically
dropped from the delivery aircraft. This means
that the "package" which contains the support
items must be rugged enough to withstand the im-
pact of the island's surface. This can be accom-
plished by using heavy wooden crates for deliver^^^.
although this creates one serious drawback.
the weather is poor at the delivery sight, wi^^^V
high winds and low visibility, it is quite pos^^^
sible for some of the "drops" to overshoot the
field and land in the cold waters of the North
Atlantic. Thi3 results in four months worth of
mail and other packages quickly sinking to the
bottom, to remain permanently unread.
Fortunately, VP-49 found a better way. They
packed all of the mail, donated magazines and
other worth-while reading material, into dis-
carded sonobuoy containers, which are constructed
of heavy gauge plastic. These were sealed, and
lashed together to form a durable, waterproof
"raft", which would float, if necessary.
The weather was checked, the flight filed for
departure, and the trip commenced. Once in the
Jan Mayen, a little north of no-where.
"Field in sight."
6
August 6, 1971