100-year anniversary of New York to Nome air expedition

About this time a century ago, eight members of the U.S. Army Air Service reached an important milestone of a long journey. Using DH-4 biplanes, used as bombers during World War I, several members of Black Wolf Squadron were attempting something never done before: To fly from New York City to Nome, Alaska. Their planes were among the first ever seen in Alaskan skies. The entire trip, there and back, was 9,000 miles and 112 hours of flying. On their way, this week 100 years ago, the city of Wrangell was their first stop made within Alaska.

The Nolan Center is hosting a new museum exhibit on the New York to Nome expedition. Among the items available to see in the museum include photographs of the pilots, a map of the route they took, and a propeller from one of the planes that made the journey.

According to a 1922 article in National Geographic, written by flight commander Captain St. Clair Streett, their planes were equipped with 400-horsepower motors capable of speeds of 115 miles an hour. A 2009 article in Air & Space Magazine by Tony Reichhardt reports that the expedition was thought up by General William "Billy" Mitchell, as a means to show off the power and reach of his airplanes.

The whole expedition was made up of eight members of the Black Wolf Squadron. Capt. Streett, Sgt. Edmund Henriques, Lt. Clifford C. Nutt, Lt. Erik H. Nelson, Lt. C. E. Crumrine, Sgt. James D. Long, Lt. Ross C. Kirkpatrick, and Master Sgt. Joseph E. English were divided up amongst four planes. They took off from Mitchel Field, New York, on July 15, 1920, "Precisely thirty-three minutes after the noon hour ..."

"A spirit of romance and adventure dominated the individual pilots who participated with me in that flight; but beyond the strict military reason which occasioned this expedition, a more fundamental purpose existed in the minds of the aviators," Streett wrote in his National Geographic article. "Put into words, it was this: 'Yesterday a month was required to reach the Yukon; if our expedition succeeds, it will prove that the Yukon is but three days distant - by airplane!"

Their flight took them over New York, The Great Lakes, and the Great Plains. They then flew over Canadian territory before finally reaching Alaska. Along the journey they had to contend with the elements, a lack of landing fields, as well as the constant worry of being forced to land in remote areas far from assistance, according to the Air & Space Magazine article. After several weeks of flying, Wrangell was their first landing in Alaskan territory, on Aug. 14, 1920.

They actually landed just north of Wrangell on Sergief Island, according to Streett. It turned out to be "one of the most curious experiences of the trip." Despite appearing to be a good landing spot from the air, the field on Sergief Island was not as dry as they might have hoped.

"What looked like a quantity of sand flew up before his [Kirkpatrick's] wheels when they touched the ground," he wrote. "Descending in our turns, we found that in reality we were landing in a bed of salt marsh grass immersed in over a foot of water in places ... Our hosts had neglected to mention these circumstances, which is just as well, because this field was the only available site in that section, and landing in that amount of water is more disconcerting than dangerous."

Stan Cohen, in his book The Alaska Flying Expedition, wrote that the pilots were drenched from their landing. Richard Suratt of the Fox News Agency was in Wrangell to take films of the planes coming in to land. These may be some of the first aviation movies taken in Alaska, he wrote. Cohen also added that Wrangell's mayor, J.G. Grant, was at the landing site to greet the pilots. J.W. Pritchett, editor of the Wrangell Sentinel back then, was given a copy of the New York Times by Streett. Territorial Governor Thomas Riggs and Juneau Mayor R. E. Robertson sent cables to Wrangell congratulating the pilots on reaching Alaska, too.

According to an Aug. 19, 1920 article in the Wrangell Sentinel's archives, the town was deserted from all the people going to Sergief Island to meet the pilots. Mayor Grant had declared the day a holiday. Boatloads of curious onlookers made the journey from Wrangell to Sergief to watch the planes come in, which occurred shortly after 4 p.m. that day.

"After landing, the aviators lost no time in getting to work on their planes, oiling them and replenishing the supply of gasoline," the article reads. "It was after dark before the flyers tied their machines down and left them for the night. Arriving in Wrangell the aviators found a dinner awaiting them at the hotel."

The expedition remained in Wrangell for two days because of bad weather, according to the Sentinel article. The planes took off for the next leg of the journey on Aug. 16. Streett said his plane was delayed because his propeller broke while starting up the engine, and had to be repaired. The repairs were made quickly, and he took off without incident the next day.

"At 8:50 Captain Streett made a beautiful take-off, getting away without the slightest difficulty," the 1920 Sentinel article reads. "Before noon word came over that Captain Streett had passed over Juneau at 10:30, flying at a considerable height."

The Black Wolf Squadron reached Nome on August 23, 1920, according to Cohen's book. Streett wrote that the entire journey so far had taken 53 hours and 30 minutes of flight time, over a distance of 4,500 miles. He also added that it would only have been another "short flight" of 150 miles to reach the continent of Asia, but that was not part of their expedition. After a few days of rest in Nome, they flew back for New York.

"On October 20 we landed safely on Mitchel Field, New York, completed the round trip of 9,000 miles in just 112 hours of flying, with the same airplanes, the same motors, and the same spark-plugs," Streett wrote. "Someday this trip may be made overnight - who knows?"

The Alaska Aviation Museum, in Anchorage, also has a brand new exhibit on the Black Wolf Squadron, according to Genevieve Corona of the museum. Several photographs of the expedition can be found

online in Alaska's Digital Archives, as well, at http://www.vilda.alaska.edu.