On Aug. 17, 1920, two aircraft arrived in Dawson City, amid the Discovery Day celebrations, and landed across the river from Dawson at G.M. Faulkner’s farm. Two more biplanes arrived the following day. According to the Dawson Daily News, Captain Streett, the squadron leader, was piloting one of the latter two aircraft. He came in low along the Yukon River in front of Dawson and flew under the ferry cable that spanned the river, missing a guy line on the ferry by one metre by “a quick turn and sailed up gracefully and made a fine landing.”
A month earlier, on July 15, 1920, four DeHavilland DH-4 open cockpit biplanes, belonging to the U.S. Army, Air Service and known as the “Black Wolf Squadron,” took to the air from Mitchel Field, in Mineola, New York. Each plane was decorated with a stylized wolf’s head on the rear part of the fuselage. Their objective: to span the continent and reach Nome, Alaska. Each of these airships was powered by a 12-cylinder 400-horsepower Liberty engine. Capable of achieving cruising speeds of 115 mph (184 kph), they each carried a pilot and a mechanic. The latter proved themselves to be essential to the eventual success of the pioneer flight to Alaska.
These aircraft were the vanguard of the nascent air industry, which was far from perfection during these early days. Landing facilities varied from state of the art for their time, to barely usable cow pasture. The aircraft were of frail construction, weighing in at 4,000 pounds (1,814 kilograms) and prone to damage at some of the so-called aerodromes where they landed during their 7,200-km journey to the far reaches of America.
As the squadron of four airships hopscotched their way across the continent, they experienced many close encounters with the ground, for example: a broken landing gear axle, a failed fuel pump, flat or otherwise damaged tires, and a broken tail skid. Prince George proved to be one of the worst landing strips, and one member of the squadron, flying through bad weather, missed the runway by several metres and ended up smashing one wing of the biplane and having the entire side of the stabilizer torn away. In each instance, they had to find spare parts, or make improvised repairs.
When arriving in Edmonton, they landed at the wrong airport while a reception committee awaited their arrival at another airstrip. And so it was that the tiny fleet of aircraft winged their way from east to west. They crossed over two of the Great Lakes. During the one-hour-and-ten-minute crossing of Lake Michigan, the pilots listened tensely to the drone of their engines, alert to any change of tone that might forecast impending engine failure. They crossed into Canada 11 days after their departure from Mineola and sailed above the Canadian prairies and through the Canadian Rockies. Then they turned north and flew up the western flank of the continent past Wrangell and Juneau, cruising up the Lynn Canal. They flew over Skagway and through the White Pass, which had the tiniest window between dense cloud and stony mountain top.
They landed at Whitehorse on Aug. 16 on the level bench above the tiny village, on a strip of land cleared for the occasion. This was the beginning of the international airport that we all use to fly out of the Yukon today.
In order to arrive in Dawson to take part in the Discovery Day celebrations, two of the aircraft departed for Dawson on Aug. 17, while the other two were to follow the next day. One of these two remaining aircraft encountered difficulties on takeoff, having one of the tires blow – twice. The pilot, Lieutenant Crumrine could not wait for a replacement to be sent in, so he removed the damaged inner tube, replaced it with rope that he wrapped around the rim, over which he reinstalled the tire, and wound cloth tape around it to hold the repair in place.
The flyers were met by hundreds of curious onlookers in Dawson, who were eager to see the first aircraft ever to reach their northern town. The event heralded a new era for the Yukon, one in which the Yukon had just become closer to the outside world. The reception committee planned to welcome them immediately upon their arrival, and host a luncheon on the field where they were to land. Because the event was so momentous, they decided to delay Discovery Day activities by 24 hours if the flyers arrived on the 17th.
Each plane had a pilot and a mechanic aboard; eight men in total. Captain St. Clair Streett, a First World War pilot with many hours of experience, and accompanied by Sergeant Edmond Henriques, was the leader of the four aircraft. Second in command was pilot First Lieutenant Clifford C. Nutt and his mechanic, Second Lieutenant Eric Nelson. Second Lieutenant C.H. Crumrine, flying in plane number three, accompanied by mechanic Sergeant James Long, also served as the photographic officer on the trip. Plane number four was piloted by Second Lieutenant Ross C. Kirkpatrick, who was accompanied by Master Sergeant Joseph E. English.
The crews first attended to the mechanical needs of their aircraft, and then were toured around Dawson and the Klondike River dredges. A reception followed at the Arctic Brotherhood Hall, which is now more familiar to visitors as the building that houses Diamond Tooth Gerties. Gold Commissioner George P. MacKenzie welcomed the visiting aviators and wished them a safe journey to Nome. After that, Frank Lowe, president of the Yukon Development League, presented each of the flyers with tiny gold pans, each flecked with flakes of gold and inscribed with the particulars of their visit to the Klondike capital.
At 11:00 a.m. the morning of Aug. 19, they took off for Fairbanks, Alaska. To reflect the importance of the squadron’s objective, the Dawson Daily News covered their progress each day with a front-page article. The airmen arrived in Nome on Aug. 24, and after mechanical issues and problems with the weather, retraced their route, arriving back in Dawson the afternoon of Sept. 3. The four aircraft flew over Dawson, circling over the cheering crowd before landing across the river.
That evening, they were the honoured guests at a reception in the Arctic Brotherhood Hall. It was a special moment for the Yukon Order of Pioneers, who bestowed upon the eight airmen honorary membership in the Order. Escorted to the rostrum, Pioneer President Seguin, who “addressed them with a few fitting words,” introduced them.
Then Max Landreville, past president, of the Dawson lodge, advanced, and told the aviators of the origin of the Order in 1894, why it was brought into existence, its objects, and the names of the early members.” They were then escorted into an adjacent room, where they were initiated into the Order in a secret ceremony. Upon their return, the newly minted Pioneer, Captain Streett, expressed his thanks for the honour bestowed upon him and the others by the Pioneers, and hoped that each one of them would live up to the high standards of the Order. After his brief speech, the dancing began and continued until 1:00 in the morning.
The squadron set out for Whitehorse the following day, carrying with them gifts they had acquired along their lengthy journey. Most notable among these gifts were three “Arctic” puppies that seemed overjoyed to be back on terra firma when they got to Whitehorse.
Plans were made to fly to Glenora British Columbia, on the Stikine River, rather than retrace their steps through Wrangell, where they had to land on a beach at low tide. The squadron was grounded until clear weather at Glenora permitted them to leave Whitehorse.
Finally, on Sept. 9, they departed, only to be forced to return. Three landed in Whitehorse later in the day, while a fourth plane, piloted by Lieutenant Kirkpatrick redirected to Wrangell. The following day the three aircraft again lifted off from the airfield above Whitehorse, but one of them broke an axle upon landing at Glenora, and nearly a week later were still awaiting the delivery of parts, and a break in the poor weather. Lieutenant Kirkpatrick was still stranded in Wrangell.
On Oct. 20, six weeks later, the squadron arrived back at Mitchel Field, where they had started three months earlier. In all, they had covered more than 14,000 kilometres, in a flying time of 112 hours, and had opened a new era for transportation in the north.
Michael Gates was the Yukon’s first Story Laureate from 2020 to 2023. His latest book, “Hollywood in the Klondike,” is now available in Whitehorse stores. You can contact him at msgates@northwestel.net
