The Nome Nugget

Scandinavian DC-6 Enroute Over Pole To Copenhagen

LOS ANGELES, (AP)--The trailblazer of a new polar air route to Scandinavia soared away to the northeast today.

It's the Arild Viking, a new Douglas DC-6B bearing the dragon insignia of the Scandinavian Airlines System. It cleared the runway at International Airport here at 8:40 a.m. for a flight to Copenhagen, Denmark, via Thule Air Base, Greenland. Aboard were 22 passengers and a flight staff of 13.

Ambassadors from Denmark and Norway--Henrik de Kauffman and Wilhelm M. de Morgentsteierpe--headed the list of passengers dignitaries including Col. Bernt Balchen, Norwegian - born director of installations for the U.S. Air Force, and Frederick B. Lee, deputy Civil Aeronautics administrator.

The 241/2-hour flight will cover a minimum of 5,852 miles. The North Magnetic Pole is scheduled to be passed between Edmonton and Thule, where the flight will make stops of two hours each.

Estimated arrival time is 10 p.m. tomorrow, Copenhagen time.

The flight, trail-blazing a new route which SAS plans to install as soon as U.S. and Canadian government approval is received, will be made at 15,000 to 20,000 foot elevation.

Col. Balchen, Arctic veteran who did the exploratory work leading to the establishment of the Thule base, said he did "not foresee any particular difficulties" involved in the flight as long as the plane can be warmed at heated hangars at Edmonton and Thule.

The Air Force has flown more than 60,000 hours in the Arctic area without mishap, Balchen said.