Page 20 - RCAF Centenary

to England. Onboard in the bomb bay was an internal 750 litre ferry tank which gave them a range of 3700 km. Two hours out they found themselves flying blind in dense fog and a deep blanket of cloud overhead. Then the radio gave up
the ghost and icing began to threaten to kill the engines and making it impossible to get above the clouds so Nash could get a shot at the sun to guide them to their fuel stop. They were flying blind by dead-reckoning toward what they hoped would be Greenland.
For six more hours they flew using only their compass until fuel ran dangerously low. Descending on a hope and a prayer they broke through the clouds and below them saw the rugged east coast of Greenland with its mountain peaks and wide crevasses. But not knowing where they were they had no other option but to ditch. But the terrain near the coast
is too tortured for a safe, controlled landing. Goodlet turned inward, up onto the icecap where the surface appeared better suited to set his ‘Bird’ down, wheels up, safely.
Setting her down gently and with little damage, they took stock in their dire situation. Outside - howling winds estimated to be 80 mph, bitter cold verging on -40o F and waist-deep snow. Inside no heat, no useable radio, survival gear consisting of their thin flight suits, a handful of biscuits, and a few meager sandwiches and a thermos coffee, both now frozen, an inflatable life raft, 3 parachutes and thousands of cigarettes. They had no idea where they were. For three days they huddled together to keep
from freezing, smoking and trying not to sleep,
for to do so they felt they would die. Then the
storm subsided and Nash with a sextant was
able to get a fix on their location. Miraculously
they got the radio working to send an SOS out
and equally miraculously they received a faint
acknowledgement from Gander to proceed to
the coast. Their mission to save themselves
had begun. What transpired during the next 11
days and their rescue by the US Coast Guard
cutter Northland is an epic tale of endurance,
ingenuity, determination and camaraderie – with
a good portion of ‘Lady Luck’ being on their side.
The full tale Arctic Ordeal may be found online in
the Macleans Magazine May 1943 issue - https://archive.org/details/Macleans-Magazine-1943-05-15 .
For an excellent account of the actual rescue -
https://erenow.org/ww/frozen-in-time-epic-story-survival-modern-quest-lost-heroes-ww-ii/8.php
Goodlet survived the war, returned home to a welcoming family living well and peacefully until his passing in 1983.
What follows is Goodlet and crew’s near-fatal story* entitled Lost in the Arctic - recounting the 14 days fighting against nature and all odds on Greenland’s perpetually frozen icecap.