A 5,000 feet runway
Work on the Bluie East Two airstrip began in 1942. A year earlier, the US had taken over the defense of Greenland and began scouting sites for a 5,000-foot runway. Eventually they found the best location, 35 miles northeast of Tasiilaq. A supply flotilla arrived on July 26, 1942 and construction work began.
The ruins of a base
The airfield remained open from 1942 to 1947. After the war ended in 1945, however, Bluie East Two’s importance began to decline. In fact, like other American bases in Greenland, it was evacuated two years later. But the site’s inaccessibility is largely responsible for keeping its legacy visible to anyone lucky enough to find it.