Jan Mayensfield is an

aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

serving

Olonkinbyen Olonkinbyen (literally ''The Olonkin Town'') is the only settlement on the Norway, Norwegian island of Jan Mayen (aside from isolated cottage huts such as Puppebu). It was named after Russian-Norwegian explorer Gennady Olonkin. The only inhabit ...

Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: larger nort ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Operated by the

Norwegian Armed Forces The Norwegian Armed Forces ( no, Forsvaret, , The Defence) is the military organization responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of five branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Coast Guard, the Royal ...

, it serves the island's only population at the combined military and meteorological station. It has a dirt runway numbered 06–24. The airfield was built in connection with the

LORAN-C Loran-C is a hyperbolic radio navigation system that allows a receiver to determine its position by listening to low frequency radio signals that are transmitted by fixed land-based radio beacons. Loran-C combined two different techniques to ...

transmitter at Olonkinbyen and was completed in 1960. Jan Mayensfield is served eight times per year by

Lockheed C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...

aircraft of the 335 Squadron from Bodø Main Air Station, which provide supplies and change crew at the outpost. The nearby

Beerenberg Beerenberg is a stratovolcano dominating the northeastern end of the Norwegian island of Jan Mayen. It is high and is the world's northernmost subaerial active volcano and the only volcano in Norway. The volcano is topped by a mostly ice-fill ...

volcano can cause a Kármán wind, which creates difficult landing conditions.

History

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

(NATO) and the Norwegian Armed Forces started construction of a military communications outpost at Olonkinbyen in 1958. At first a LORAN-A transmitter was built, followed by a LORAN-C transmitter in 1960. In August, it was announced that the island would receive an airfield to allow continual operation of the transmitter. Originally, the aerodrome consisted of a section of the island's dirt road. This was chosen to reduce the bureaucracy of construction. The first aircraft to land was a

Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served w ...

of the Royal Norwegian Air Force on 17 September 1960.Barr (1991): 245 Jan Mayen topography no

The first civilian aircraft was a

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s ...

operated by

Braathens SAFE Braathens ASA, until 1997 Braathens South American & Far East Airtransport A/S and trading as Braathens SAFE, was a Norwegian airline which operated from 1946 until it merged with Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) in 2004 to become SAS Braathens. F ...

, which landed with some journalists on board on 29 October 1961. Other early aircraft operating to Jan Mayen were the

Grumman HU-16 Albatross The Grumman HU-16 Albatross is a large, twin–radial engined amphibious aircraft, amphibious seaplane that was used by the United States Air Force (USAF), the U.S. Navy (USN), and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), primarily as a search and rescue (SA ...

and the

Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with th ...

. The head officer of the Norwegian military's communications division was later criticized by

Chief of Defence The chief of defence (or head of defence) is the highest ranked commissioned officer of a nation's armed forces. The acronym CHOD is in common use within NATO and the European Union as a generic term for the highest national military position withi ...

Bjarne Øen Bjarne Øen (6 November 1898 – 20 September 1994) was a Norwegian pilot, military officer and Lieutenant General of the Royal Norwegian Air Force. During World War II he played a central role in building up the Royal Norwegian Air Force i ...

, who concluded: "Gentlemen, I will not have any further construction of airports on Norwegian soil by the Communications Division without the plans being presented to the Central Command." The field was named Jan Mayensfield, in part as a joke having the movie star

Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress, singer, nightclub entertainer, and ''Playboy'' Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s while under contract at 20th Century Fox, Man ...

in mind, but this name stuck. In 1970, a sudden eruption in Beerenberg forced the immediate evacuation of the station. A Hercules was dispatched to the island and successfully landed on the strip. Thereafter the Hercules became the regular military aircraft at Jan Mayen. Aircraft gradually took over more of the transport to the island, and from 1973 all supplies except diesel and special freight was transported by ship. From 1975 the 333 Squadron would occasionally drop mail and supplies using the

P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. which operate to the island eight times per year. The aircraft are part of the 335 Squadron, based at

Gardermoen Air Station Station Group Gardermoen (Norwegian: Gardermoen flystasjon) is located about 50 km north of Oslo, Norway. It is colocated with Norway's main airport, Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. 335 Squadron and 717 Squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force a ...

, although the flights from Jan Mayen operate from Bodø Main Air Station. The runway is not open for commercial traffic, although it can be used for research and

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

operations. The dirt runway is being aligned 06–24. Jan Mayensfield has variable weather conditions, a lot of fog and often has a Kármán wind. The Kármán wind is created in the wake of the Beerenberg volcano, resulting in regular vortex streets and lee-waves. This can cause sudden change to the wind direction on the island.

Accidents and incidents

In 1991, a C-130 Hercules aircraft from the Royal Norwegian Air Force almost crashed after takeoff due to Kármán wind suddenly shifting. A World War II Focke Wulf 200 C4 plane crash site is also near the airfield.

References

Bibliography

* *
{{Jan Mayen Royal Norwegian Air Force airfields Airports in Jan Mayen Jan Mayen Airports established in 1960 1960 establishments in Norway