Paallavvik (

Inuktitut syllabics Inuktitut syllabics ( iu, ᖃᓂᐅᔮᖅᐸᐃᑦ, qaniujaaqpait, or , ) is an abugida-type writing system used in Canada by the Inuktitut-speaking Inuit of the territory of Nunavut and the Nunavik and Nunatsiavut regions of Quebec and Labra ...

: ''ᐹᓪᓚᕝᕕᒃ'', ''Paallavvik'' means 'the place where one stumbles', from ''paallat'' 'to stumble' + -''vik'' 'place for X-ing', or ''paallakpuq'' 'to fall down (forward), trip, fall forward') formerly Padloping Island is an uninhabited island in the

Qikiqtaaluk Region The Qikiqtaaluk Region, Qikiqtani Region (Inuktitut syllabics: ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ ) or Baffin Region is the easternmost, northernmost, and southernmost administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. Qikiqtaaluk is the traditional Inuktitut name f ...

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...

, Canada. It is located in Merchants Bay, just to the south of

Davis Strait Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The strait was named for the English explorer Jo ...

, and off the eastern coast of

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is , slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadia ...

. The smaller Aggijjat (formerly Durban Island) is approximately to the east, while

Auyuittuq National Park Auyuittuq National Park ( iu, ᐊᐅᔪᐃᑦᑐᖅ, , "the land that never melts") is a national park located on Baffin Island's Cumberland Peninsula, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, the largest political subdivision of Canada. The park was ...

is to the west.

Geography

It measures long, by wide.

History

Padloping Island and Cape Dyer aeronautical chart section

Padloping was originally an

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

community on the island by the same name. In July 1941, a

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF) team headed by Captain Elliott Roosevelt conducted aerial reconnaissance for an airport site in the region of Baffin Island closest to

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

. Roosevelt selected the southern edge of Paallavvik as the most promising, there being no better places between there and Cape Dyer. His report recommended the construction of a airstrip on the island. A 10-man radio/meteorological team under the command of

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

(USAAC) Captain J. Glenn Dyer landed at Padloping on 16 October 1941 from the transport USAT Sicilien (assisted by trawler ''Cormorant'' and sealer ''

Quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ever ...

''), and commenced routine meteorological reporting after the ships left on 30 October. A local Inuk called "Vee-Vee" served as a guide for the task force and returned to

Pangnirtung Pangnirtung (or Pang, also Pangniqtuuq, in syllabics: ᐸᖕᓂᖅᑑᖅ ) is an Inuit hamlet, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, located on Baffin Island. Pangnirtung is situated on a coastal plain at the coast of ...

aboard it. Padloping was intended to be third node of the

Crimson Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, ''Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red colo ...

East air ferry route and was labelled Crystal III. The station was referred to by the coded reference "Delight." It was found that it was impractical to construct a landing strip on land, and instead a ice runway was laid out, usable from December until June. Ski-equipped aircraft inaugurated the field in February 1942, but it never saw any use for its intended purpose, and the Crimson project was cancelled in 1943. Weather reporting by the

8th Weather Squadron 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

continued for the duration of the war.Hansen, Chris: ''Enfant Terrible: The Times and Schemes of General Elliott Roosevelt'', 199-200. In January 1947, the

Cabinet of Canada The Cabinet of Canada (french: Cabinet du Canada) is a body of Minister of the Crown, ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the ...

approved the transfer of the Padloping weather station from the United States to the Canadian Department of Transportation, effective 1949–1950. However, by 1949, the transfer date had been postponed to summer of 1951 as there were insufficient Department of Transport personnel available to staff Padloping's combined meteorological and radio range station. But in June 1951, with the Department of Transportation still unable to assume the commitment, the United States agreed to continue the Padloping operation. In 1953, the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...

took over operations, establishing weather station VFU8. Operations were abandoned by 1956. Per the U.S.

National Climatic Data Center The United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), previously known as the National Weather Records Center (NWRC), in Asheville, North Carolina, was the world's largest active archive of weather data. Starting as a tabulation unit in New Orl ...

, the original Padloping station () provided weather from 1 November 1941 to 31 December 1956. Padloping Site 40 () then reported weather from 1 December 1955 to 28 February 1958. It is currently listed as a contaminated site, to be remediated in the future by the government.

References

External links

Photo

* ttps://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/226 The Papers of Charles Culmer on Post Base Crystal Three at Padloping Islandat Dartmouth College Library {{authority control Islands of Baffin Island Islands of Davis Strait Uninhabited islands of Qikiqtaaluk Region World War II airfields in Canada