August, 1979.  Ft Carson CO-  the mission is to fly 4 CH-47s across the Atlantic to Germany.  It is the US Army's first transatlantic helicopter flight and a test bed for self-deployment of these helicopters.

Online references to this achievement are surprisingly few and far between.  Quotes and data for this article are taken from:

Aeromedical Aspects of CH-47C Helicopter Self-Deployment (Operation Northern Leap).  USAARL Report No 80-1, by Lawrence R. Whitehurst and Aaron W. Schopper.  Ft Rucker Alabama:  US Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, March 1980.

Additionally, there was a brief public affairs article published at:

"CH-47 Deployment" by Betty Goodson, PA Office, Ft Rucker AL, in US Army Aviation Digest magazine, Oct 1979 issue, p. 24.



"Four CH-47 helicopters departed Fort Carson, Colorado, and landed in Heidelburg, Germany, with intermediate stops in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Maine, Canada, Greenland, Iceland and England. A flight surgeon accompanied the mission to provide medical support and assess aircrew workload, stress and fatigue... Respiratory infections were experienced by approximately 50% of the mission crew during the 14 day journey.  These were attributed to wide climate variations and inadequate crew rest during the first half of the mission."


It took a long time and lots of effort to complete the mission.


"The mission departed Fort Carson on 6 August 1979 after numerous delays due to maintenance, manpower and equipment installation problems.  The four helicopters arrived in Germany on 20 August 1979 after experiencing further delays en route due to maintenance problems, weather, and European flying prohibitions arising from local noise abatement laws.

Successful completion of the mission constituted the first US Army transatlantic helicopter crossing.  Two Air Force HH-3E helicopters accomplished a nonstop transatlantic helicopter flight in 1967 utilizing aerial refueling."


The helicopters had additional navigation equipment installed, including INS and Omega stystems.  They also had extra internal 2000 gallon auxiliary fuel tanks installed.  The crews had extra cold weather survival gear and training.  All crew members attended the Naval Overwater Survival Course at Pensacola in May 1979, and some attended the Canadian Water Survival Course as well.  Pilots got training in how to use the installed Omega and INS systems, water operations, and how to navigate in Arctic/sub-Arctic regions.  

There were some difficulties in getting the program started:


"Much of the flight training syllabus was curtailed after three unfortunate aircraft mishaps prior to the start of the mission.  An accident at Fort Carson involved four mission personnel doing an autorotation at high gross weight in which the crew chief reported he heard a loud 'bang' in the rear of the aircraft and the pilot experienced a sudden loss of rotor RPM resulting in the aircraft falling uncontrollably about 20 feet to the ground.  There were no injuries but the aircraft was destroyed.  The cause of this accident is still undetermined.  The second mishap resulted from failure of the aircraft's combining transmission.  This accident was followed by the grounding of all CH-47's with Series 2 combining transmissions and required susbsequent replacement with the newer Series 8 combining transmissions.  The third mishap occurred during a Boeing demonstration of running landings to the water at Trinidad Reservoir, Colorado.  The aircraft struck the water at high velocity causing incident damage to four rotor blades and the engine cowling with flame-out of one engine.  These accidents served to further heighten anxiety prior to the start of the mission."


The trip was very challenging.  Temperatures were in the 100's at their stop in Iowa, and in the 90's at the stop in Pennsylvania.  They steadily decreased as the crews went further north-- 60's in Maine and temps in the 40's in Greenland.  Low cloud ceilings delayed the mission in Greenland for a time.  After some additional maintenance troubles, the flight made it to the UK on 17 August, but had to wait there until Monday, August 20th, due to weekend helicopter noise restrictions in Germany.  

I won't bore you with the minutiae of medical and maintenance problems, but they are available in the report.  The report does not mention how the crews and helicopters got back to Colorado.