Nome Alaska

[Casadepaga]

A quick trip around the hometown

 

[BD0G]

Thank you! My father was stationed in Nome during the Korean War. He was a spy for the US. He went to army language school at the Presidio in Monterrey CA to learn to speak and write Russian. He was stationed there is some location where they could intercept Russian Communications and send that information back to the Pentagon.

I have always envisioned what Nome would look like and this is helpful to determine the size and scope. It would be very cool to see exactly where he was stationed. Probably not any Barracks or Radio Shacks left I imagine.

He told me the winters were brutal and that he had to wear a full Parka with Wolverine fur around the hood with wire in it so that it could be crimped down into a small slit to see. I learned that Wolverine Fur would not freeze and so it was still pliable and form-able in subzero conditions.

 

[Casadepaga]

No barracks left but lots of military Quonset huts remain. He was likely out at the Satellite Field area 5 miles north of town which was where the Lend-Lease planes landed and were staged before heading across the Strait to Russia. The military had a large presence there and he was probably a part of that.
The T Hanger is still there and so is the air strip sort of if you look hard but now it’s lined with buildings of various types a few houses and the local softball fields are at the east end.
The main air strip a couple miles west of town was known as Marks Air Force Base and it became Nome Airport in the mid 1950’s. Today the State of Ak. owns and operates it. The old White Alice site on Anvil Mt. was part of the Air Forces communication network using the DEW line and it was dismantled a few years ago but the towers are a local landmark and navigation tool and remain.
Your dad may have been involved with that actually.
Today Nome is home to about 3550 full time residents depending on the season. Summer a few more show up but they leave before winter comes.
And you’re right about wolverine ruffs. They are the best and are prized fur.
Winters get old and after almost 30 of them mine are numbered.
But yep this is Nome today and not a whole lot has changed. Well that depends on how much of an old timer you are.
The folks who’ve been around awhile who’ve seen this comment a whole lot has changed.
But the basic layout remains the same.

 

[BD0G]

That gives some good reference points. Perhaps one day I shall visit Nome to see the place for myself. It would be so great seeing or being in a place where someone you cared about has served thier country.

Its funny as he was technically a spy. When I tell people that they conjure images in thier heads of James Bond in a Tuxedo. Stationed in Nome freezing your A 5 5 off listening to a headset and translating Russian transmissions about how people cannot get toilet paper is about as far from James Bond as one can get.

 

[Matto1981]

Nice video!

The town looks like a perfect rectangle.

 

[Hauptmann]

My son and I were in Nome in the Summer of 1983, a week or so after a MiG shot down that KAL 747. We chartered a light twin out to St. Lawrence Island and back. Man, we sure kept a lookout for Soviet aircraft! Didn't see any, but our pilot told us he spots them occasionally.

 

[Casadepaga]

Did you fly with Bering Air? Cape Smythe?
I’ve been to Gambell and Savoonga and the Russian mainland is clearly visible on a nice day.
From Little Diomede it’s only a couple miles across the Strait to Big Diomede.
The Russians have no sense of humor when it comes to their air space and I guess we don’t either.
In 1989 Bering Air flew their King Air to Provideniya and the Ice Curtain commenced to thaw. No they fly their 1900’s over a couple times a week.
Up where I moose hunt on the northern part of the Peninsula there is a fuel tank from an American fighter laying on the tundra.
We rode the fourwheelers up to it and there it sits in the middle of nowhere. We assume it was jettisoned by a fighter but who knows what the real deal is.

 

[Hauptmann]

Don't remember. As I recall, it was a twin Piper doing a mail/freight run to the island. Got to both Gambell and Savoonga. We bought some ivory (a carved owl) from a guy (Bert Oosevesuk) digging for antique ivory between the airstrip and town. Good stuff, and a lot cheaper than from the Ivory Co-op. Also bought a carved Eagle from the Co-op. Would love to go to Little Diomede. Can you fly there in the Summer when there is no ice to land on?

Provideniya? I have a passport, but do I need a visa to go to Provideniya from Nome? I can fly free on Alaska Airlines, since my eldest son is a captain for them. I think I'll call Bering Air to check the fare from Nome. Other places I want to go are Deadhorse (by car out of F-banks), Kotzebue (by air), and as far out on the chain as I can go (only got as far as Unalaska/Dutch Harbor).

 

[Casadepaga]

You'll have to ask Bering Air about the visa. It might be Magadan that they fly into. The schedule is on their website.
Not much in Deadhorse I worked on the slope for years and flying in and out of Prudhoe is pretty uneventful but the Dalton Highway would be one of your greatest road trips.
Kotzebue is a very cool friendly town you'd enjoy the visit. Diomede has no airstrip its helicopter only and it's a hit or miss trip with the weather there.
I know a few of Bert's relatives by the way.
Enjoy your journeys.

 

[Huckleberry]

The subject matter alone makes this video freaking awesome. Nome, to me, is like one of the few remaining wonders of the world that not a lot of people get to lay eyes on. It’s that little unknown village at the very farthest fingertip of North America. I had an opportunity to go up to Nome sometime back in the mid 2000’s but our flight ended up being canceled because of the ice fog (can’t remember what year exactly. Wanna say 2007ish). We were supposed to haul a platoon of army soldiers up there from Elmendorf but due to the weather in Nome, delivered them to Fairbanks instead. I was only 7 or 8 years into my career back then and I remember being so stoked to have an opportunity to fly up to Nome.

 

[Casadepaga]

You're right Huckleberry.
There's definitely No Place Like Nome

 

[Hauptmann]

That same summer my son and I got to Barrow. It was sunny, but COLD. Local kids with bare arms went whizzing by on 3-wheelers. We were wearing ski parkas, but were still cold. We walked up to Pt. Barrow, where USAF has a weather station. Up there we met some recent law school grads celebrating their graduation with a trip to Alaska. The Now defunct Wien Airlines had a special: for $799 or so, you got a SEA/ANC round-trip plus virtually unlimited travel within Alaska for 30 days. The next day my son accompanied the young lawyers to Kotzebue. I had to go back to work in ANC, and couldn't go.

There was a pay phone on the Barrow airport porch where some wag had graffiti-ed "ET: Phone Nome!"

Our time in Alaska was the stuff of legends.

 

[Casadepaga]

I worked a week on week off in UtqBarrow for years. It's a unique place with some of the friendliest people in the state. But it also makes a guy appreciate how nice Nome Ak. is too.