EPISODE 461 SIKORSKY HELICOPTERS ON BERING SEA GAS DROP

alan skeoch

oct. 2021

On the Alaska job in 1959 everything needed had to be ferried by

S 52 helicopters to the site in the interior of SW Alaska…the barren lands.

Gasoline was hung in a cargo net beneath the helicopter with an

emergency lever  beside the pilot. In the event of a sudden downdraft

he would hit the lever and drop the load.   I was told (ture or false) that

a diamond drill hung in this fashion had to be suddenly dropped in a

sudden down draft.   No one ever tried to retrieve it as it fell like a great

speer into the spongy land below.

We were ferried to our job sites every morning by S 52's from our base camp when the ex-US air force pilots would yell into the loud speaker.

“Let's get fucking airborne”.

As mentioned in an earlier Episode, our 5 man  Canadian crew were

all armed with 30-06 rifles in case of Kodiak bear attacks.   We could

not carry the rifles and the survey gear so stacked the rifles at the

drop site each day.  No Kodiak bear attacked us.  Why?  I was told

bears find the smell of humans awful.  Probably true in our case.

This job on the Alaskan barren lands was my training field for the

job in Ireland in 1960…thanks to field man Bill Morrison.

Our base camp held 30 men … 5 Canadians and 25 American diamond

drillers.  Too many had revolvers in my opinion…and used them

too often.  One of the drillers (nice guy normally) said” “Watch this!”

And he made a quick draw from his holster and fired at a beaver in

the creek below camp. He killed the poor thing.  He did not mean to

do this.  This incident is one reason I dislike guns.  People do stupid

things with guns.

alan skeoch

P.S. When the job was over the camp was bull dozed over the

little cliff and covered with rubbish and soil.   Too expensive to

retrieve.   The site may become one of the largest copper mining

sites in the US…but is currently just a barren land with creeks 

annually filled with salmon trying to spawn and then die much to

the enjoyment of kodiak bears…all of whom are well fed.

Canadian crew….Mike Chinnery (boss), Dr. John Stam (boss),

Don Van Every, Ian Rutherford, Bill Morrison and Alan Skeoch (field men…realy university of Toronto students)

Location….Dillingham, Alaska on Bering Sea which was once

the land bridge from Siberia to North America 10, 000 years ago.