Port Burwell, Labrador

Parker D Cramer - Assorted Sources

By August, 1928, Parker Cramer was ready for adventure. Joining Bert Hassell, of Rockford, Illinois, another experienced flyer, a flight was planned across the polar regions, linking Rockford with Stockholm, Sweden. The aviators hoped that the flight would prove that the "Great Circle" route would prove to be the most practical and safest route to Europe. Although the flight started out with great promise, the two pilots ran into trouble over Greenland, when, unexpectantly off course by 400 miles, they flew on, hoping to rendezvous with a University of Michigan Meteorological Expedition base, located along the coast. They brought the plane down at the head of a large fjord, having flown 2,600 miles in 26 hours, and estimated that the Expedition site was still 60 miles further north. Taking a gun and some food, Cramer and Hassell started out, figuring two days hike. It took 15. During that time, food ran low, Cramer fell into a crevice and was rescued by Haskell, and they kept walking. Finally, in the distance, a small boat appeared. It was an Eskimo, who saw their smoke, and notified the Expedition camp, which arrived with help just in time. There was no hope of salvaging the plane, and the two dejected, but rescued fliers, returned to the United States.

Cramer tried again in 1929 (see the article below) and his Sikorsky S-38 (photos of various S-38 aircraft are presented below) was crushed by ice floes at Port Burwell, Labrador. The Sikorsky S-38 was an amphibious flying boat that could also be configured with wheels. The aircraft could carry as many as eight passengers plus a pilot and co-pilot.

In 1931, another opportunity for adventure appeared. Cramer was chosen to pilot another attempt at the "Great Circle" air route, this time over the Arctic circle, trying to reach Copenhagen from Detroit, flying through Canada, Baffin Island, Greenland, Iceland, and the Shetland Islands. This plane was equipped with pontoons, and Parker Cramer and his new co-pilot Oliver Paquette were on their way. Reaching the Shetland Island, they stopped to refuel, then took off again, on the morning of August 9, 1931. Late that afternoon, a message from Cramer was heard - "I can see the coast of Norway". It was the last message ever received. Cramer and Paquette were never seen or heard from again. It is believed that they crashed into the sea somewhere between Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, and Norway. Nearly a month later, the wreckage of the plane was found several hundreds of miles away in the North Sea, and five months after the crash, Parker Cramer's briefcase containing letters, his maps, and licenses were found by a Dutch fishing boat, 25 miles southwest of Stavanger, Norway, in the North Sea.