Scandinavian American. [volume], March 01, 1948, Image 1

About Scandinavian American. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958

Image provided by: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

                
Commander 01‘
“Stockholm"
Captain Waldemar Jonsson
was in command of the Swedish
American motoriiner “Stock
holm" on its maiden 'voyage
from Gothenburg to New York.
Captain Johnsson, who for the
past six months has supervised
the completion of the ship, is a
veteran in the North Atlantic
service and previously has been
In command of the S. S.
“Drottninghoim.”
Stavanger Base
Prepares for
Giant Planes
OSLO—Field statistics recently
released for 8019. Airport at Sta
vanger give a good indication of
the ideal weather conditions pre
vailing at that base. It is noted
that from August 13th to Decem
ber 19, 1947, a total of 47 land
ings were made at the airport by
scheduled airlines which were un
able to land at their regular stops
Hecauae of bad weather.
Soli's good weather record is
further illustrated by January
February figures for last year
when the GQO sign (landing for
bidden) was in operation for but
55 minutes. In one day alone, 28
landings Were made by scheduled
airllnes because most other Euro
pean airports were closed due to
weather conditions.
Total cost of developing the 80111
base into a first-class trans-At
lantic terminal has been estimated
at $2,940,000. Under the 1946-47
State Budget, $400,000 was appro
priated for pmflmlnary work while
an sdditlonal $590,000 was pro
vided under the present budget.
Traffic Department proposals aug
gest a. $1,206,000 appropriation for
the 1948—49 period. with the re~
malnlng figure to be covered dur-
Ing 1949-50.
Postponement of this flnal ap
propriation will not seriously de
lay the opening of the field for
trans-Atlantic Stratocrulaer traf
fic, It was noted.
I See. 562, p. L. a: 1:.
U. s. POSTAGE
P A l D
' Seattle, Wash.
5 . . Permit No. 4513
6%
out! W ;
Q) LEL- &
‘ ' n» 4' Serving the Scandinavian-American Population of the Great Northwest
Vol.‘ 4, No.3. SEATTLE. WASHINGTON, MARCH, 1948
WAR MADE SWEDEN BlllLD 180
NEW LIGHTHOUSES 0H COAST
STOCKHOLM—During the war
years 1939 to 1945, the number
of lighthouses along the coasts of
Sweden increased from 464 to
645. or by no less than 181. In
little more than one year~—1939
‘and 1940—114 new unmanned Aga
lights were built. which is a re
‘cord in the history of the Swedish
pilot service.
Sweden's coastline. which has a
length of 1,150 miles, stretching
from the North Sea in the west
to the northern end of the Gulf
of Bothnia. is guarded by an al
most unbroken series of archipel
agoes. Only certain parts of these
archipelagoes afford passages
deep enough for very large ships,
while there are a great number of
channels navigable to small and
medium-sized vessels. These “in
side" sheltered routes have always
been of great importance to Swed
ish shipping. and in wartime they
have made sea traffic possible en
tirely -within protected Swedish
waters. But there is one essen
tial condition for the full use of
mac coastal waterways: an ex
tensive system of navigation
lights.
The first real system of light
houses in Swedish waters was
created during the second half of
the 19th century. Following Gus
taf Dalen's epoch-making inven
tions in the field of navigation
lights, the beaconing out of the
Swedish waters continued at a
fairly rapid rate. A few years
before the war. surveys had been
made with a view to establidiing
a coastal waterway with a mini
mum depth of 20 feet from the
Aland Islands down to Kalmar
Sound in the Baltic. These sur
‘veys were nearly completed when
the war broke out. The immediate
;consequence of the new situation
‘was that a plan was drawn up for
providing this waterway with
lights as quickly as possible, and
at the same time a new project
was presented, aiming at the cre
ation of a similar 20-foot fairway
along the west coast up to Nor-
Tourist Clue dining room on the new "Stockholm."
way. The east coast project com
prised 89 lights, the west coast
project 25.
These two programs were coms
plated at the end of 1940. Their
success was the outcome of an in
timate collaboration between the
Swedish pilot service and the Aga
Company. Four standard types of
small unmanned lighthouses were
used. Pre-fabricated forms of
wood or sheet iron were employed
for the concrete work, and some
of them were built on pre-fabri
cated concrete caissons. which
were towed to the site of the light
and sunk there. The lights were
all built with a standard diameter
of about 6 feet and a standard wall
thickness of 6 inches.
Apart from these unmanned
standard lights, 11 large light
houses. showing many novelties as
to construction and equipment,
were built in SWeden during the
war.
Flam To llunt
Norway Wolves
OSLO — Norwegian military
planes and pilots in arctic Norway
are awaiting the zero hour for
“Operation Wolf Pack." During the
past weeks. frenzied reports from
Lap herdsmen in the Finnmark
area north of the Arctic Circle
have described hordes of wolves
moving across the border from
Russia. Reindeer herds have al
ready been hard hit and an appeal
has been directed to the authori—
ties.
Col. Ole Reistad, war-time head
of Camp Little Norway at Toron
to, Canada. and now Commanding
Officer at Bardufoss Alrdrome has
wired beleaguered herdsmen that
the Air Force stands ready. The
wolf packs will be hunted down by
lead-spitting pursuit planes follow
ing the same system as has al—
ready been used in Canada with
considerable success. notes the
Colonel.
Publisher oi “Vestkusten” Now 80
Alexander Oisson, for 60 years connected with the Swedish hu
gusge newspaper “Vestkusien” in San Francisco, shown here with
hisrdaughter, Mrs. Martha Kuhnle. at the dinner given in his honor
on his 80th birthday recently.
United States
Has Slim lead
In Athletics
LONDON —- By a margin of
only one does the United States of
America now lead Scandinavia in
the matter of record holders in
world track and field athletics. The
lead has been whittled down fol—
lowing the recent ratification of
world marks here.
In the list officially accepted
by the International Amateur Ath
letic Federation, world controlling
body of the sport. Americans fig
ure 32 times and Scandinavians
31. Nine other names are contrib
uted by six other nations.
The 31 Scandinavian team and
individual record holders come
only from Sweden and Finland.
two countries with a combined
population of less than 11.000.000.
Sweden. with an entire population
equal only to three quarters that
of the cities of New York or Lon
don. supplies no fewer than 23 to
the list.
The approach of the 1948 Olym
pic Games. for which athletes from
more than 50 nations will assem
ble in London. makes a study of
world records especially interest
ing just now. A reliable guide as
to the present distribution
strength can be obtained. A stand
ing compiled from countries ap
pearing in the list works out like
this:
United States of Americnr 32
Sweden , .. . 23
Finland ......... _ .. 8
France . .V 1
Great Britun . .. 1
South Africa 1
IOC a Copy
(“Smoke Tunnel”
Gets First Test
OSLO—~Norway's first “smoke
tunnel." replacing the conventional
smoke stack. recently underwent
preliminary tests at the. Norsk
Aluminum Company's plant at
Hoyanger.
Like many factories in the fjord
districts, the Hoyanger plant is in
a. deep narrow valley. In recent
years it was noted that gasses
from the plant's new electrolysis
installations were damaging plant
life in the area and that a new
smoke stack would be necessary.
Instead of building the GOO-foot
stack necessary to carry the harm
ful vapors into the upper air, en
gineers decided on the smoke-tun
nel system, and during the war
years work was begun on the new
installation.
The smoke is first washed to
remove the fluorine gas and is
then driven by powerful fans
through steel pipes to the tunnel
inlet. The tunnel itself is sunk 3.1
feet in the mountainside. is nine
feet in diameter. and emerges at
the mountain-top some 500 feet
above the valley floor. Here, pre
vailing winds disperse the. harmful
gasses.
Finland Delivers
llouses 'l'o Russia
Flnland has delivered the last
cat-load of preflbricated houses n9-
quired as pll‘t of its n-pamtions
payments to the Soviet Unmn.
The delivery was acrnmplished m
just over thrfl- years of the re
quired eight year period.
- m ho‘hses- are Vchiefly one and
two-tummy strucmrea.
Be sure to vou- Tuesday.
March 9.