Editing Narsarsuaq (section)

==History==
[[File:Narsarsuap-kuua.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Narsarsuaq valley (Flower valley), seen from Mellemlandet]]
Narsarsuaq is located within the [[Eastern Settlement]] of the [[Norse colonization of the Americas|Greenlandic Norse]]; the [[Brattahlíð]] farm of [[Erik the Red]] established in 985 was located on the opposite bank of [[Tunulliarfik Fjord]], where the modern settlement of [[Qassiarsuk]] is situated.<ref name=TI/>

In 1941 the [[United States]] built an [[air base]] at Narsarsuaq code-named [[Bluie West One]] (BW1). (''[[Bluie]]'' was the Allied military code name for Greenland.) Thousands of planes used BW1 as a stepping stone on their way from the aircraft factories in North America to the battlegrounds of Europe. A 600-bed hospital was built in order to deal with casualties from the [[Normandy landings]].<ref name=TI/> After the end of the war, BW1 continued to be developed, and was a major hospital site during the [[Korean War]], with the military hospital expanded to 1,000 beds.<ref name=TI/> However,  it was rendered surplus by the advent of [[mid-air refueling]] and the construction of the larger [[Thule Air Base]] in northern Greenland. In 1951, it was agreed that Denmark and the United States would jointly oversee the airbase. Although it closed in 1958, it was reopened the following year by the Danish government after the loss of the vessel ''[[Hans Hedtoft (ship)|Hans Hedtoft]]'' and all crew south off [[Cape Farewell, Greenland|Cape Farewell]].<ref>{{cite web
| author = Dan Ford
| title = Remembering Bluie West One
| url = http://www.warbirdforum.com/bluie.htm
| publisher = WarbirdForum.com
| access-date = May 9, 2011
}}</ref> The hospital was destroyed by a fire in 1972, although the ruins remain.