Albeit the area we flew through appeared as desolate as Northern Canada, the region is the home of the indigenous Sámi people, a warzone during World War II (1940-1945), and a center stage of Soviet/NATO aggression during the Cold War (1947-1991).
ENSS (Vardø)
During World War II, with Norway occupied by the German Wehrmacht, Vardø was heavily bombed by Allied, mostly Russian forces. Most of the town center was destroyed, and the population was evacuated. After the war, the city center was completely reconstructed.
As of 2017, the fishing industry had collapsed. From 1995 to 2017, the population shrank by 50 percent to 2,100 people. In May 2017 work to lay a new electric cable from the Norwegian mainland to the island began. The additional electricity is needed to power an American-funded radar system about 40 miles from Russia’s Kola Peninsula, a territory studded with high-security naval bases and restricted military zones. The secrecy surrounding the radar systems has spawned fears that officials are covering up health hazards and other possible dangers. The electromagnetic pulses the current radar system emits interfere with television and radio reception, and some residents have blamed them for a rash of miscarriages and cancer cases in a civilian district next to the fenced-in security zone
ENMH (Mehamn)
Not only having been operated by an adolescent, but also the site of a rebellion and a controversial air crash. Regarding the latter, critics claimed the DHC-6 Twin Otter had been struck by an allied RAF Harrier or USAF surveillance aircraft.
ENNA (Banak)
The airfield was constructed with triangular runways in 1938. It was taken over by the Luftwaffe in 1940, who expanded it and laid down two wooden runways. In 1945, it was taken over by the Norwegian Royal Air Force and then abandoned in 1952.
By 1959 the United States was concerned that the militarization of the Kola Peninsula would become the prime point of a Soviet attack on North America. The Norwegian government approved construction of Banak on condition that it received NATO funding. Construction would include a 2,000-meter (6,600 ft) runway, but lack of funding meant the airport would not meet all of NATO’s air base standards.
It reopened in 1963 and was largely funded by NATO. The runway was extended in 1968.
ENNA (Alta, Tirpitz base)
Alta and Kåfjord were one of the largest German Naval bases during WWII. The German battleship Tirpitz used Kåfjord as a harbour, and she was damaged there by British aircraft and by Royal Navy midget submarines in Operation Source. Six midget submarines or X-Craft were used but only two successfully laid charges (under the Tirpitz). Tirpitz was badly damaged, crippled, and out of action until May 1944; it was destroyed on 12 November 1944 by Avro Lancaster bombers, during Operation Catechism in Tromsø, Norway.
Tirpitz and Bismarck were sister ships. Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimetre (15 in) guns in four twin turrets. After a series of wartime modifications she was 2000 tonnes heavier than Bismarck, making her the heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy.
The German navy did not endeavor to build more battleships of this size, as they gained extraordinary attention from allied forces.
