Before Greenland became a fixture of modern geopolitics, millions of radio listeners already knew that this vast frozen island mattered.
In the 1930s, Greenland was the edge of the world—a forbidding wilderness where the famous Flying Hutchinson family came down during an audacious attempt to circle the globe.
Then, in April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark.
Almost overnight, Greenland became something else.
American radio began asking who would protect it. Wartime aircraft crossed its immense ice cap. A crashed B-17 left nine men fighting for survival while rescuers struggled for months to reach them. And meteorologists discovered that observations made on this remote island could help predict weather thousands of miles away over the North Atlantic and Europe.
Soon the Allies and Germans were competing for something that sounds almost impossible:
the weather itself.
In this Chesterton Radio Deep Dive, we explore four remarkable broadcasts that preserve Greenland’s transformation almost as it happened—from the adventure stories of early aviation to the geopolitics, Arctic survival and secret weather war of World War II.
Featuring stories from Cavalcade of America, America Looks Abroad and the extraordinary Flying Hutchinsons, including Nine Men Against the Arctic and Weather Is a Weapon.
Four broadcasts. One frozen island. And a remarkable story of how a place at the edge of the map became a place where history could turn.
Listen, read and discover more original stories and Deep Dives at ChestertonRadio.com.
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