Canadian Army and Air Force Exercise "Musk-Ox"

Film of the Canadian Army and Air Force Exercise ‘Musk-Ox’ in 1946, documenting the journey from Churchill in Hudson Bay to Grand Prairie in Alberta.

Colour film (photographed by Lt. Col. N.A.C. Croft) of the Canadian Army and Air Force Exercise ‘Musk-Ox’, which began on February 15th and ended on May 4th 1946. This was a 3,000 mile journey, during midwinter, from Churchill in Hudson Bay, via Victoria Island, Great Bear Lake and the Alaskan Highway, to Grand Prairie in Alberta.

'Musk-Ox’ was the largest military exercise held in the Canadian Arctic, and was the most extensive expedition into the area ever undertaken. It offered an opportunity to test skills and equipment. There were 48 Officers and men driving 11 snowmobiles (called ‘penguins’). Supplies were regularly dropped along the route by the Royal Canadian Air Force. Places visited included Churchill, Eskimo Point, Baker Lake, Perry River, Cambridge Bay (Victoria Island), Coppermine, Port Radium, Fort Norman, Fort Simpson, Fort Nelson and along the Alaskan Highway to Grand Prairie.