HELICOPTER CRASHES

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28819, 13 February 1959, Page 8

HELICOPTER CRASHES

No-one Hurt In

Polar Mishap Called to aid the British Antarctic 1 supply ship. John Biscoe, the United States Navy’s icebreaker, Glacier, is now handicapped by the loss of its only helicopter—which crashed on pack ice one mile from the Glacier on Wednesday.

According to a brief message received at the United States Antarctic headquarters in Christchurch yesterday, no-one was injured in the crash. The helicopter is believed to be a total wreck, and a message has been sent to the other American icebreaker, Edisto, which is also in west Antarctic waters, for one of its three helicopters. A helicopter was an essential part of the equipment for an Icebreaker operating in polar waters, and was used for finding the most suitable ways through pack ice. a Navy spokesman said last evening. The Glacier and the Edisto will now rendezvous for the Glacier to take over one of the helicopters and to make arrangements to aid the John Biscoe. At present the Glacier is completing its task of helping the Belgian Antarctic supply ship, Polarhav. from the pack ice. Heavy Ice

The John Biscoe has been held up by heavy i?e at the entrance to the channel which would take her into the four British bases on the Grahamland Peninsula. It was scheduled to have returned to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands for refuelling yesterday Some of the men at the four British bases have already been in the Antarctic for two years, and on board the John Biscoe are their replacements. A message from the John Biscoe gives an estimate of two weeks to carry out the relief of the four bases once an Icebreaker joins her. Two of the bases are blocked with year-old ice six foot thick.

This season’s ice conditions were the worst he had seen in the three years he had known the area, said the officer in charge of the United States ship operations in the Antarctic. Captain Edwin A. McDonald, in an earlier message to Christchurch.