TEST FLIGHTS IN ANTARCTIC
Reports From Winter Party Two R4D-5 ski-equipped Skytrain aircraft are now flying test and familiarisation flights on the Antarctic continent, according to Captain William H. Munson, U.S.N., commanding officer of Air Development Squadron Six (VX--6). Captain Munson based his information on reports radioed from the small 27-man VX-6 team which has spent the winter at McMurdo Sound.
The aircraft made their flight about September 11 from a ski runway carved out of the ice at McMurdo. This strip is adjacent to the main runways and lands ski-equipped aircraft only. The main runway, according to Captain Munson, is 80 per cent, complete, while a supplementary crosswind runway, both for wheeled aircraft, is only 30 per cent, finished.
Earlier messages indicated that all runways had been completed in late August. A four-day blizzard which ended on September 2 wiped out the fields and work on them had to start anew. The two Sky trains and two single-engine Otters were stored for the winter near the New Zealand-manned Scott Base, close to the American base at McMurdo. VX-6 planes and U.S. Air Force Globemasters are scheduled to land at McMurdo during the first week of October, flying in from Christchurch.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29001, 16 September 1959, Page 16
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201TEST FLIGHTS IN ANTARCTIC Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29001, 16 September 1959, Page 16
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