SUPPLY DROPS IN ANTARCTIC

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29235, 20 June 1960, Page 10

SUPPLY DROPS IN ANTARCTIC

Air- Force Squadron To Return

Seven Globemaster aircraft and 10 crews of the 9th Troop Carrier Squadron will arrive at Christchurch in September and October to carry supplies to the American bases in the Antarctic this season. The 9th Troop Carrier Squadron performed the same task last year, using 10 Globemasters and 14 crews.

Colonel D. R. Bridges, commander of the United States Air Force task jinit last year, who arrived at Harewood yesterday morning from Donaldson Air Force Base. South Carolina, said last evening that the Globemasters would start flying from Christchurch to the American ■base on Ross Island, in McMurdo Sound, early in October. The squadron hoped to complete its resupplying of the AmundsenScott station, at the South Pole, and Byrd station, in Marie Byrd Land, in the latter part of November.

Colonel Bridges has made the first survey flight to Christchurch to checlc equipment and supplies needed for the squadron’s Antarctic mission, arrange for any replacements, and determine what material will have to be shipped to Lyttelton or flown to Harewood. He will leave Christchurch on the return flight to Donaldson Air Force Base on Wednesday Recently aircraft of the 9th Troop Carrier Squadron have been operating in Greenland from the American base, Thule. They also took part in the airlift of food and medical supplies to Chile after the disastrous earthquakes and tidal waves.