WINTER FLIGHT TO ANTARCTIC

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30478, 27 June 1964, Page 1

WINTER FLIGHT TO ANTARCTIC

Plane Returning With Injured Man

A United States Navy ski-equipped Hercules aircraft is now flying back to Harewood after making the first mid-winter landing in Antarctica. It is bringing back a seriously ill Seabee, Bethel Lee McMullen, who was injured in a fall in the firehouse at McMurdo station last Sunday.

The Hercules left Harewood on the hazardous 2100-niile flight to McMurdo Sound at 11.52 a.m. yesterday. It carried 15 service-' men including a medical team of four.

Aided by a tail wind the plane landed on the 10,000 ft, 200 ft wide emergency runway in McMurdo Sound at 8.25 p.m.

Piloted by a veteran of two Antarctic seasons (Lieutenant R. V. Mayer) the Hercules stayed at McMurdo Station two hours while Mr McMullen was taken aboard. The plane took off again at 10.34 p.m. It is expected at Christchurch about 6.30 a.m. today. Lieutenant Mayer landed the Hercules without difficulty in clear weather. Visibility was mdre than 15 miles. The two surgeons, Lieuten-ant-Commander G. S, McClard and Lieutenant H. P.

Dixon, were flown by helicopter from the runway to the station. They saw the patient, and Lieutenant Mayer reported to Harewood that he estimated a maximum stay of two hours on the ice.

The two planes flew 10,000 miles from Quonset Point, Rhode Island, to make the evacuation flight. The plane which went to McMurdo

Sound will have flown another 4200 miles when it returns to Harewood.

A medical report from the sick bay at McMurdo Station received at Harewood yesterday indicated that Mr McMullen's condition had continued to improve. He was changed from critical to seriously-ill. His temperature had dropped and was remaining fairly steady.

Because of the excessive weight, including fuel for 17 hours’ flying, no fresh provisions, requested by McMurdo. Station, were carried. All that was taken was personal mail and a basket of mixed fruit and two cases of apples—gifts of the Salvation Army. Standing By A second Hercules on the evacuation ■ mission from Quonset Point, Rhodes Island, which was to have made a weather probe between New Zealand and the Antarctic, remained at Christchurch on standby for search and rescue operations. The preliminary weather flight was called off after it had been determined that terminal weather at McMurdo Sound, the key factor to the flight, was good. The Navy Department reported that H.M.N.Z.S. Otago would be in position 300 miles south of Campbell Island (60 degrees south) at sunset yesterday to act as a weather ship and beacon for the flight. The frigate, Pukaki, left Dunedin in. the afternoon after taking on fuel and supplies. Soon after their arrival at Christchurch at 12.50 a.m. and I.IQ a.m. yesterday the 44 men aboard the two planes were fitted with Antarctic clothing. Afterwards they went to bed. Through the early hours of the morning a detachment of VX6 squadron men Installed a 3000-gallon internal fuel tank in one of the Hercules.

In addition,' the staff meteorologist (Commander J. Allison), the head of the evacuation mission and VX6 commander (Commander F.

S. Gallup), and the-base commander at Harewood (Commander W. H. Withrow) checked local weather information and talked first with McMurdo Station and later with Washington. Admiral Said Go McMurdo' Station reported that the runway was ready and that barrels of fuel had been placed at intervals of 500 ft along the 10,000 ft landing field ready to light and illuminate the runway. The message said navigational aids and the ground control approach systems had been checked by two helicopters of the VX6 detachment at the station. In addition, navigational aids at' Hallett, the Amundsen-Scott South Pole, and Byrd stations were ready.

With the promise of good weather for the next 24 hours and the runway ready, the three officers then talked to the commander of the United States Navy Antarctic support force (Rear-Admiral J. R. Reedy) in Washington, seeking approval for a take-off at noon. His immediate approval set the operation under way. Before take-off messages of

good wishes for the flight were sent by. several persons. The most touching was from Tawhiti School children 'at Hawera. It said: “May God go with you gallant gentlemen.” The success of the flight, which was primarily an evacuation. mission, means that lack of physical contact with the outside world for men wintering in- the Antarctic is nearing an end. Scientists have in recent years advocated winter flights for greater research coverage rather than the hectic fast assault during the five summer months; <

For the military support force, which has a fixed budget, it is thought that monthly supply flights (considered by the Hercules pilot, Lieutenant Mayer, as a good possibility) might be uneconomic. As the VX6 commander in charge of the mission (Commander F. S. Gallup) said when asked about the cost of the mercy flight: “It’s expensive.”