Damaged Hercules back in Chch

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34037, 29 December 1975, Page 14

Damaged Hercules back in Chch

One of the United States Navy 130 Hercules aircraft damaged in take-off from Dome C, a huge polar dome about 650 miles from McMurdo Station in Antarctica, has been flown back to Christchurch after repairs at the crash site.

The plane, flown by (Commander James Yaegar, arrived in Christchurch about 5 p.m. yesterday. eight hours after it left McMurdo. The 2350-mile journey was flown at 24,000 ft in an unpressurised cabin, and although the commander reIported no problems and a

•: smooth flight, one of the J crew was taken t o a doctor _ suffering the effects of the ' change of pressure on land- ) ing. Acclimatisation The first aircraft was dam- > aged last January when a ■ jet-assisted take-off bottle, ■ which boosts take-off thrust, • exploded, and the right wing 1 of the plane was burned off. A second plane which was flown in to recover the stranded scientists and flight crew could not take off after the front ski collapsed, and the nose of the plane i crumpled. The United States Navy; .decided to recover the two :planes, and sent a team of 20 men, 16 from the Naval I Air Rework Facility, a civilian crew which specialises in repair work for the Navy, and four Lockheed staff, to the South Pole on December 19 to acclimatise themselves to the cold and altitude, and (they joined a Navy team at Dome C on December 22. ! The third Hercules was

damaged on November 4 when its J.A.T.C). bottle exploded on take-off, damaging a right engine, cables, electrical equipment and the hull. It was repaired by men from the VXE. 6 Squadron, of Harewood, who arrived at Dome C on December 22. They fitted a new engine, welded steel plates to the damaged fuselage and the plane was flown at low level from the dome to McMurdo by Commander Dan Dcsko and a volunteer crew. After further checks, the plane was flown on to Christchurch and here it will undergo a check to see whether it can remain in service after other repairs, or have to return to the United States.