Winter landings at McMurdo next week

Press, 24 August 1976, Page 6

Winter landings at McMurdo next week

Williams Field, at McMurdo Sound, is being prepared for next week’s winter landings by United States Navy ski-equipped Hercules. Three Hercules should arrive at Christchurch on Friday with a chartered Boeing 747, carrying 165 passengers — 24 being scientists going south to get an early start on their research.

Among the passengers will be Captain C. H. Nordhill, the commander . of the United States Na\& Antarc-

tic support force; and Captain A. N. Fowler, the deputy director of polar programmes for the National Science Foundation.

The flights will probably be either over the week-end or early next week.

On Saturday afternoon, men at McMurdo had their first sunrise for six months. It was marked with a traditional flag-raising ceremony. By consensus the American bicentennial flag. I which has Aowi* above the

station all winter, will be sent to the ’ Seabee Museum in California.

Spring is coming there too — the men at the South Pole Station had their morale boosted last week with a temperature rise of 6 degrees, to minus 70.6 degrees C. And for the first time in six weeks the men there were able to make ham radio contact again with their families in the United States.