sign in sign up
<<
Home , Marie Byrd Land, Williams Field

. .a -

a

(U.S. Navy Photo) LC-130Fs in parking area at Williams Field Deep Freeze 68 Only those personnel directly involved with acti- vating support functions were included in the initial Air Operations fly-in, along with critically needed material, but the reactivation of shops and relief of winter-over person- A. F. SCHNEIDER nel proceeded quickly. With the arrival of the remain- ing aircraft, additional personnel, and the first scien- Commander, USN tists, operations soon reached full tempo. Deployment Naval Air Systems Command of squadron personnel to McMurdo was completed on October 18. Deep Freeze 68 was the thirteenth consecutive sea- Brockton Station was reopened and Hallett Station son in which Air Development Squadron Six (VX-6) reactivated on October 3. was reached has contributed to the geographic and scientific ex- on October 20, and the initial flight to Pole Station ploration of the . Although, according to was completed on November 1. Though extremely superstition, the number 13 is accompanied by mis- strong upper-air winds turned back the first aircraft fortune, this season was highly successful. Planned dispatched to , its arrival there was objectives were met or exceeded, and the Squadron delayed only one day beyond the November 15th date recorded its second consecutive accident-free year. set in the original schedule. These initial flights to the Also enjoying an accident-free season was the U.S. inland stations were but the heralds of many resupply Army Aviation Detachment ( Support). flights that followed. During the entire season, this These successes reflect the dedication and profes- phase of air operations encountered no significant sionalism of the personnel in all four components of problems. the Antarctic Air Group: the main portion of the squadron deployed in Antarctica, the Aviation Main- Aerial Photography and Special Projects tenance Support Element (a VX-6 detachment at Christchurch), the Aviation Support Element (a VX- Aerial photography is a major and direct contribu- 6 detachment at Quonset Point, Rhode Island), and tion of VX-6 to the antarctic research program. All the Army helicopter unit. of this seasons photographic requirements of the U.S. Geological Survey were met with the exception of the Stations Opened Promptly "fill lines" (i.e., photo-flight lines which had not been Two of the squadrons LC-130s and its two C-121s completed the previous year) in Palmer Land. were assigned to make the initial flights to McMurdo, Photomapping operations were conducted differ- which were scheduled to arrive at the station on ently this year in that all flights originated at Mc- October 2. The two other LC-130s were to arrive at Murdo. Though the location of the areas to be photo- Christchurch on October 8 and at McMurdo on graphed (see map) required most flights to stage October 15. Events went very much according to through Pole Station, the new staging concept offered plan. several advantages: (1) aircraft maintenance could be performed at McMurdo; (2) when not assigned Commanding Officer, Air Development Squadron Six to a photo mission, the plane could cache fuel at from April 26, 1967, to June 14, 1968, with prior service Byrd and Stations for future flights; and as VX-6 Maintenance Officer and Executive Officer. (3) when poor weather prevailed in the photo areas,

July-August 1968 143 DEEP FREEZE 68 TRIM ETROGON MAPPING FLOWN

SOUTH 9O___ - -- (U.S. Nary Photo) POLE

%,s /c

O - KOHLER RANGE H - M PALMER LAND N - SHACKLETON RANGE O - COATS LAND P - RECON R - FILCHNER & EDITH RONNE ICE SHELVES 180 -8 - SHACK LETON RANGE (COLOR) FILL LINES (U.S. Navy Photo) An Army UH-1 helicopter is Loaded aboard a Hercules for the aircraft would be immediately available for other delivery to Marie Byrd Land survey site. missions. The revised procedure also reduced the re- quirements for aviation personnel and facilities at the damage suffered during loading and unloading. outlying stations. As was true last year, satellite-trans- The first helicopter arrived at camp 1 on November mitted photography of antarctic weather conditions 2, and all three were there by November 9. proved a great aid in determining when to dispatch Second, the camps were erected this year by a Navy the photo aircraft. crew prior to the move, rather than by camp person- VX-6 also provided the flying platform for two nel, as was done last season. This method provided the special projects that should reveal features of Ant- scientists with more time to pursue their studies and arctica that are hidden from conventional aerial eliminated the requirement for flight crews to pro- photography. One was the Scott Polar Research In- vide assistance in establishing camps. It is believed stitutes measurement of ice thickness by radar sound- that after this procedure is perfected, it will expedite ing, and the other was the University of Michigans moves from campsite to campsite. infrared sensing program.2 Weather in the survey area was again a problem, being suitable for flight operations only about 40 per- Field Support cent of the time. Camp 1 became operational on November 5, and the helicopters provided the scien- A number of parties were placed in the field, re- tists with 196.3 hours of support in 36 flights. Camp supplied, and picked up at distant investigation sites 2 was a temporary tent camp with a fuel cache for in various regions without difficulties, and two major limited operations, while camp 3 resembled camp 1. field operations were supported—the Marie Byrd The Marie Byrd Land Survey party was recovered Land Survey and South Pole-Queen Maud Land from the field on January 25. Traverse (SPQMLT) III. Operating on the other side of the Continent was The opening of Marie Byrd Land camp 1 on Octo- SPQMLT III. Though a surface-travel venture, it ber 23, 1967, was significant in that two new support required a certain amount of aerial support. Prior to procedures were introduced. First, the Army helicop- the traverse partys December 5th departure from ters were airlifted directly to the campsite to minimize Plateau Station, an LC-130F reconnaissance flight was made over the proposed traverse track so that a Antarctic Journal, vol. III, no. 2, p. 42-43. major areas of disturbed ice could be avoided. Be- ANTARCTIC JOURNAL 144

tween the traverse partys departure and the time it Wyoming party that was working by Lake Vida in was picked up at the terminal point on January 30, Victoria Valley. During the three months this group three flights were made to drop supplies.3 was in the field, the LH-34s provided 122 hours of support, which allowed studies to be undertaken that Busy McMurdo Helicopters would have required years on foot. In sharp contrast to the long-ranging flights for The preceding paragraphs have made it all sound traverse support and photomapping were the many rather easy, but there are few places in the world that flights by the LH-34 helicopters of VX-6 based at pose the hazards to air operations that Antarctica McMurdo. These aircraft aided 20 scientific projects does. The accomplishments of the Antarctic Air within a 200–mile radius of McMurdo, logging ap- Group during Deep Freeze 68 are primarily the result proximately 700 hours—an increase of 20 percent of a high degree of interest and dedication on the over previous seasons. Three projects in particular part of pilots and crews. illustrate the quality and variety of helicopter support. First, established a new camp near Lake Vanda; a C-130 of the Royal New Zealand Air Aviation Statistics, Force dropped the components on the frozen lake, Deep Freeze 68 following which the LH-34s moved approximately 25,000 pounds of materials to the actual campsite. The U.S. program in Antarctica is heavily reliant This task would have been virtually impossible for on aerial logistics, as is impressively demonstrated by any other kind of vehicle, but the helicopters com- the statistics for the 1967-1968 operating season. pleted it in only a few hours. The Antarctic Air Group—numerically designated The helicopters further displayed their versatility Task Group 43.3—flew a total of 7,420 hours, of in connection with a University of California study which 7,047.6 were by Air Development Squadron of tillites in the Darwin Glacier area. Originally, it Six, and 372.4 by the U.S. Army Aviation Detach- had been planned to fly the party to the location by ment (Antarctica Support), the Groups other flying LC-130 Hercules, which would have involved an unit. Another 550 hours were contributed by ice- open-field landing miles from the study area and breaker-based helicopters, which operate as part of forced the scientists to toboggan back and forth be- the ship groups. Much additional flying was per- tween their camp and study sites. The helicopters formed by the Air Forces Military Airlift Command proved able to land the investigators in the immedi- and by chartered commercial aircraft that operated ate vicinity of their chosen site, thus reducing field on routes between New Zealand and the United time by at least a week and avoiding the ever-present States, primarily to transport personnel. dangers of open-field landings in a Hercules. While most cargo is delivered to Antarctica by Just how much helicopters can conserve research ship, and one station—Palmer—is supported entirely time is most evident in the case of the University of in this manner, the inland stations are completely dependent on the aerial supply line from coastal Mc- Murdo. Their situation is analogous to that of iso- lated island outposts in that personnel and high-

^-C W Intra-antarctic cargo and passenger statistics.

Number Tonnage Tonnage Passengers Station of flights delivered I 1 backhauled transported

Amundsen-Scott South Pole 139 1,371 151 1,041 Brockton ------13 36 8 76 Byrd ------716 1,426 151 821 4 t Byrd Substation 12 107 2 25 Hallett 2 - -16 44 114 246 Plateau ------25 198 34 113 Vostok ------2 11 4 52 (U.S. Navy Photo) Byrd Land Camps 64 272 58 268 Field Parties 44 80 41 LH-34 helicopters were used extensively to support field 104 parties and other activities in the McMurdo area. Totals 482 1 3,545 I 563 I 2,746

" Includes passenger weights. Antarctic Journal, vol. III, no. 3, p. 72. 2 1ncludes LC-117 flights.

July-August 1968 145