Flight of Pegasus

So the weather finally turned a bit more traditional over the past few days with temps in the -10 below range and snow.  We received about 3-4" of fresh powder last night and it put a nice clean coat over everything. The town is normally very brown from the volcanic soil and rocks around us so its a welcome change.  

Looking out from my dorm across Winter Quarter's Bay to Scott's Hut.

Fresh powder on Observation Hill

A view across the harbor at Hut Point and Scott's Discovery Hut

So it's Sunday here, the recreation department tries to offer up different trips and such around the area to see unique sights that most folks normally don't get to see.  Today I signed up for a ride out on the ice shelf to an old plane wreck that happened in 1970.  The aircraft is a C-121 Super Connie (Constellation) that was being flown by VXE-6, the US Navy squadron that supported Operation Deep Freeze up until the late 1990's.  

Before....

The story goes like this, just before 9am on October 8, 1970 the Super Constellation "Pegasus" (BuNo 131644) of VXE-6 departed from Christchurch Airport on a ten and one half hour flight to Antarctica. The Ill-fated Aircraft ended her life in a tangled heap on the ice of the Ross Sea. Appropriately named "Pegasus"-the flying horse, this was her seventh year of Antarctic operations.  

The mission was to open up "Operation Deep Freeze 71", destination the ice runway Williams Field, McMurdo Sound, and 2,600 miles away over open frozen water. A routine squadron's flight but was to end in tragic circumstance's ten and one half hours later. Half an hour out from McMurdo, the weather had deteriorated to zero visibility with an intense storm, which had enveloped the base. Low on fuel and no alternative airfield, the aircraft commander was forced to "crash land" the aircraft. After making five approach attempts to minimums they broke out, landed and the right main landing gear was sheered off by an unseen 4' snow drift caused by the storm and winds. The aircraft veered off to the right side of the  ice runway and the "Connie" was destroyed without loss of life.

...and after.

The aircraft remained in the vicinity of Williams Field for the season, however for obvious morale reasons, seeing one of your squadron's wrecked aircraft daily with its wing ripped off in heap was not good for the troops.  The commander decided at the time to haul the wreck out of plain sight about 10 miles away on the ice shelf where the current permanent ice runway is located, now named for its historic neighbor, Pegasus.

Snapshot view of the crash site and surrounding ice shelf

 So its now partially buried in drifting snow and ice about 2 miles from the current airfield location.  We were the first tour of the season, typically by season end, it's dug out enough by curious folks that most of the aircraft is exposed.  It's a neat opportunity to see and spend an afternoon.  How many times can you say you crawled around a plane wreck on an ice shelf? Hopefully, this is my only time--a planned outing!  

A look back at what's left of the empenage

Crawling on top

A look down the fuselage

Kind of cool, right? It's always neat discovering new things to see around here.  Back to my work week now.  Weather permitting, I'm off to go fly tomorrow and then I can't wait for Tuesday--off to South Pole Station!  That will be great.

An Antarctic Time Machine...

As I've alluded to in other posts and if you are unaware, Ross Island is rich with history.  Names like Ross and Shackleton are everywhere.  When expeditions began venturing further and further south some 150 years ago they determined at some point they would need to winter over through the harsh elements on the continent.  This island is effectively as far south as you can travel via ship if the sea ice is broken up enough.  

Here at McMurdo, is where one of these permanent structures lies,  preserved perfectly for the past 110 years in the dry, arid air this continent offers.  The sight is known as Discovery Hut, named after the Discovery, Scott's first expedition ship. The hut was built in 1902, and acted more like a storage or logistics hub and part time laboratory.  The party used the ship for their quarters.  Other huts on the Island (Cape Evans, etc) are larger and purpose built for sleeping.

  

Scott's Discovery Hut

As stated earlier, these huts were left as they were the day these parties went out on their often ill fated journeys.  Even on the outside, are stored tents, skis and seal carcasses (for food, lamp oil, etc).  The true museum is on the inside however.

A seal carcass draped atop a stack of mountain tents

The seaward facing side of the hut

Centennial plaque commemorating the historic site

The huts are historic sites. Locked up for their protection and preservation.  The entry is controlled by the National Science Foundation here and tours are extremely limited as the natural wear of foot traffic damages the wood floors inside.  I was lucky enough to get on one of the open tours this season yesterday.

Upon entry to the hut

 Once inside the threshold, I was instantly transported by 100 years. There's not much more I can say than look at what is inside.  Stacks of dry stores on the shelves, clothing hung up to dry on clothes lines, the smell of seal blubber permeated the wood around us.

 The site is being preserved  / conserved by Antarctic Heritage Trust which is painstakingly restoring and cleaning all the huts on the island for future study.  Follow that link or further details here.

So all in all a very amazing glimpse back in time, stepping on the same floorboards as Scott's Discovery Expedition, Shackleton's Nimrod expedition and Scott's failed Terra Nova Expedition was an experience to be remembered.