SOUTH POLE CITY

[Music] 10,000 miles from the United States below the tip of South America on the Antarctic continent lies South Pole city one of the man-made miracles of the air age through the magic of a bridge of airplanes a tiny City now exists during our poll it is officially the amundsen-scott International Geophysical Year South Pole Station these buildings house a group of 18 scientists and US Navy men and the food and equipment they need to stay alive and work in cold that sometimes reaches 100 degrees below zero South Pole City is the key installation of a vast scientific effort in Antarctica during 1957 and 1958 it ties in with a worldwide program of scientific research being undertaken by more than 60 nations the Antarctic bases and especially the South Pole Station will be indispensable in weather prediction and the probing of cosmic rays magnetism and other mysteries of outer space because the bear drops by airplanes men can live and work at the pole in relative comfort during the early construction period in November 1956 there was some doubt as to the completion of the project everything required for the polar city buildings fuel and food had to be dropped by plane by December 1956 the situation at the pole became critical even though the c-124 the 90-ton globe masters have the most frigid airlift less than half of the required supplies were delivered because of bad weather conditions at the McMurdo base although the polar party had received a tractor a generator and fuel supplies were any sufficient to last out the winter dr. Paul sciples scientific leader of South Pole City had radioed that the settlement would have to fold up if supplies were cut off it wasn't the weather at the pole station that was raising trouble but weather back at the sea 120 hung on the edge of the Antarctic continent strangely enough the weather was too warm not too cold or storm it was melting the surface of the ice runway [Music] at the Naval Air Facility the town at McMurdo servicemen knew that the summer melting was making the ice rough and too thin the officers and men of the sea 124 outfit the 63rd troop carrier wing were concerned that the whole floating airfield might break loose and drift out to sea the radio waves between McMurdo and the polar station and between McMurdo and another outpost called the bird igy station were jammed with frantic traffic both outputs depended on the sea 124's for survival if the aerial supplies were cut off they couldn't get through the Antarctic summer and especially the long unbroken winter night which would follow it was considered evacuating the men at both bases if this was done the American scientific working Antarctica would be flawed almost to a standstill Admiral George defect Task Force Commander was faced with a grave decision General seee McCarty commanding the 18th Air Force flew down from home base in South Carolina to see what could be done men like McCarty and do Peck had overcome similar challenges in the forbidding polar regions before back in 1946-47 after World War 2 Antarctic exploration had moved into the fakely the war had provided the wherewithal on a big scale ships big bigger and faster plane Admiral do Peck then a Navy captain and scientist Paul Siple were high-ranking commander for operation Highjump the biggest Antarctic operation ever undertaken 13 ships and four thousand seven hundred men were used also the workhorse transport plane of world war ii the dc-3 provided supplies in quantity the Navy called it our four DS on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier philippine sea for such claims were being prepared for Antarctica two more were ready below decks jet-assisted takeoff a world war ii invention got the planes into the air Admiral Byrd a veteran of the very early Antarctic expeditions flew the first r4d in the unprecedented flight from the carrier deck these were the largest aircraft ever from a character at that time our aunt Arctic explorers including Admiral birds were learning about polar air operations at an accelerated rate danger to accelerators with a speed inside the V operation two men a pilot and a naval officer were rescued unhurt after this helicopter crashed the naval officer was Admiral at that time captain du Feng the PBM George one was a navy mapping plane one of many exploring the vast Antarctic continent he taught us one of our hard lessons not to fly in weather called whiteout George one became one of our casualties a bad one the plane had flown into a whiteout a polar weather phenomenon in which sky and land merged as men lose all sense of depth perception three men died in the crash six were rescued the bulk of heavy supplies for operation Highjump had to be carried by ship the hard way this was before the advent of a/c 124 the supply ship of the air [Music] no supply ships were lost but the fragile steel hulls were no match for the formidable ice [Music] the hard school of danger talk Lexi's even in simple matters like how to rig a new type of breeches buoy in an Arctic sea [Music] that tester was the then captain George du Feng durable do fake survived seven minutes in the freezing water on the Antarctic continent the men of operation Highjump gain vital know-how about flying under South polar conditions [Music] here at Milford takes off again for the South Pole as well bird flying over the pole drops a box containing United Nations flag we are four days and PBM had done yeoman work photographing and charting a million and a half square miles of Antarctica in 1951 four years after operation Highjump the giant mule c-124 came into military when the Korean War broke out the c-124 became one of the mainstays of our aerial freight line some of these Korean airlift planes were under the command of a dynamic Air Force general named McCarty when a great wall of radar stations the half-billion-dollar dew line was built across North America in the Arctic the sea 124's were just what the doctor ordered the 18th airforce under general McCarty dropped 9,000 tons of construction material and supplies to the building crew the 3000-mile radar station designed to give the United States early warning of enemy attack with a modern-day miracle the United States about to launch a great three-year scientific program in Antarctica through the Navy began a study of dew line and the capabilities of the Globemaster the c-124 as our new Antarctic Armada ploughed South in January 1956 the Air Force and Navy planned another scientific miracle an airbase would be built on ice at the edge of the Antarctic continent at McMurdo Sound from there see one buddy pores would fly building materials to be dropped right at the South Pole to support the 90 ton weight of a loaded c-124 at least 13 to 15 feet of ice would be required at the McMurdo Sound be the bulldozers scraped and leveled the 6000 foot runway to provide gasoline to the sea 124th and other aircraft to Navy tanker barges were left frozen in the ice near the McMurdo base they carried a half million gallons of fuel 4,000 tons of freight were hauled by the tractors including over 700 tons later to be dropped on the fall by the sea 124 [Music] the primitive town at McMurdo began to take shape it was named Williams Air operating facility for a Navy tractor driver who drowned when his vehicle fell through the ice the 13,000 foot high Mount Erebus an active volcano looked down on the building activity that McMurdo so did the penguin as their ancestors it watched early explorers Scott Shackleton and Amundsen 50 years before some of the old reliable equipment of the early explorers persisted at McMurdo and little America amid tractors and airplanes dog sleds were still the most dependable method of moving from A to B for short distances but the modern equipment was beginning to arrive - like the dc4 known to the Navy is our 5d [Music] back in New Zealand the first c-124 outfit the 52nd troop carrier squadron had flown in from the states they had flown 10,000 miles from home base in Greenville South Carolina [Music] the 52nd a part of the 18th Air Force welcomed long-range assignments like this one they proved that heavy air freighters could be moved anywhere in the world on a few hours notice more sea 124's came in from South Carolina carrying men and operating equipment from New Zealand they would have to hold 2,000 250 miles to McMurdo and from McMurdo another 735 miles to the poles Colonel Forrest Roswell commanding officer of the c-124 outfit made his plans at Harwood Airport near Christchurch New Zealand and 300 Airmen of the 52nd squadron 63rd wing came to know a new and hospitable home the long bright land of the Mallory's was a far cry from the searing cold of the Antarctic the lucky maintenance men could stay there but the flying and loading truth had to be on their way the plan was to use the McMurdo ice trip there's a way station and route to the pole to fly back to New Zealand from 8 4,500 miles for a Greek child the big planes would carry a full load of freight to McMurdo also the man of the aerial port unit who would handle the loading at McMurdo aboard the first flight was dr. Paul sight slated to be the mayor of South Pole City he was a veteran of five previous Antarctic expeditions with at over at McMurdo Sound the new ice service with the bit run here and there and some of the landings were not exactly smooth the pilots checked later and found there were three foot tips in the ice run to emergencies we set the expedition that first day a navy p2v had just crashed near the runway killing four crewmen leaving two seriously injured colonel crossbow made a quick turnaround and flew the injured back to New Zealand and the nose gear of one of the c-124 is collapsed upon hitting a bad part a hurry call was radioed to California to bring down special technicians to repair the damaged gear and the cargo door another emergency vital to the polar station bad weather it barred reconnaissance flights to the pole so no one knew the condition of the snow on which the South Pole City was to be set up while the stockpile at McMurdo grew weather over the two mile high polar plateau continued back general McCarty anxious to get his c-124 airlift going hop the 10,000 miles from South Carolina to New Zealand to make a personal checkup McCarty decided to fly down to McMurdo and find out for himself what could be done to break the logjam in the per operation [Music] he flew to McMurdo was warned about a dangerous fight out condition but loaded 10,000 pounds of fuel oil and an automatic weather stations which would be the first rate drop on the South Pole the general took off carrying a party of trained observers he outwitted the White House by flying over it the weather over the polar plateau was fine the snow surface conditions could be pre observed it was determined that the surface was suitable for ski landings mccartey successful flight also set in motion regular c-124 trips to the pope with scientific and technical observers an air-dropped cart [Music] Admiral toothache was now able to send the first party of construction men and scientists to the Pope in ask equipped c-47 and Admiral defect was about to try the first landing at the South Pole October 31st 1956 he would have the assistant jato bottles to boost him off the ice on the return trip only the lightest load could be carried on the r4d to the poles because the polar plateau was two miles high the air was thin and the runway was rough [Music] a few at a time scientists and construction men were flown in by Navy r4d among the first was dr. Paul cipher one of Admiral Byrd's frouchy [Music] other early passengers buried in yr4 these were the reliable sled dog but the really heavy stuff had to be dropped from the sea 124 big items a generator a tractor weighing as much as eight tons each [Music] some of the polar caps began to take shape like this radio antenna but there was still trouble and running out to receive a parachute trundle came back empty-handed the cargo parachutes weren't opening properly colonel cross well decided to send a parachute expert to the polar station he was tech sergeant richard patton a trained parachute jumpers three times patent took off three times the plane was turned back by whether it couldn't plant at the pole at last patent got permission to land at the polar station the way he thought most dependable by parachute [Music] on november 25th from a c-124 sergeant Patton bailed out over the pole [Music] at the poll Patton checked over the defective cargo shoes he found that they should be packed differently for the 30 to 55 degrees below zero temperatures he passed the word by radio the new packing methods paid off a high degree of efficiency was reached [Music] with stepped-up airdrops construction picked up again at the polar city the Seabees and scientists at the pole were encouraged but back at McMurdo the c-124 pilots began to feel the icy runway deteriorating beneath with the warmer weather of the Antarctic summer the ice was beginning to melt and bad cracks and development daily helicopter flights were made to scout the condition of the ice in McMurdo Sound bulldozer crews laboured hard to level the disks in the rough way the useful runway surface was shrinking from 6,000 to 4,000 feet [Music] dr. Seibel mayor of the flora city was told of the danger to the runway he reported that the station didn't yet have enough supplies and building materials to last through the coming Antarctic winter unless the freight drops were continued he would have to abandon the polar station the key to our whole scientific effort the decision made was a stepped-up schedule of freight drops by the sea 124 men the big planes began to run three drops a day on to the polar positions [Music] to speed up the drops some less fragile items like lumber were dropped from low altitudes without parachutes building activity at the pole continued at an accelerated pace [Music] most important enough fuel oil had been dropped to last through the vicious winter when an R for D from McMurdo flew in to make a check on the conditions of South Pole city the South Pole resident has good news Siple thought they could make it through the winter provided a few more drops to be made the good news was just in time for the gasoline supply at McMurdo was getting look and the runway had melted down to 3,000 feet dangerously short Colonel Krauss well commanding the c-124 wing decided his outfit must withdraw to New Zealand when the Antarctic fall weather came in late February the ice would be firmer and the Navy would have brought in another tanker full of gasoline Admiral to thank agreed at the McMurdo Chapel men prayed that the plan would work out [Music] and so in February the c-124 is once again left lands and in and they took off again from McMurdo Sound loaded to capacity [Music] and so the job was done the most difficult airlift had come to pass and South Pole City was firmly as death and the men of the airlift heard with tried the radiogram sent by Admiral defect to the Secretary of Defense this operation has undoubtedly been the most unique difficult and dangerous of any peacetime air support mission in history planning organization on duct to the operation so outstanding that they the 63rd troop carrier command wing are deserving a peacetime award that can be given [Music]