Burton Island (AGB 1) - Naval Cruise Book

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H Y, Y --,.-. W. ,,....W,., C. Approximately 40 percent of all tonnage flown to the inland stations consists of fuel. The Navy is constantly trying to find ways of cutting down on this requirement: by reducing consumption on the spot, by preventing leaks, by tightening inventory, and by planning flights carefully to consume fewer flying hours in support of scientific programs. Yet to supply the new .Plateau Sta- tion, for instance, three 25,000-gallon fuel bladders had to be placed near the skiway at the South Pole. For the latest program in the Pensacola Mountains, the largest summer scientific party ever put into thefield in Antarc- tica, fuel had to be flown 1,200 miles from McMurdo. Sometimes it is so cold that the hoses break when they are coiled, like dry spaghetti. The bladders themselves are ordinarily used, in a normal climate, less than a year. On the ice, through necessity, they often serve for several years. They have a way of developing leaks, unseen, beneath the snow. Nevertheless, the bladders were, and are, a brilliant improvisation in a place where ordinary means of fuel storage did not exist. Above: The 55-gallon drums are part of the emergency cache at McMurdo. There are 73,410 of them. The tank holds 250,000 gallons, and a number of these huge wu- fers surround the station, high on the hillsides. They are readily convertible from Diesel Fuel Arctic, which is used for heating, to JP4, which powers the turbo-prop Her- cules. At rightare some of the Diesel-electric generators that provide power for the station.

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3318: up-.T l 15 , ,V X Q it iii' . 1 ,. f Above: McMurdo Station is built on one ofthe few bare patches in the Antarctic. This is not due entirely to the warming effect of the lava ash that covers the area around Mt. Erebus, since only a part of the tip ofthe peninsula is ice-free. More likely it is an accident of the wind, which removes the winter snows and leaves an area of barren ground in summer. A helicopter is visible on the flight deck of Atka, spending her sixth season in the Antarctic. The maiority of equip- ment and supplies still arrives by ship. Left, Ltig Jim Woods peers from his horse -the name given to Glacier's helicopters because of their former designa- tion: HOAS, The choppers are pointed a bright interna- tional oronge for maximum visibility.

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