Burton Island (AGB 1) - Naval Cruise Book

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' On February 2, Morris files as plane commander of 832. His copilot is Lt Bill Fordell and the navigator is Lcdr Ron Rosen- thal. He carries two mechanics, ADT3 Charles Kelley and Wayne Shattuck, with Kelley serving as plane captain. His radioman is Dick Simmons. They take off to pick up a group of topographic engineers from the U. S. Geological Survey, who have been meas- uring the movement of the Ross Ice Shelf near Roosevelt Island. On February 3, at 0942 hours, zulu time, the teletype begins: THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED DURING OPEN FIELD LANDING IN PARTIAL WHITE-OUT CONDITIONS WITH RESULTING POOR SNOW SURFACE DEFINITION. THE AIRCRAFT WAS OBSERVED, BY PERSONNEL IN AN LC- 117 WHICH HAD PREVIOUSLY LANDED, TO ENTER A STALL AND THEN MAKE CONTACT WITH THE SNOW IN A NEARLY VERTICAL, NOSE DOWN POSITION. THE AIRCRAFT EXCEPT FOR THE TAIL SECTION WAS TO- TALLY DESTROYED BY FIRE AND EXPLODING TATO BOTTLES. THERE WERE NO SIGNS OF LIFE OBSERVED BY PERSONNEL WHO REACHED THE SCENE ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. FIRE CHARRED TATO BOTTLES GON- TINUED TO EXPLODE FOR SEVERAL HOURS AFTER THE ACCIDENT DELAYING IMMEDIATE INVESTI- GATION. Auxford with the leader lrightl of a party of glaciologists from Grand Valley State College in Michigan. They re- surveyed a line of stakes that was laid out in T963 near the northern edge ofthe Ross lce Shelf, from Ross Island to Roosevelt Island, about 350 miles away. A tellurom- eter, a radio distance-measuring device, was used for the survey. The resultant data, compared to the earlier sur- vey, showed the speed and direction ofmovementot the ice shelf. The party also measured snow densities and accumulation. Inside the plane is ADJ2 Bruce Benson. Note rack tor .IATO bottles, iust forward of the door. This party had been out on the ice for almost two months and was glad to receive mail. They told the plane's crew that they didn't have enough water for washing. One ot their four motor toboggans broke down in November, when they were T25 miles out of McMurdo, and had to be abandoned. For a week they were unreported, since their radio failed, but they were found safe by a SAR Herc that was on its way to retuel the Brockton summer weather station. Coming back, it spotted them and gave their position to Air Operations at McMurdo, During this period they were pinned down by a blizzard for several days, with winds as high as 65 knots. I ,fr if , y ,,,w..,... A, 1 ,, ,ff-, K , Iprk f. ,,gi2k,-5,f-:gf , . ,. rt, 'fwfr .f . . , . s., f. f --H ff 1 .. 14: V. K V ' , 3 V - 4,5 29 V V ew ,Z 'vii' 'Q ,' fff' fffwf, . ' ' '. ' ,ff f .f , A- 034 .V ' - -4, ' ff , . f, , K- ' 2 , 'W f' ,V-,W ,qw ., ,.., , , ,f , ' 3 'QW 5 ' ' ' ' , . '18, 'T -, T ' G aww -,MQ y , . f :, -ef' . ,- -- 4 ,M 1 If r ',,' I f , . wa , , ,, -' ' r QQ, tw 40' , . , no ,..t 7 A 4... h J ,,.f . 1. ,ff ,v E va- 1

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a green jacket, and a red Hbelly-clapperl' on his head, points to his radioman, Dick Simmons, and says, HThat7s the team - him and me. At the end of the day, Auxford walks into the Strip Coordina- tor's Office, muttering, '4Sick, sick Goonf' He has found a leak in the gas line. The next day he discovers a bad piston, which he plans to replace with one cannibalized from the Hstrickenn LC-47 that nearly got Cdr Driscoll. A blizzard intervenes. Then another piston is found to be defective. A second blizzard. Final- ly, the New Zealanders are dropped off by a Herc on its way back from the Pole, in an admirably-planned maneuver by the VX-6 logistics specialists. And so 832 is reprieved. If the Coon were dangerous the crews would not speak of it sentimentally, nor would they be expected to fly it. Unlike the Herc, it was not made for this austere continent. The three acci- dents so far have not been due to mechanical failure but to un- usual ice surfaces beyond the control of the most skillful and courageous pilots in the world. When they can afford it, the Navy will come up with a new type of aircraft to serve field parties, such as a longer-range version of the turbine-powered UH-1B helicopter now being used bythe Armyin the Pensacola Mountains. On Sunday, Hal Morris is wandering in the shipls store and gazing thoughtfully at some jewelry for his wife. He asks MLB. Cunningham the price of something and turns to a friend who is looking at the magnificent snow outside. They discuss the mini- mum visibility in which you could get a plane down and walk away from it. uFive hundred feet,', says Morris. 'cThat would be the Zz'vz'ng factor. 7' 80 ---

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T Cdr Frank P. Faughman, skipper of the icebreaker Glacier. Toward the end of the season, the Glacier damaged her rudder and on February 20, 1966, left Antarctica for Wellington, New Zealand. ln June She WGS transferred to the U. S. Coast Guard. She is expected to continue her annual Deep Freeze support. Right: Glacier breaking ice. l I , ,Msg Breaking Ice Glacier sends a i'horse ashore to pick up Cdr jim Newman, the ship operations officer at McMurdo. The helicopter takes its name from the letters HO4S, as it used to be called, and when Lt Bill Lucas sets it down on the helo pad the large window in the port side of the cockpit is missing. It blew out as they were com- ing from the ship, they dropped a smoke flare to mark its posi- tion and landed on the ice to pick it up. 'cWe only have one spare on the ship,H says Lucas. There is a raw wind in a blue sky. The horse hovers, slides off across the VX-6 warehouses, and sets a course for Glacier which is out of sight to the north. In a few minutes, Lucas spots some seals and begins banking and circling while a grizzled Navy photographer in his fifties named Gallagher shoots them through the half-open door with a heavily-shielded camera. Lucas lands on the ice, and the man in the cabin opens the door wide. Gallagher sits clumsily on the sill and gets his pictures, as one seal flings its tail in the air and another slithers across the ice. He is so congealed by the cold that he has to be helped back to his seat. In less than a minute, the helicopter is off, with Erebus smoking to starboard. The horse is exhilarating, since it can stop indefinitely to look at something, and then dart off in any direction. Glacier appears lifeless, as the plane captain puts a heavy strap on Gallagher, which is hooked into the opposite side of the cabin so that he wonlt fall through the open door. He shoots at a dizzy- ing angle of bank, while Glacier backs down and waits for the chopper to land. On the flight deck, joe Strano, another pilot, reports that one of Barton Islanclfs helicopters blew out a window this morning, in the same manner. The ship lives and breathes, with 280 officers and men going about their duties. Their combined skills are necessary so that she can go on making these same motions end- lessly. She is the key that unlocks one of the doors of the Antarc- tic. Cdr Newman is quite at home, since he was the executive officer on the icebreaker Siaien Island last year. He is greeted by the skipper, Cdr Frank Faughman, and taken up to lunch. After the bitter cold, the captainls quarters are warm and luxurious. There are rugs and armchairs, and a steward brings plates of hot soup to a table set with silver on a white cloth. A book was written about a steward's mate named Amos Brown, who figured he ran the ship. UI give the captain a good break- fast, and when the captain's happy the ship's happyf, These amenities are almost essential, since Glacier is sometimes at sea for seven months. She is the only icebreaker never to miss a season in Deep Freeze and was the first one to penetrate McMurdo Sound where she helped establish the present station. She is a great pulsing brain that monitors almost everything in the Antarctic, besides being available for rescue and weather reporting, she can accom- modate a scientific program or the commander of a task group. 82 gi-i