ztc021999 aa1a www.radiocom.net Info: NCO   

The Quincy Mass. Patriot Ledger, Wed.,Feb.17,1999 w/CLOSE-UP

Navy ends supply flights to South Pole ( XD-04 last take off pix ) By Peter James Spielmann Associated Press

The last Navy plane flew out of Antarctica today, ending an American Naval tradition of polar service stretching back more than 160 years. Operation Deep Freeze, the mission to supply American and New Zealand Antarctic bases on the Ross Sea coast, was turned over last year to an Air National Guard detachment operating out of Schenectady, N.Y. The Navy phased out its operations over several years to cut costs, finally turning over the last of them to the Air National Guard, which also supports U.S. Military bases in the Arctic Greenland. Naval traditions in Antarctica go back to Brittish Capt. James Cook's first expedition into Antarctic waters in 1773, when he first sighted the ice barrier surrounding the continent. The U.S. Navy sent its first expedition south in 1838, when Lt. Charles Wilkes explored about 1,200 miles of the Antarctic Peninsula. U.S. interest in Antarctica waned until the 20th century, when Adm. Richard E. Byrd, who claimed to have flown over the North Pole in 1926, reported a flight over the South Pole in 1929. In 1946, Byrd led a massive Navy exercise to prepare the U.S. military to fight the Soviet Union in polar conditions. Antarctica was chosen because war games in Alaska or Canada would have been too provocative. Byrd led 4,700 men on 13 ships and 33 aircraft into Antarctica, pioneering the use of helecopters and ice- breakers. The exercise was by far the biggest expedition ever sent to the continent. The Navy's rugged support force for the continent include the " Puckered Penguin's "  six Bell Huey helicopters that airlifted scientists and their cargo to remote Antarctic stations. Other pilots also belonged to the Navy's VXE-6 flight detachment, which flew six aging C-130 Hercules transport planes. The planes brought in supplies and people, landing on either skis or wheels, depending on whether they set down on snow or ice runways. The last Navy flight from McMurdo base was a C-130 Hercules cargo plane from the VXE-6 squadron. Fifty Americans have died in Antarctica since the Navy renewed its modern expeditions in 1955. 
nnnn