I've been re-reading the story of the '57 Trans-Antarctic expedition.
Lots of fun stuff, but the aviation is hair-raising.
They were using (among others) a pair of Austers for reconnaissance, powered by a 145 hp Gypsy Major.
They also had a DH Beaver and Otter, but it's the Austers I have a soft spot for.
They took off on floats to do ice reconnaissance on the trip down, then switched to skis once they got to Antarctica.
Take off from an ice-free lead, and hope that it hasn't closed up when you return.
Service ceiling : 10,000 ft.
Height of Antarctic plateau : 8000 ft.
Weather reports : almost non-existant.
To quote from the appendix:
The Auster was fitted with 5 radio sets, and there was space available for one passenger.
It was parked outdoors all winter.
It's only a small part of the book, but some of the flying was incredibly risky, particularly due to snowdrift / visiblilty.
One example:
Quote:
They took off from South Ice at midnight in a temperature of -40F.
Conditions were not very good, and Gordon was compelled to fly the last 200 miles between two layers of cloud. The night sun was obscured, the light bad, and this nearly led to a serious accident. While still forty or fifty miles from Shackleton Gordon reported receiving the SARAH beacon satisfactorily and said he was going down to find the height of the lower cloud. A few moments later the Otter bounced upwards as it's skis hit the top of some snow-covered hills at 110 knots. In poor light these had so merged worn the cloud as to be invisible...
Ever since this episode the hills which extend southward from Vahsel Bay have been known as the 'Touchdown Hills'.
Lots of fun stuff, but the aviation is hair-raising.
They were using (among others) a pair of Austers for reconnaissance, powered by a 145 hp Gypsy Major.
They also had a DH Beaver and Otter, but it's the Austers I have a soft spot for.
They took off on floats to do ice reconnaissance on the trip down, then switched to skis once they got to Antarctica.
Take off from an ice-free lead, and hope that it hasn't closed up when you return.
Service ceiling : 10,000 ft.
Height of Antarctic plateau : 8000 ft.
Weather reports : almost non-existant.
To quote from the appendix:
The Auster was fitted with 5 radio sets, and there was space available for one passenger.
It was parked outdoors all winter.
It's only a small part of the book, but some of the flying was incredibly risky, particularly due to snowdrift / visiblilty.
One example:
Quote:
They took off from South Ice at midnight in a temperature of -40F.
Conditions were not very good, and Gordon was compelled to fly the last 200 miles between two layers of cloud. The night sun was obscured, the light bad, and this nearly led to a serious accident. While still forty or fifty miles from Shackleton Gordon reported receiving the SARAH beacon satisfactorily and said he was going down to find the height of the lower cloud. A few moments later the Otter bounced upwards as it's skis hit the top of some snow-covered hills at 110 knots. In poor light these had so merged worn the cloud as to be invisible...
Ever since this episode the hills which extend southward from Vahsel Bay have been known as the 'Touchdown Hills'.
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