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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0835.PDF
21 June 1957 841 The Duke of Edinburgh at Deception Island. With him are (left to right) John Saffery (expedition deputy leader), P. G. Mott (leader), J. Paisley (base leader) and Sir Oswald Arthur (Governor of the Falkland Islands and Dependencies). at Christmas-time, had shortened to a mere 13 hours, and theincreasing frequency of bad weadier and snowstorms meant that the Antarctic winter was beginning to knock on the door. OnMarch 14 the "door" flew open to let in a severe blizzard which damaged the flying controls of both aircraft. It was clearly timeto go, and as soon as temporary repairs could be effected the Cansos took off for Port Stanley and Canada. The expedition'svessel Oluf Sven, after a lengthy cruise to the south of the area, followed on April 7. Although during this first season very little aerial survey hadbeen possible, the base had been established and many lessons learnt which promised greater success in the next season. The Second Season, 1956-57. The visit of His Royal Highnessthe Duke of Edinburgh to FIDASE on January 3 this year, when he called at Deception Island in the course of his Commonwealthtour, was for us a great and encouraging occasion. It formed the highlight of a season in which the most optimistic estimates ofprogress were overtaken to the extent of the task being completed. This hoped-for but unexpected result can be ascribed largely tothe experience gained during the first season, which had shown the need to start flying operations in the Antarctic early enough totake advantage of the fine weather observed during the month of December. The Falkland Islands had also to be surveyed, and toallow time for this to be done before proceeding south to Decep- tion Island it was arranged that the Cansos should leave Canadaon September 24—two months earlier than before. As far as preparations were concerned the only major changesfrom the previous season were the substitution of the Bell 47D-1 helicopter for the Sikorsky S-51, and the fitting of the lift toOluf Sven. Following a remarkably quick flight from Montevideo (7| hours)the Cansos reached Port Stanley on October 15. The weather on arrival was not auspicious, the wind being N.W. 45 knots gusting50, and the cloud cover complete at 800ft. Mooring-up was a lengthy and excessively damp proceeding, and some time elapsedbefore the crews could be taken off. Next day, however, the weather improved, and the first sorties took place on the 17th.One benefit of operating from Port Stanley was that it was already the base for the Beaver floatplanes of the Falkland Islands Govern-ment Air Service, and thus a good deal of technical assistance was available. No serious setbacks occurred, and the survey of theislands was completed before the end of November. Oluf Sven sailed from Harwich on October 20 and reachedDeception Island on November 26. The base was re-opened in a few days and the Cansos followed on December 9.The past winter at Deception Island had been mild, and ice and snow had caused no damage to the slipway or other installa-tions. To improve facilities, however, the Eureka beacon was re-sited on the top of a 300ft cliff known as "The Cathedral," togive it a greater range; a floating jetty, the main units of which had been built in the United Kingdom, was installed to give betteraccess to marine craft; and a further supply of metal tracking was used to extend the slipway so that the Cansos could manoeuvremore freely ashore. The first photographic sorties of the new season were flown onDecember 14, and, favoured by some days of excellent weather, the Cansos had made considerable progress by the end of the year.The most successful effort was on Boxing Day, when a total of 21 i airborne hours was achieved and more photographic coverobtained than during the whole of the first season. As progress was made, sorties extended farther and farther intothe spectacular Antarctic wilderness. The main peninsula of (Above) Curved cliff impacted with snow and ice. On cliff-top and beach are thou- sands of penguins. Engineers Nielsen, Kane and Davey on maintenance duty. (Below, left) Photo- grapher Wood drying prints. (Below) A Canso comes up the slipway.
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