Operation Deep Freeze

[316th FS 324th FG]

Grabbed these at the gun show last weekend.

[cutiger83]

Cool patches! I love the deep freeze one...Kat

[316th FS 324th FG]

Buddy of mine who was with me did two winters in Antarctica. He made fun of me buying these noting - "I earned mine"

[gwb123]

Keep an eye on eBay... every now and then Antarctic stuff shows up. Often it is misidentified or falls into one of those funky catagories like "post Vietnam" or "Military Misc."

 

Nice items. I used to read National Geographic in th 1960's and dream of doing a tour down there. To me it was the same as going to the moon!

[JCFalkenbergIII]

Keep an eye on eBay... every now and then Antarctic stuff shows up. Often it is misidentified or falls into one of those funky catagories like "post Vietnam" or "Military Misc."

 

Nice items. I used to read National Geographic in th 1960's and dream of doing a tour down there. To me it was the same as going to the moon!

 

 

I found this today and thought of this thread. I love the patch other then its missing the letter "W" in Williams . Robert

[Custermen]

What was the unit that flew support missions for the Antartica scientists? It was some unit out of Ohio or such that flew the C-130's. (I recall reading recently that the unit changed to another C-130 unit).

 

Anyway, I worked with a Air Force mechanic who went to Antartica to repair two C-130's that had an accident. One C-130 caught the nose gear skid on takeoff. The replacement C-130 arrived to take the 1st crew and the scientists out and a JATO rocket departed its mount and flew thru the aircraft that also resulted a fire on the inboard engine. This mechanic was part of a crew who went to the "crash" site and replaced the wing of the C-130 so it could be flown out. This operation had never been done except at the Lockheed plant. They did this repair in freezing environment and it took weeks. Both C-130's were repaired and flown out. He had a newspaper article about it so I'm sure someone has put this on the internet somewhere.

 

Steve

[bronxboymike]

Steve, The two US squadrons to do Antarctic support missions using C-130's were the navy squadron VXE-6 from the early 60's to 99. The NY Air Guards 109th AW operated their LC-130's from 75. First flew to Antarctica in 1988 and took over sole operations in 99. I think the accidents you mention are from 74-75 and actually involved three airplanes.

VXE-6 was established at NAS Patuxent River, MD in 1955, from 56 to 74 it operated from NAS Quonset Point, RI. From 74 to 99 it operated from NAS Point Mugu, CA. The 109th AW operates from Stratton Air Guard Base, Schenectady, NY.

 

If you google LC-130 accidents in Antarctica, you should be able to find the 74-75 incident to which I think you're referring to.

Mike

[JCFalkenbergIII]

Just picked this one up today . Robert

[316th FS 324th FG]

Robert, that one is cool! I used to low running the Hash when we were posted to Asia. Cant imagine doing it in Antarctica.

[JCFalkenbergIII]

Robert, that one is cool! I used to low running the Hash when we were posted to Asia. Cant imagine doing it in Antarctica.

 

Thanks. Whats funny is I was looking for anything with a Penguin on it due to my G/F liking Penguins . Robert