Posted on 02/06/2005 12:47:05 PM PST by shaggy eel
The make of jet plane that for years linked Christchurch to Antarctica has taken its last Ice flight.
C-141s were the first jets to land in Antarctica and have transported people and supplies to the United States' McMurdo Station in Antarctic for the past 40 years.
Although destined to become scrap metal on its return to the States, the last great old grey StarLifter to make the Ice flight was farewelled with much sentiment by Antarctic personnel yesterday in Christchurch before it flew back to the United States.
"It's like men and their cars – you get kind of attached to the old thing," strategic airlift commander Major Gevin Harrison said.
The aircraft had been an integral part of the lives of those working on the Ice for as long as most people could remember, he said.
In its almost half a century of service to the Antarctic mission, the C-141 put in more than 45,000 flight hours as part of Operation Deep Freeze, which kept McMurdo and Scott Base stocked with people and necessary supplies.
C-141s were used primarily for Antarctic missions since entering service in 1965, Harrison said.
Forty-seven United States Air Force staff flew out on a C-141 yesterday – also taking leave of Christchurch and their involvement with the Antarctic programme.
The C-141 will stop in American Samoa to refuel and then spend a night in Hawaii before heading to Tuscon, Arizona.
While the aircraft was a workhorse and an integral part of Antarctic history, it was not the most comfortable of rides, Harrison said. Seating arrangements inside the C-141 is so tight passengers sit facing each other with little room between knees.
The C-141s had been replaced by the newer, larger and more comfortable C-17 aircraft.
Despite its well-worn exterior and squashed interior, the StarLifter would be missed, Antarctic New Zealand chief executive Lou Sanson said. "The C-141s have been an integral part of the New Zealand Antarctic programme ... their arrival changed both the speed and volume of people and cargo that could be moved to between Christchurch and Antarctica.
"It's the end of an era and the passing of a significant Antarctic milestone."
~ I learned to bring a parka and wear shoes with heavily-insulated soles so I didn't freeze to death while waiting for my fabulous box lunch. ~
LOL, we called them "box-nasties". I learned an important lesson on a C-141 halfway across the Atlantic: always check the date on a carton of milk. Halfway through my sandwich and took a big swig of chocolate milk that was curdled. Not fun!
,,, ditto! I forgot to say.
,,, I'd love to take a ride on a Starlifter. The only time I've been on a military plane was when I was 15, on an old C-47 that had side slat seating. It flew from Ohakea air base in New Zealand's lower North Island, off the coast of New Plymouth. We did some banks and quick descents. That was fun, but I'm sure a C-141 would be great.
Those are the best kind! :)
I would have probably thought so too if it hadn't been such a long trip and I was so unused to flying that I spent most of the trip being a basket-case. I was such a weenie back then! Now I would probably fly around the world in it!...and I'll never have the chance! *sigh*
Oh-wow! Beautiful plane!
I had the pleasure of a tour thru the plane before she left & watcheded as a band set up it's instruments for photo's with the crew, the guys on this plane were great & we'll miss them now they aren't coming back.
BUMP
It's fake. But truth is often stranger than fiction. It is true that more than a few Starlifter pilots dragged the tail on their first flights of the new stretch model. Took a little "recalibration" to remember that they needed to take-off and land with a little less angle of attack.
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