History of Australian Aviation in Antarctica

In the course of the history of Australian aviation in Antarctica , first single-engine and later multi-engine propeller aircraft were used, and since 2008 a jet aircraft . The material and the people that the Airbus 319 jet airliner sets down on a runway made of ice and snow in the Antarctic summers from October to March are transported onward by two single-engine aircraft and three helicopters .

1910s to 1940s

The Vickers REP , Mawson's aircraft

The Crashed Vickers REP (1911)

The Vickers REP as a propeller sled (1931)

In 1911 Sir Douglas Mawson tried to fly a single-engine aircraft in Antarctica, a Vickers REP monoplane . However, the aircraft was already destroyed in Australia and only used as a transport sled in Commonwealth Bay in Antarctica.

The first explorer to move an airplane in the air in Antarctica was Sir Hubert Wilkins on November 16, 1928 with his expedition. He used a Gypsy Moth , which was used for coastal reconnaissance flights in what would later become known as the Australian Antarctic Territory .

1940s to 1970s

1947 was a Vickers Supermarine Walrus , a flying boat of the RAAF , after Heard Iceland transported, but one week later destroyed in a storm on the island. In the same summer a Vought Sikorsky Kingfisher was used for flights on the Ninnis and Mertle glaciers. Since 1947 the expeditions have been called Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE).

In 1948 a Catalina flying boat flew a mechanical engineer from Hobart to Macquarie Island and then on to Christchurch in New Zealand.

From February 1951, an Avro-Lincoln aircraft flew medicine and food to Macquarie Island into the 1970s and from 1953 to 1954 two Auster aircraft kept the connection to Mawson Station , both of which were destroyed in a ship accident in Horseshoe Harbor . Subsequently, DeHavilland Beaver machines supported the ANARE from 1955 to 1956, and a Douglas DC-3 from 1956 to 1963. Some of these aircraft and others were damaged or lost due to the adverse weather conditions in storms and air accidents.

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  Supermarine Walrus

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  Vought Sikorsky Kingfisher

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  Drawing of a Douglas DC-3

1970s to 1990s

In the years 1978–1979, Australia entered into a cooperation with the USA and New Zealand and two Lockheed C-130s flew in the Antarctic summer from the American McMurdo station to the snow runway at Casey Station and between Christchurch and the McMurdo- Station. Other supply and rescue flights to the Antarctic also took place. However, this cooperation was terminated by Australia in 1983.

In 1983 the Australian government commissioned a study to investigate the creation of a snow-compacted runway for Hercules wheeled transport planes to land near Casey Station to service the three Australian stations in Antarctica. Although the studies were successful, they were not pursued after 1984.

In 1996 the considerations were resumed and in 1999 the new investigations came to the conclusion that such a runway could be built.

From 2002

The Airbus A319 used (here at Hobart Airport)

The decision was made in 2002 and in 2005 construction began on the Wilkins Runway , a runway that went into operation in January 2008, cost AUD 46.3 million and is about 70 km from Mawson Station .

On January 11, 2008, the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) allowed Skytrader to fly for the first time on January 11, 2008.

The flights to Antarctica start at Hobart International Airport in Tasmania on a four and a half hour flight. These transport flights replace the ship transport. In the Antarctic summer there can be around 30 flights a day with a maximum of 40 scientists and employees as well as cargo from the Australian Antarctic Division per flight.

In the Inner Antarctic, two propeller aircraft of the Spanish type CASA C-212 and three helicopters connect the Australian research stations in the Antarctic, the Casey station, Mawson station and Davis station .:

See also

• History of Aviation in Australia

Web links

• antarctica.gov.au : History of Australian Antarctic aviation, Intercontinental A319 historical timeline

Individual evidence

1. ↑ antarctica.gov.au : History of Australian Antarctic aviation. Aviation: 1947 , in English, accessed September 9, 2011
2. ↑ antarctica.gov.au ( memento of the original from June 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : History of Australian Antarctic aviation, Antarctic aircraft 1947-51 , accessed September 9, 2011  
3. ↑ antarctica.gov.au ( memento of the original from June 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : History of Australian Antarctic aviation, Antarctic aircraft 1947-51 , accessed September 9, 2011  
4. ↑ antarctica.gov.au ( memento of the original from June 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : History of Australian Antarctic aviation. Antarctic aircraft 1953-54 , accessed September 9, 2011  
5. ↑ antarctica.gov.au : History of Australian Antarctic aviation. Antarctic aircraft 1955-69 , accessed September 9, 2011
6. ↑ antarctica.gov.au ( memento of the original from June 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : History of Australian Antarctic aviation. Hercules aircraft , accessed September 9, 2011  
7. ↑ antarctica.gov.au ( memento of the original from June 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : History of Australian Antarctic aviation, Up 2001 , accessed September 9, 2011  
8. ↑ abc.net Sarah Clarke: Antarctic plane heading home after maiden flight , January 11, 2008, accessed September 9, 2011.
9. ↑ msnbc.msn.com : Blair Watson: Australia builds Antarctic ice runway. World's first commercial air service to fly weekly from Hobart , Tasmania, February 20, 2008, accessed September 9, 2011
10. ↑ antarctica.gov.au ( memento of the original from June 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. History of Australian Antarctic aviation, CASA 212-400 , accessed September 9, 2011