Although my job in squadron administration took up a lot of my non-flying
time it was not so for most of the squadron officers. Between flights a
majority of the pilots had no job assignments so it was sit-around,
sit-around all day long. Of course there were meals and once-a-day movies and
if one was curious there were hikes into the mountain reaches or over the sea
ice shore line, but not much else. Most of the officers, however, sat-around,
played cards or just talked. There seemed to be a twenty-four hour a day bull
session in progress in the Officers Quarters and if you wanted to sleep you
had to do it while constant chatter battered your ears. This took some
getting used to but I learned that if you are tired enough you can sleep
through anything.
Most squadron pilots didn't get to associate much with the Air Force pilots
at McMurdo. Air Force pilots were quartered in a different building and their
operating hours were different from ours. No effort was made to bring the two
groups together socially and as a result there was a barrier that developed
between both groups.
General McCarthy, the senior Air Force officer, in talking with news
reporters concerning the C-124 flights over the distant reaches of the
Continent said several times that their work on the Ice was, "strictly
routine". For those of us who struggled with the extraordinary cold, our
cranky flight machines and long, wearying flights, operations in the
Antarctic were anything but, "strictly routine". The General failed to
comment about his aircraft having struck a hummock of ice on the end of the
runway when his aircraft landed on return from the Pole flight. In all three
C-124s were damaged in landings following flights returning to McMurdo. One
C-124 was even scrapped as a result of a crash into an ice hummock on
landing.
It should be no surprise to anyone that our group ridiculed the General's
description of Antarctic flying conditions. Our squadron lyricist came up
with a ditty that covered our opinion of General McCarthy and his C-124's.
The song was sang to the melody, "No Gear At All", a song sung my Navy pilots
since World War II:
Antarctic Facts
STRITLY ROUTINE
General McCarthy flew to the Pole
At seventeen thousand, so nary a soul
Could see very well while gasping for air
So nobody's sure if they ever got there.
Chorus
Strictly routine, strictly routine
Going to the Pole in a flying machine.
(Chorus)
General McCarthy returned to the strip,
Landing too short, a snow bank he clipped.
He shook us all up, but nobody died,
So with a great smile he quite truthfully cried,
(Chorus)
After his flight he conferred with the Press,
Most of whom seemed to be mighty impressed,
Took off down the runway - a jolt and a lurch,
In less than twelve hours he was back in Christchurch, saying:
(Chorus)
Now Scott and old Amundsen got to the Pole,
And McCarthy's amazed that they ever did so,
He thinks it was marvelous, and what is more,
They got there without a C-124.
(Chorus)
Well, General McCarthy, we know what you mean,
Flying to the Pole is just, strictly routine,
But you've got to return, and this is real hell!
The tough part of flying, is landing as well!
(Chorus)
Now, General McCarthy is back in the States,
Fulfilling commitments for lecturing dates,
While here at McMurdo, we curse and we swear,
At three 124's with their tails in the air.
The song goes on for nine more verses but the reader is safe in surmising
that it doesn't get any more charitable as it proceeds to its end.
Of course we weren't a one song squadron. Someone was kind enough to type up
a seven page song sheet to be used at our frequent beer parties - another
pastime for our aviators with time on their hands. Since our R4Ds were all
ancient aircraft with primitive flight characteristics for the year 1956 our
favorite song dealt with that venerable old aircraft:
VX-6 Cannonball
Now, listen all my shipmates, I'll tell a tale to you,
About some Navy pilots, and of the plane they flew,
They flew down to McMurdo, for Task Force 43,
They didn't fly an aircraft, they flew an R4D.
(Chorus)
Listen to the rattle, the rumble and the roar,
As we go down the runway in a beat-up old R-4.
You can feel the airframe shaking,
See the pilot's trembling hand.
If we don't get her airborne, we'll see the promised land.
(Chorus)
A bucking and a slipping, down the ice we go,
Everyone lean forward, cause Christ! We're going slow.
Throttles through the firewall, 15 JATOs blasting free,
I've 18 tons strapped to my back in this beat-up R4D.
(Chorus)
I'm sitting in the cockpit, I can't retract the gear,
I'm running out of airspeed, this is the end, I fear.
So listen, all my loved ones, please say a prayer for me,
For I'm attached to VX-6, and a lousy R4D.
(Chorus)
Creaking down the runway, what do my poor eyes see?
A hundred correspondents - and the gawdamned NBC.
They've heard about this aircraft,
And they expect the worst.
They'd feel bad, if I crashed in flames,
But, they want to get it first.
(Chorus)
The old R4D took a beating when pilots talked about her on the ground but it
was a lot more reliable than anything we, or the Air Force, had down on the
Ice. The next 15 months proves this statement to be true.
Movies were the only commercial entertainment we had at McMurdo but the
selection of films was very limited. Long before ships arrived with new
movies the collected ice bums had witnessed them all. One movie was screened
so many times it became a local guru movie. Its title was, "They Died With
Their Boots On" and before many screenings everyone knew the main lines of
the actors and they would yell them out as the actors spoke them. It was
great fun but it finally ended with the arrival of new movies.
- Antarctica does not have 24-hour periods broken into days
and nights. At the South Pole the sun rises about September 21 and moves in a
circular path upward until December 21, when it reaches about 23.5 degrees
above the horizon. Then it circles downward until it sets on about March 22.
This "day," or summer, is six months long. From March 22 until September 21
the South Pole is dark, and Antarctica has its long "night," or winter.
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