I sure remember those shuttles from Thule in the summer, landing on the ice, hauling supplies to the Danish weather station. Those Danes were thrilled to get rides back to "civilization" at Thule for R&R!! I also Googled your name, and got the photo you posted on the Aviation Enthusiast Corner website....ol' 71612 up at Station Nord. Then I found by clicking on that photo, it brought up the airplane specs and more photos.
I'll add your e-mail address to the list we're building and keep you in touch. Sorry we weren't connected in time to see you at the reunion......definitely plan on the next one!! Put this blog address on your Favorites list and check back periodically for new posts.
3 comments:
LM Jim Atwood sent me this shot, which appears on page 252 of the book. Brrr! Jim also said that his crew made one of the few air drops from a C-133. It was on 7 Aug 63, to the Second Danish Pearyland Expedition, under Danish COunt Egil Knuth. Atwood obtianed a metal cylinder at Thule and rigged it with a 'chute. It was dropped about 150 NM SW of Nord. The AC was Maj Val Malleus, the CP was 1Lt gerald Kennedy.
Thanks for the comment, Cal. That's the kind of "enhancement" that should stimulate some interest. Most of us flew with Malleus at one time or another. In fact, if my memory is correct, he literally lost a prop somewhere over India. I'd like to hear from someone on that crew!
Dick, in response to Marion Johnson's comment to you that the Thule - Nord shuttles were flown later in the summer, be advised that the photo of Maj. Alex Witmer and myself was, in fact, taken at Nord sometime between 20 May and 28 May 1964. I've forwarded to you via email a copy of the 1st ATS flight order for that mission. Please post the order on the blog (I have copies of flight orders for EVERY mission that I flew while assigned to the 1st ATS each annotated with the actual itinerary - Okay, I was a little anal!). I recall that we also made an "unauthorized" airdrop on that mission. We purloined a condemed parachute from the Thule crew survival shop and attached a package with cans of fruit juice and frozen fish for the men and dogs, respectively, of a Danish expedition out on the north coast of Greenland west of Nord. On our next flight to Nord from Thule, we skillfully located the expedition in a fjord and using my best CARP computation, we dropped the chute and package. At this point we became aware of the fact that it was the practice at that time to CUT the shroud lines on condemed chutes. The package reached the ground significantly before the chute while still accelerating. Boy, were we embarassed! None of the cans of juice survived the drop, but, we were told that the dogs enjoyed the fish.
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