Falklands Island Norseman
- Mar 14, 2009
- Posted By: By Ed Zaruk
- Tags: none
| Posted: 12/26/2008 10:14:11 PM |
| Posted By: edzaruk |
| Falklands Islands Norseman |
| The Falklands Islands Dependency Survey in 1949 ordered one of the last Norseman MK V’s built and had it shipped to Deception Island in the Antarctic. Here it was assembled and made ready to rescue eleven men who were stranded at their base on Stonington Island. Flying Officer Peter St. Louis of the Royal Canadian Air Force was to fly the plane if the supply ship, John Biscoe could not break through the ice at Stonington which had trapped the men there for three years.  At the height of the Antarctic summer in 1949/50 St. Louis made two successful flights, landing amid shifting ice floes, to remove the five men who had been stranded the longest. He was “delighted with the Norseman’s behaviour under polar conditions.” This comes as no surprise to Canadian pilots who flew the plane regularly in severe winter conditions. Later the John Bisco would rescue the remaining men. VP-FAD commenced service with the Falkland Islands Air Service in 1950. It flew steady for three years providing service to remote settlements in the Falkland Islands. In August 1953 it was written off due to severe corrosion and reported scuttled in Stanley harbour.  The complete account of Norseman VP-FAD in the Antarctic can be read in the book White Horizon. Send your comments to: mailto:EdZaruk@live,com |
Comments
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cv services wrote:
Sep 26, 2011 at 7:38 PMit is really impressive!