Airmen participate in dedication ceremony at South Pole

  • Published
  • By 13th Air Force Public Affairs
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFPN) --  Two Airmen attended the Jan. 12 Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station dedication ceremony, the culmination of the National Science Foundation's 12-year effort to construct a new station on Antarctica.

Maj. Gen. Robert A. Knauff, the New York Air National Guard chief of staff and commander, and Col. Ron Smith, the Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica Operation Deep Freeze deputy commander were on hand for the event.
 
Ski-equipped LC-130 Hercules aircraft flew 925 flights carrying 24 million pounds of cargo to the South Pole to deliver the supplies and equipment needed to complete the project. The New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing LC-130s are based out of McMurdo Station, Antarctica, from October to March to transport people and supplies to the South Pole and other research stations throughout Antarctica. 

Operation Deep Freeze is a unique 13th Air Force-led joint and total force mission that has supported the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Antarctic program since 1955. The U.S. military is uniquely equipped to assist the National Science Foundation to accomplish its mission to explore Antarctica.

The Jan. 12 dedication occurred more than 50 years after an 18-member team of Navy Sailors and civilian scientists spent the first winter at the South Pole in 1957. The new station is named after two explorers -- Norwegian Roald Amundsen, the first man to reach the site, and Briton Robert F. Scott, whose party reached the South Pole a month later. 

Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link)

View the comments/letters page