Synopsis
Presented by Douglas Aircraft and the U.S. Air Force, SOUTH POLE CITY was written by famed author Richard Tregaskis (whose WWII books are much beloved). The film tells the story of Antarctic operations and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, a United States scientific research station at the South Pole, the southernmost place on the Earth. It was built during November 1956, as a part of its commitment to the scientific goals of the International Geophysical Year (IGY), an international effort lasting from January 1957 through June 1958, to study, among other things, the geophysics of the polar regions. The film promotes the use of Douglas Globemaster II C-124 aircraft which were used to supply all materials to construct the base and keep it going. The Globemaster II served in Operation Deep Freeze in 1955-56, and proved a valuable aircraft in support of forbidding polar temperatures and conditions. The film shows air operations (starting at 5:00 ) from the 1946-47 Antarctic effort by Admiral Richard Byrd known as Operation Highjump, where the DC-3 was shown (Navy version = R4D ) deployed from the USS Philippine Sea ( 6:00 ) using JATO take-off. At 6:33, a terrible helicopter accident is seen, fortunately non-fatal. A PBM-1 accident shown at 7:00, suffered a fatal accident during a whiteout -- emphasizing the danger of polar air operations. At 11:26, the 1956 expedition to the South Pole is seen, with the construction of an airbase at McMurdo Sound for the C-124s, flying…
Uploader's description on archive.org
Details
- Running time
- 26 minutes
- Language
- English
- Collection
- Ephemeral Films
Subjects on the Internet Archive
- Stock Footage