Antarctic aircraft 1947–51
A Vickers Supermarine Walrus was transported for use on Heard Island in 1947, crewed by the RAAF Antarctic Flight. However, only one week after reaching the island, it was destroyed by a storm! Having completed a one and a half hour reconnaissance flight of the island on 13 December 1947, two days after its arrival, the Walrus taxied up the beach and was tied down to concrete blocks. It was not used again but was destroyed by a 90 mph blizzard a week later.
In the same summer, a Vought Sikorsky Kingfisher sea-plane was transported south by the Wyatt Earp. As a precursor of future ANARE operations, the Kingfisher was used for two, one hour reconnaissance flights near the Ninnis and Mertz Glaciers. However, due to difficulties in launching and retrieving the aircraft, it was not used again on this trip, ANARE's first voyage of exploration.
In 1948, an RAAF Catalina flying boat flew a diesel engineer from Hobart to Macquarie Island. He was to replace the expeditioner, Charlie Scoble, who had drowned on the island. The Catalina then flew on to New Zealand, before returning to its base at Rathmines, N.S.W.
In February 1951, an RAAF Lincoln aircraft carried out an airdrop of medical supplies and fresh food to Macquarie Island, a practice which was resumed many years later in the 1970s.
