HERCULES ON SKIS

摘要

When members of the 109th Air Wing Air National Guard (ANG) say: "We're going south!", they aren't talking about Florida or Arizona but the South Pole. It takes several days for the unit to fly its Lockheed LC-130H Hercules to the other end of the world. Starting at Stratton AFB in Scotia, New York, the Pacific route takes the Hercules via Travis AFB in Fairfield, California, to Hickam AFB in Honolulu, Hawaii, continuing on to Pago-Pago on US Samoa and Christ church, New Zealand, before finally reaching Antarctica. Between October and February/March, at least five of the unit's Hercules are stationed at Williams Field, McMurdo Station. The US base has three landing strips - two for aircraft fitted with skis and another for those with a conventional undercarriage. Whenever possible, landings are made on wheels. Two of the strips are on land ('Willy-Field', as it is known, and Pegasus, the latter being long enough for use by Loekheed C-141 StarLifters and Boeing C-17A Globemasters.) The third strip is set up each year on pack ice.