00:00The plane broke into three large pieces and crashed onto the hillside, scattering parts all over the snowy ground.
00:07The wings ripped off, and the main body of the aircraft split into two parts.
00:12Flames crackled from what was left of the airplane.
00:16Seven out of nine crew members survived the crash.
00:19They were all part of the 1946 U.S. mission to map the Antarctic continent.
00:24There were 13 ships, 23 aircraft, and 4,700 people to do the job.
00:30They only had two months of summer down there before the weather got too bad.
00:35USS Pine Island took three seaplanes on their mission.
00:39One of the planes, called George One, had a crew of nine people.
00:44They went on their first 10-hour mission.
00:46Later, when it was time for the second flight, the weather got worse, with stormy seas and low visibility.
00:52But they decided to take the chance and fly anyway.
00:56It was supposed to be an epic adventure, and even the captain of Pine Island joined the expedition.
01:02The pilot, Ralph Frenchy LeBlanc, was very experienced and not worried about the weather.
01:08The plane was tied to some small boats, but the waves were so strong that the lines holding it were damaging the plane's metal body.
01:16Crew members had to attach four special rocket boosters, called jet-assisted takeoff bottles, to help the plane lift off.
01:24It managed to do so after a run of about five miles, but got straight into a blinding snowstorm.
01:31James Robbie Robbins was just 19 years old back then, but already had 1,500 hours of experience as a radar operator in that type of seaplane.
01:41He once successfully flew nine hours through thick fog and clouds in Greenland, so he trusted his abilities.
01:48The radar showed a mountain range 20 miles ahead, and icebergs spread out, and it was all correct.
01:55They had to stay low to take photos for mapping, and it was impossible in bad weather.
02:00So, the pilot decided to turn the plane around to head back to the ship.
02:06Suddenly, the plane hit something.
02:08At the time, they didn't know what it was, but later, they realized it was a snow-covered ridge that was hidden and couldn't be seen on radar.
02:16The loud bang shocked everyone on board.
02:19The pilot and co-pilot quickly pushed the plane's controls to try to lift it back into the sky.
02:25But just a few seconds later, the fuel tank in the front of the plane blew up.
02:29Collapsing with a ridge likely cracked one of the fuel tanks, so the gas started to leak.
02:36The fumes from the gas might have been set on fire by an electrical spark or the plane's hot engines.
02:41The blast was so strong that it broke the plane into three parts.
02:46The pilot was hurt and stuck upside down in the burning front part of the aircraft.
02:51Some of the other men were also badly injured.
02:54Some crawled out of the wreckage, and others had been thrown out into the snow during the crash.
02:59Most of them couldn't even remember the bang or the impact.
03:04The crew managed to pull the trapped pilot out of the wreckage and put him into a sleeping bag inside the back part of the plane.
03:11They also tried to help Frederick Williams, who was severely injured.
03:15They placed him on a piece of debris to keep him still and wrapped him in blankets to keep him warm.
03:21Unfortunately, even though they did their best to take care of them, Williams passed away a few hours later.
03:27Sadly, the navigator and the radio man didn't survive the crash either.
03:32Three crew members had only one blanket, so they took turns staying in the middle where it was warmer.
03:39For the first three days, the weather was really bad.
03:42It snowed a lot, and the sky was super dark and cloudy.
03:46The crew started looking through the wreckage for anything useful.
03:50Near what used to be the back part of the plane, they found three big boxes of pemmican.
03:55It's a kind of emergency food that has everything you need to stay healthy.
04:00But it's not the most delicious food on Earth.
04:03Each box had about 100 paper cups filled with this special food.
04:08They also found better food in the flight rations.
04:10There were steaks, potatoes, canned veggies, bread, butter, salt, pepper, sugar, canned milk, a few cookies, and even two big cans of peanut butter.
04:21They had enough food to last for a while, and they figured the pemmican would help them get through the long, dark winter if necessary.
04:29All of the fresh food was hidden in the snow, where the kitchen used to be, so they had to dig it out.
04:35They got most of the sugar by licking it off the snow and separating it by taste.
04:40The crew also found a small two-burner stove in the emergency supplies, but they didn't have any fuel.
04:47Luckily, the plane had some fuel left in the tanks, so they tapped one of the lines and had enough to last a long time.
04:55They kept the burners constantly on to melt snow to fill two or three water holders that held about four or five gallons each.
05:03It seemed like it took 15 or 20 pots of snow to fill just one cup of water.
05:08After three days, the weather got better, the sky was clear, and the sun was shining brightly.
05:14From where they were, they could see the ocean down the hill.
05:18While exploring the wreckage, they found more sleeping bags, a camera with film,
05:23and other supplies like a sled and a life raft made for nine people.
05:28Days went by, then the sun never went down.
05:31Huge, hungry seagulls hanging out right next to the wreck were getting on everyone's nerves.
05:36To distract themselves a bit, the crew played an old Navy game called Salvo.
05:42It's like a battleship's game for two players, where your task is to find and defeat all the ships of your rival.
05:49They also took some photos of everyone and the wreck from different angles with a brownie box camera they had on the plane.
05:56The radar man painted big yellow letters on the airplane's wings with the names of the deceased crew members
06:02to make sure rescuers knew what had happened.
06:05On the thirteenth day, a rescue plane finally showed up.
06:10Everyone shouted, waved, and did everything to get the pilot's attention.
06:14But the plane didn't stop and kept flying.
06:18Two hours later, it came back, and Robbins, in a hurry, threw fuel onto a pile of flammable stuff to set it on fire.
06:26The bang was so big, it burned his eyebrows.
06:28The plane turned and flew toward them, wiggling its wings as a sign it saw them.
06:36The pilot dropped a note attached to a weight.
06:39It said, if you can walk to the lake, make a circle.
06:42If not, form a straight line.
06:45The lake was ten miles away, but they knew they had no choice but to get there.
06:49And so, they made a circle, signaling that they were ready for rescue.
06:54Then they got to work.
06:56They stacked sleeping bags on the sled and placed their injured pilot on top.
07:01Robbins took a compass from the crashed plane and attached it to the sled's handlebars to help guide them.
07:06Three men pulled the sled, while another walked behind, making sure they stayed on track.
07:12The snow was so deep that they often sank up to their waists.
07:17The journey only got easier when they reached solid ground.
07:20So, it took them 24 hours to walk the ten miles to the shore.
07:26As they got close, a thick fog rolled in, so they couldn't see the rescue plane.
07:31But the pilots started the engines, and the crew followed the sound.
07:35Soon, two rescuers arrived in a raft and helped them paddle out to the waiting plane.
07:42They climbed aboard and flew back to their ship, the Pine Island.
07:46All the survivors were taken to the USS Philippine Sea and later returned home.
07:51For six of the nine men who crashed on Thurston Island, life continued.
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