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  • 7 weeks ago
Six men found themselves in the middle of a real-life survival story after their plane crashed in Antarctica’s icy wilderness. The crash left them stranded in one of the harshest places on Earth, with freezing winds and no help in sight. With limited supplies, they built a makeshift shelter from the wreckage to stay alive. They melted snow for water and rationed what little food they had, knowing rescue could take weeks. Despite the bitter cold and isolation, they kept each other’s spirits up, determined to survive. After a nail-biting 13 days, a rescue team finally reached them! 🌨️✈️

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Transcript
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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