Airplane lands at South PoleIn 1956, an airplane landed at the South Pole for the first time. When Navy Admiral George J. Dufek stepped off the Que Sera Sera, an LC-47 transport plane, he was the first American to set foot on there, the first man since Scott to stand at the Pole. He came with an advance party to build the first permanent South Pole Station. Eighty-four flights later, the Navy had dropped over 700 tons of supplies at the South Pole, and by Mar 1957, the first phase of construction of the Amundsen-Scott station was completed. The station was established in that year for the International Geophysical Year under Paul Siple, first station scientific leader. It continued to function year-round until Jan 1975, when a new station was occupied. |
