SOUTHERN CROSS
On June 1, 1993 a meeting was held inside the blimp hanger in Tillamook, Oregon of all Turtle Airships personnel. At that time this numbered thirty-nine persons. These made up the imaginative and wildly enthusiastic group that had built a 240’ rigid shelled airship inside of eight months time; and who had demonstrated in the most dramatic manner possible its’ strength and safety by crashing a small airplane into it just nine days before.
The euphoria of that event was till riding with them; the restored airship Constellation rode at anchor above them in the Tillamook hanger, and reporters still dogged their every steps seeking information about Turtle Airships’ future. That future was the subject under discussion that even under the arc of panels making up the latest airship under construction. There was buoyant expectancy and general feeling of anxious curiosity; what great thing would they do next?
With such an intimate group, talk was fast, loose, and unfocused until the company bean counters stood up and began to direct attention; not to what the company would be doing in the near term, but how they would be able to afford to do it.
It was noted that construction of Constellation had taken roughly $6 Million; which had used up virtually all of the company’s internal resources. The next generation of airships was expected to cost nearer to $20 Million to build, and the company had already borrowed half of that. All this, with no generation of revenues in sight.
Since it might take as long as two years for Turtle Airships to receive Type Airworthiness Certification for it’s airships from the FAA, it was therefore not able to earn money through aerial touring.
Yes, the value of it’s public shares had increased with each flight made by Constellation; and that was what had permitted Turtle Airships enough leeway to borrow and begin construction of the next airship. However, it was not enough; and the cavalier crash testing of Constellation ha brought the company both wide acclaim, and condemnation too. The upshot was that they had one great airship flying, a larger one under construction with no immediate prospects of money sufficient to finish it, and no money coming in.
It was agreed that the company would have to forego reliance upon aerial touring for it’s immediate fiscal needs; and to sell airships outright.
It was further agreed that all such sales would be to overseas buyers; first to retain a U.S. flying cruise ship market for Turtle Airships alone; and, to take advantage of overseas nations’ less stringent airworthiness certification requirements.
Outright sales of airships meant a show and tell effort; only increased visibility would result in buyers interest. Constellation would have to fly a lot, overseas. The brought about a rich and energetic flow of suggestions for possible flights. It was felt by all that Turtle Airships should concentrate all of the company’s initial sales efforts toward Pacific Rim markets; however, there was not a general consensus about specific areas to visit.
It was at this point that company president Darrell Campbell made a perfunctory declaration; that Constellation would not be making a series of separate flights to visit potential market areas; but instead would depart in one week on a six month long cruise which would entail a virtual circumnavigation of the entire Pacific Ocean.
Further, he had decided that all company personnel would take turns in crewing the airship; with groups of eight persons drawn by lot for each month long portion of the trip.
During that same six month period, work would increase dramatically on the current airship under construction. The work force would almost double in order to have the larger airship finished for a flight departing December 1, 1993, for Antarctica.
The new airship would make two, month long voyages to the South Pole during the 1993-94 Antarctic summer season. Each voyage would involve almost 30,000 miles of travel to, and throughout, the most exacting and challenging territory and weather on Earth; and would become a sold demonstration of Turtle Airship’s craft under all types of flying conditions. It would be also be an immense publicity coup for the company.
While the North Pole had been crossed by airship as early as 1926, no airship had ever visited Antarctica. Turtle Airships would be first.
The new airship would come to be named Southern Cross.
Taking the airship to Antarctica meant a fair amount of advance troubleshooting had to be accomplished; it was readily apparent that the extreme temperatures would probably not permit the ship to land on a water surface for much of the trip across the continent. Ice would be encountered even hundreds of miles out to sea, and there would be no similar landing places available inland. On the other hand, it was also apparent that the entire journey from the U.S. to Antarctica would require that the ship still be able to operate amphibiously, as well as be able to set down on land independent of any outside assistance whatsoever.
A second major consideration was the effect that extreme cold temperatures might have on the lift capacity of the airship. This concern was focused on two known factors; firs that th43e helium would contract as it became colder; thus lessening the ships’ buoyancy; and second, the expected accumulation of ice loading upon the hull as it passed through moisture laden air coupled with cold temperature.
A lot of study was made of the flight of the airship Norge to the North Pole 67 years earlier. The Norge had flown with immense loads of ice clinging to it’s envelope, with pieces flying off of the propellers like shrapnel to pierce the airships’ sides.
Even though the engines on Southern Cross would be less exposed, they would still likely experience similar conditions.
Computer modeling of varying weather condition indicted that Southern Cross would be able to operate effectively even though icing conditions were rich enough to cause buildup inside the airship’s ducted thrust plenums. A greater concern was the free operation of the control surfaces on the planes, or ‘wings”, and of the directed thrust louvers.
Unlike Constellation, the hull of Southern Cross would not be covered with the special reflective coating designed to reduce the sun’s “superheating” effect on the lifting gasses. Instead, the black carbon fiber composite panels would be left in their original state, in order to capture as much direct solar heating as possible. Southern Cross would be a “black ship”.
The composite material used to construct the hull panels for Southern Cross were made up of carbon fiber impregnated with epoxy. While this created an extremely rigid and strong skin, it was nevertheless very porous.
In order to prevent moisture from penetrating to form ice on the inside of the airship’s hull, it was decided to coat the hull with a clear urethane plastic film.
There was a marked irony in choosing to use urethane. For years it had been used to coat fabrics such as Nylon or Dacron in order to create gas tight envelopes for blimps. Turtle Airships had snubbed this old standard use because of urethane’s one distinct disadvantage; it degraded under ultraviolet light. However, this would suffice for the short term use during Antarctic flights.
One very simple modification to the design was to direct all hot exhaust gasses from the engines back into spaces inside the walls of the twin lower hulls below the designed waterline. This would aid in keeping all the water ballasting systems operating and would also give the rest of the interior a higher temperature range than would be encountered under normal conditions.
Because an airship’s flight characteristics are not dependent upon a smooth flow of air across its’ surface to generate lift as airplanes do; it was possible to overlay the entire top of the airship with a network of heating tape which would be used to break up ice forming on the hull.
Whether or not to do this was a topic of great debate, since it would add as much as seven tons to the deadweight of the ship.
After careful consideration of the fact that the possible accumulation of just a two inch layer of ice over the entire top hull of the airship could add as much as forty tons of weight; the heat tape was finally chosen as the lesser of two evils. It would mean the barest reduction in carrying capacity.
A new dry land mooring system was designed which would pneumatically fire steel pins into the ground from the perimeter of the hull. These would act much like a cats’ claws digging into a carpet; and could be fired and retracted as needed.
In order not to interfere with the normal amphibious ballasting systems the new mooring pins were designed as separate units that would be attached to the outside of the hull at regular intervals. This reduced the streamlining of the airship somewhat, but would not effect the ability of the ship to fly; except for the additional weight of the pins themselves, and ice that might build up on them. Each of the pin units weighed just under 400 lbs and added another seven tons to the airship’s weight.
Three of the new units were flown to Alaska, where they were fired into both glacier ice and permafrost. It was found that each would bear a pulling force of several thousand pounds before breaking free.
With forty of these placed all along the outside edge of Southern Cross’s footprint, the airship would be totally secure under most circumstances.
During the summer months another thirty persons were added to the Tillamook work force. With about a sixth of the experienced workers away at any one time crewing Constellation across the Pacific, it was a formidable task to train new workers, design new airship features; and to construct the airship. Nevertheless, Southern Cross flew in mid-November.
With a departure date for the Antarctic trip just two weeks away, no time was lost in hesitancy. Southern Cross’s maiden flight was a deliberate challenge to prove the airship’s flight endurance and capability; a trans continental, 6,000 mile trip from Oregon to Alaska, to Hudson’s Bay and to the Gulf of Mexico.
The itinerary would carry Southern Cross through Pacific Ocean winter storm, over the continental divided, across limitless tundra and frozen lakes.
Ample opportunities to test every aspect of the airship’s handling; from mid-ocean landings and landings on sea ice, to mooring in frozen ground and flight to altitudes of 18,000’ were encountered and met with success.
The trip took seventy-three hours of flight time; with numerous landings, and covered 6,813 miles; with an average ground speed of 93 mph. While the early winter conditions across Alaska and Canada were not as extreme as Southern Cross would encounter in Antarctica, it was still a fair measure of the airship.
Southern Cross had been built to carry up to 65 people, with an allowance of 700 lbs per person. With all of the design changes and added weight, that was reduced to forty-two people. The airship would always be carrying an equivalent weight of water ballast to ensure that it would be able to rid itself of enough weight in case of emergency. Another nine tons of cargo and supplies would also be carried.
The deadweight of the airship was thirty-four tons. This gave Southern Cross the ability to carry up to twenty-nine tons of people, cargo, and ballast; using only the static lift supplied by helium. Because of the broad lifting shape, the airship could also generate enough lift aerodynamically to carry an additional seventeen tons.
As soon as word had gotten out about Southern Cross’s trip to Antarctica; Turtle Airships was swamped with requests for passage.
A single article written up in the Wall Street Journal about the company; highlighting the ongoing Pacific flight of Constellation; and, its’ notorious deliberate crash results, brought a deluge of candidates vying for space on board Southern Cross; comparable to that experienced some 80 years before when Shackelton had made a single classified ad seeking adventures willing to brave incredible cold, dark and hardship to reach the South Pole.
Shackeltons’ ad had drawn over 5,000 responses and lined the sidewalk with hopefuls. Turtle Airships was besieged by as many; except these included large corporations wanting the publicity, and academic and scientific organizations from around the world seeking to utilize Southern Cross for polar related studies.
Since Southern Cross had not received airworthiness certification, it was not possible for Turtle Airships to accept payment for carrying passengers or cargo.
The flight was free of cost; which may in part explain the overwhelming number of inquiries. Immediate acceptance was extended to the National Geographic Society, NASA, NOAA, and the Cousteau Society. All other candidates were drawn by lot. The end result of the drawing created an extremely varied and cosmopolitan group of thirty-seven individuals. These were scientists and academics, tourists and journalists, business leaders and government agency representatives from eleven nations.
Twenty three of those persons selected were able to join Southern Cross in Tillamook for the her maiden flight across Alaska and Canada in November. By the time Southern Cross had visited Alaska, flown to Hudson’s’ Bay and came south to land in Lake Michigan at Chicago; enough entreaty and money had been offered to Turtle Airships to cause the company to plan four successive Antarctic trips by April. It was an incredible validation of the airship’s appeal; and of company president Darrell Campbell’s vision...
Southern Cross arrived in Houston, Texas on November 23, 1993. She would depart for the South Pole eight days later. During the time she was in Houston, a large contingent of the remaining work force in Tillamook was flown down to make final preparations for the airship to be ready to leave.
Two large telescopes were installed within the hull; with clear windows replacing carbon panels for their use. A vast array of scientific equipment was taken on board and entire laboratories organized. Stateroom walls were eliminated; making accommodation on the airship somewhat more communal; and the ship was loaded with supplies for the trip.
Since Southern Cross would be encountering extremes of weather in Antarctica which were certain to cause varied flight changes; it was impossible to plan a set course once the airship arrived a the continent. Arrangements had to be made not only for pre-positioning of fuel and supplies at certain points; buy for a flexible delivery system also that would rely upon air drops from Navy planes; and refueling from surface marine vessels.
At 8:00 PM on December 1st, Southern Cross departed Houston on schedule and headed southeast over the Gulf of Mexico. Because of the airship’s black color, all flight time would only be after dark until the airship reached Antarctica; in order to avoid superheating the helium from solar gain.
Tests conducted during the maiden flight across Canada during the daylight hours had proven that the airship would soak up vast amounts of solar radiation; making the airship unnecessarily light. While such solar gain was wanted in the cold of Antarctica; it would caused undue control difficulties for the first part of the journey.
Although variable wind conditions affected her progress over the Gulf; Southern Cross averaged a ground speed of 109 mph; and reached the northern coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula at 4:00 AM.
She then turned due south over the Yucatan, and landed in the Bay of Chetumal just north of Belize for the day at 8:00 AM. The arrival of Southern Cross in the harbor at Chetumal was cause for incredulous surprise to most of the city; and an immediate good reason to declare a city wide holiday and fiesta. Passengers and crew alike gave a unanimous vote for staying an extra day to enjoy the hospitality of Mexico and to visit Mayan ruins at Tikal in Guatemala and several sites in Yucatan. Of course, Southern Cross topped off her fuel in Chetumal and gave short rides to many visitors.
On the evening of December 3, Southern Cross resumed travel again southeast, skirting the Mosquito Coast and arriving at the Panama Canal early the next morning.
Throughout that day the airship was visited by numerous dignitaries and hundreds of tourists from cruise ships that were in transit through the Canal. All of Southern Cross’s company were treated to a sumptuous dinner on board the QE II.
Southern Cross had come to the Canal for purely business purposes; the airship’s passage over some 84 surface vessels brought home an obvious message; airships could combine the features of airplanes and marine ships for transport of passengers and freight, directly over sea or land, without need of airports or special marine highways such as the Panama Canal. The future use of airships for transport of cargoes would eventually become a multi-billion dollar industry.
From Panama, Southern Cross began traveling that evening toward the southwest, and the airship crossed the Equator at exactly 9:17 AM December 5; landing among the Galapagos Islands. The day was spent marveling at the incredibly unique wildlife and environment of the Galapagos.
At one time, Southern Cross departed from normal procedure and made a landing directly onto Santa Cruz island. Daytime temperatures on the Equator and brilliant sunlight superheated the airship to such an extent that she strained to escape the “cats paw” mooring system; and the captain momentarily abandoned those who were off the airship in order to an anchor in a sheltered cove. No one complained about having to re-embark from inflatable boats.
From the Galapagos Islands, the airship was to make one more trip that could be characterized as a “tourist” flight, even though it was along the way. Southern Cross arrived in the harbor of Callao, Peru on the morning of December 6th.
That afternoon the airship made a surprise flight up into the Andean mountains, to visit Machu Piccu just at sunset. Even though Southern Cross did not land, the view of the ancient Incan ruins glowing under the setting sun was unforgettable, and everyone’s life was everlastingly enriched by seeing this real Inca gold.
The airship then picked it’s way down through the gorges and valleys to the Pacific Ocean once again and turned towards her next destination, Valparaiso, Chile.
Southern Cross made Valparaiso by 10 AM on December 7. On that day, two wildly divergent situations befell Turtle Airships. The first was an extremely pleasant; a late lunch in Santiago with the Chilean President and First Lady attending. The second was not as palatable, a declaration that Southern Cross would be required to make it’s first landing in Antarctica at a Chilean research station there.
While that in itself merely meant a small diversion from the planned route and therefore not necessarily to unacceptable; it carried with a most unpleasant trailer; Southern Cross would be denied refueling in Punta Arenas unless this demand was complied with. The insistence by the Chileans was couched in the most polite, yet firm manner, a quid pro quo for political purposes seemed to be unavoidable.
High headwinds were fully expected along the Chilean coast as Southern Cross entered the realm of the southern oceans and their infamous winds, named “Roaring Forties”, the “Furious Fifties”, and the “Screaming Sixties”. Even though the airship carried enough fuel for a 6,000 mile unrefueled flight and her engines were powerful enough to give her a cruising speed of 165 mph, the winds would slow the ship’s progress and eat up fuel much more rapidly. A refueling stop was a wise precaution before the airship reached the Antarctic continent. There was no point in protesting the Chilean ultimatum.
It was an approximate 1,800 mile distance between Valparaiso and Punta Arenas; normally an eighteen hour flight given Southern Cross’s average speed. High south winds were expected to make the trip into a full twenty-four hour flight.
Captain Thorson elected to leave Valparaiso at noon the next day rather than immediately that early evening in order to arrive in Punta Arenas in the afternoon.
Southern Cross was averaging just 73 mph and had traveled 1,100 miles south along the rugged and thinly populated Chilean coastline; when a distress call was received at 3:17 AM on December 9 from a freighter sinking almost 200 miles due west of the airship’s position.
Responding to the emergency, Southern Cross turned out into the Pacific and reached the last reported position of the ship just as daylight began to break. A Chilean navy patrol plane had been searching the area for almost two hours and circled over Southern Cross to direct the airship to survivors in life rafts.
Southern Cross set down in 43 mph winds and fifteen foot seas to recover all twenty-six crew members from the stricken ship. Several of the seamen were badly burned, and two suffered severe compound fractures and blood loss.
A makeshift hospital had been quickly organized as soon as the distress call had been heard in one of the laboratories on board; so medical expertise and first aid supplies were ready to hand. Five of those on board the airship were able to give blood right away to the two seamen who were in most danger.
Seven hours later the airship landed in the harbor at Puerto Natales; all twenty-six of her new passengers safe and treated. If the ships’ crew had been forced to wait to be rescued by surface vessel, it would have taken many more hours to reach them, get them treated as well, and far to long to return the injured to port.
The distance and number of survivors even precluded an effective use of helicopters for the rescue. Only and airship could react so quickly and carry enough resources on board to save all of the crew.
Fully refueled, Southern Cross left Puerto Natales at 6:00 AM on December 10, and exited the Strait of Magellan; bypassing the planned stopover in Punta Arenas. At noon that day the airship left Chilean waters and began a 1,600 mile run across the Pacific Ocean towards Antarctica.
By nightfall the airship was battling severe winds from the west that made it necessary to “crab” into them; and made the ship average only about 60 mph over the sea. Flying at only 500 feet above the surface it was easy to see huge waves below that would have rocked a marine ship unmercifully.
The smoothness that Southern Cross’s passengers felt was deceptive; the airship rode within air currents that at any given time were just as violent as the sea below.
One of the unique facts about airship flight however, is that an airship rides with the wind rather than bullying its’ way through rough air. This makes the turbulence that people are used to experiencing in airplanes totally absent. Airship flight is gentle, smooth, and quiet. Even though Southern Cross was traveling at an angle into the winds’ direction, the passage was still gentle.
Dawn brought the first icebergs to view. Old and weathered, the ice glowed eerily, miles away, turning to brilliant colors under the mornings’ first sunlight. Thousands of new seabirds wheeled around and alongside Southern Cross . Albatrosses paced the great black shape as it passed through the air. Twenty-nine hours after leaving the edge of the South American continent, at 2 PM on December 11th, Southern Cross reached the Antarctic peninsula and landed at the Chilean research base President Frei on Nelson Island.
Now the scientist on board began to work in earnest on research involving everything from penguin behavior to deep space exploration.
The two telescopes that had been placed inside the hull of the airship became the only ones of their size south of the Antarctic Circle.
Southern Cross could climb to altitudes up to 15,000 feet with ease, allowing the telescopes to be used without unwanted atmospheric distortions; and the absence of airborne pollution particulates and background light from populated areas would enable astronomers to view the southern hemisphere of the heavens with breathtaking clarity.
Short visits were made to research stations throughout the peninsula; with Southern Cross becoming an instant hub for shared knowledge and social occasions. No matter where the airship landed, she was met by helicopters flying personnel from Antarctic outposts for visits. It was as if all were answering to a command performance; and all viewed the airship as a welcome change from their world of rock, ice, and one another. The strangeness of the airship’s appearance was magnified a thousand time over due to the remoteness of the land and the isolation experienced by those who lived there.
On December 15th, Southern Cross left the United States Palmer Station and passed east over the low mountains of the peninsula to cross the Weddell Sea. Here she spent two days doing survey work of krill and whale populations; landing on the seas to collect specimens and to do sonar dipping experiments.
In a spirit of curiosity and bon homme; dinner that evening featured krill quiche with krill cocktail salad. Everyone decided that these faux shrimp from this ice bound wilderness deserved to be left for the whales!
Southern Cross flew with the prevailing winds, and thus traveled north as far as 65 degrees latitude; then easterly for hundreds of miles. During this time the airship suffered its’ worse weather; it was not the force of the storms common around Antarctica, but the icing conditions. The airship had been out to sea for a period of about thirty hours when she encountered unusually cold temperatures; sufficient to cause ice to begin forming on the hull.
Even though the black surface of the hull absorbed much solar radiation and the network of heating tape across the top of the airship kept ice from building up on the top of the airship to any great amount; the ice still would manage to form quickly. The heat tapes made this layer of ice melt into square times which would slough off the airship like so many giant flying fish scales as it passed quickly through the air.
However, there were no provisions made for ice removal on the mooring units attached to the underside of the hull. This caused some concern, for the amount of weight added by this accumulation was considerable.
The mooring pins were being continually fired in mid air to keep them clear of most of this ice; and to ensure that they would remain operational. At the same time, meltwater coursed down from the top of the ship to form great icicles that hung under the ship. Trying to break these off by landings on the water proved fruitless; and the airship simply traveled with tons to extra weight.
The next day Southern Cross landed at Elsworth Station alongside the cruise ship Wellington Explorer from South Africa. Again the subject of intense interest; Southern Cross was extended an invitation to visit Cape Town after her Antarctic voyage was completed. A number of prominent individuals from a United Nations study group came on board to conduct talks with here scientific contingent about studies of the ozone “hole”, and made preparations for a visit next to the U.S. Simple Station, 1,000 miles to the southwest.
Plans were also made for a later voyage by Southern Cross to linger a full month along the edge of the Ronne Ice Shelf to make daily observations of the ice shelf’s gradual break up, as well as forays over much of the surface to measure ice buildup.
It was felt that the information gathered by using an airship would be much more detailed than could be collected in any other way without incurring immense expense and difficulty.
These studies of the Ronne Ice Shelf would then be used to make much more concrete analysis of potential Global Warming.
The ice shelf was the first real unique Antarctic realm met by Southern Cross; a limitless expanse of ice covered over with windblown, concrete hard dunes of snow called “sastrugi” that [prevented airplanes from landing. This was Antarctica. This was desolate, intensely cold, unbelievably beautiful and evocative. All on board became tourists and spellbound gazers for hours.
While at Elsworth, a huge part on board was put together from the Russian and British stations; together with personnel from Elsworth and the Wellington Explorer. A large group of formally dressed individuals, all in tuxedoes, tried to crash the party; Adelaide penguins who would climb onto Southern Cross as though it were just one more strangely black colored iceberg. These huddled together on the bow planes of the airship to avoid the hungry Leopard Seals below. When the airship was about to take off; the penguins found that their sanctuary quickly became an exceptionally high dive!
December 18th found Southern Cross at Siple Station , where a number of scientists disembarked to remain there to do research into ozone depletion and high altitude magnetosphere phenomenon. At Siple, in exchange for refueling services rendered, an enthusiastic and uninhibited group of Navy fliers and sailors were carried onto Visson Massif, the highest Antarctic mountain, for a day of the most exotic high altitude skiing imaginable.
Upon leaving here new admirers and friends at Siple, Southern Cross once again set out for the northern coast. “Northern Coast” had become a running joke on board. Each time someone had telephoned back home to loved ones; the answer to the query “where are you?” all to often had been “on Antarctica’s northern coast!
It mimicked the old riddle about a bear in a house, who no matter what window he looked out of, found himself looking south. What color is the bear? White, of course! It is a Polar Bear at the North Pole!
In like manner then, Southern Cross kept flying to the “northern coast” of Antarctica. It would take a moment or two to answer queries about the airship’s whereabouts with a deliberate description that would include the airship’s position relative to a line of Longitude; but, “we’re now on Antarctica’s north coast” definitely had more appeal!
On December 19th, Southern Cross was over the Amundsen Sea, in almost balmy warm weather, and flew through rain instead of blowing snow. However, the weather deteriorated and the airship had to buck headwinds of up to 70 mph as it flew westward. At times the airship passed through conditions that would have grounded any other type of aircraft.
Known as “white out”, these conditions were brought about by wind driven snow coupled with an ice fog that totally obscured or obliterated any visual depth perception for observers. There were no shadows or visual clues to judge distances by, only the airship’s radar eyes and the GPS could give any indications about it’s surroundings that were believable. While an airplane or helicopter could not remain airborne in such conditions due to their high speeds and the potential for collision with some unseen object, the airship could pick her way slowly, creeping along in total blindness if necessary without having to worry about high speed encounters with unrevealed hazards.
The radar arrays carried on board were several times larger and more powerful than any carried on common airplanes.
Southern Cross’s arrival at the Russian base of Russkaya was totally unexpected due to atmospheric disruptions of communications. It was a wild surprise to the men and women of the station; it took no time at all however, for the airship to become a cause for celebration.
Well off even the summer season beaten track, Russkaya was full of lonely people of a highly generous and convivial nature. When Southern Cross finally departed for McMurdo Station on the 21st, it seemed for a while as though her new friends might go as far as to commandeer the airship for one more day of merry making.
Southern Cross left under the most peaceful weather conditions experienced this far on the continent. As the airship traveled inland, this contributed to sights of numerous “fata morgana”; mirages caused by dead still air and temperature inversions.
Many times the coast would appear as a perfectly mirrored upside-down world floating in mid air.
The temperature inversions caused another interesting phenomenon that was unique to airship flight; it caused the airship to become so much lighter than the denser air below that thrust had to be used to descend; the airship had more difficulty in getting down, than it getting back up!
Continuing to surprise Antarctic residents, Southern Cross visited the U.S. station at Little Rockford and Little America on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf before hurrying on to reach McMurdo Sound on December 21st. Two days were spent at McMurdo and Scott Base. Two cruise ships and a Navy tanker supplied over 200 people who received rides on board Southern Cross.
In superb weather, Southern Cross left McMurdo at 6:00 AM for a ten hour trip to the South Pole, carrying 103 persons. To lift the extra weight the airship was pitched three degrees up in the bow; to little to be noticed by the passengers, but creating almost thirty tons of additional lift through aerodynamic force. Speed was kept high to make the trip as short as possible and to maintain the airship’s altitude.
At Amundsen-Scott Base at the Pole, all structured and runways are removed some distance from the geographic Pole itself due to ice flow through the years.
Since Southern Cross could land without need of any prepared surface or runway, the ship could set down almost exactly upon the bottom of the world. Southern Cross reached the South Pole at exactly 5:18 PM on December 24, 1993. She was the first airship to visit Antarctica; and the first to reach the South Pole.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent in a continual round of gift exchanging parties. Southern Cross received a congratulations from a number of Heads of State, including the President of the United States, and recognition throughout the world.
Best of all, on Christmas Eve the word was received that because Southern Cross had reached the Pole, and because of Constellations’ efforts in the Pacific, Turtle Airships had just signed a contract for the sale of three Southern Cross class airships; a total sale of $180 Million. Every person in the original group of thirty-nine who had built Constellation and who had received stock options in lieu of payment at that time; were instant multi-millionaires. It was the Christmas of all Christmases for Turtle Airship’s family.
With the month drawing to it’s end, so Southern Cross’s first Antarctic voyage was ending. Some of her passengers had made arrangements to stay on at the Pole through the summer; they were replaced by a greater number of people wanting to travel to other spots on the continent, or to leave Antarctica altogether.
On December 26th, the airship lifted off from the ice and began traveling north along One Ten East Longitude towards Perth, Australia for 800 miles to reach the Russian ice station Vostok. Here, more studies would be conducted of Earth’s magnetic fields by scientists on board the airship. They in turn, were replaced with Russian personnel who would travel directly west 1,000 miles to the most remote station on the entire continent.
This was the farthest point from any shore; called the “Pole of Inaccessibility”. At this point, Southern Cross landed at the highest elevation of her Antarctic trip, over 10,000 feet in altitude.
From this point in Antarctica, all winds would flow outward towards the coasts; building in intensity as supercooled air flowed downhill; gathering greater energy until the winds, known as “katabatic winds” could reach 200 mph by the time they reached the coast.
Throughout the voyage, the airship had shut down engines to mere idle speed at times to take advantage of favorable winds traveling in the direction that was desired.
At 11:00 PM on December 27th, all engines were shut down, and the airship was allowed to drift along with the winds. The only time that engine thrust was used was to clear some higher landforms, a total time under power of just two hours.
At first winds were very moderate, but built to above 90mph. Southern Cross slid across miles upon miles of Antarctica without noise, without vibration, without a breath of air stirring the airship. Since it traveled at exactly the same speeds as the winds, their force was not felt on the airship at all.
Southern Cross moved in a vacuum of weather effects except for cold.
The katabatic winds carried the airship over Queen Maud Land toward the coasts, and then gradually turned westward. When the winds finally died out, the airship had covered 860 miles in 17 hours; all without power, and ended up approximately 300 miles due east of Halley Station on the Weddell Sea.
Halley Station was reached at 6”00 PM on December 28th. A mere four hours later she set out to begin a 3,500 mile run across the south Atlantic Ocean along thirty degrees west longitude. At full power, the airship made landfall at South Georgia Island at 3:00 PM on December 30th. A wreath was tossed overboard on the north shore of the South Georgia Island in remembrance of the great Antarctic explorer Earnest Shackleton; who is buried there.
Winds were to strong to permit the airship to set down on the water; and so arrangements were made of an at-sea refueling. A tanker was run out to sea heading into the wind, and Southern Cross flew up to; and maintained a constant position above the ship. An umbilical fuel line was then lowered to the tanker while underway; and like some giant black moth drinking nectar on the wing, Southern Cross took on fuel.
After refueling, Southern Cross turned northwest to approach the eastern coasts of South America. Closer to land; favorable tailwinds were met, and the airship traveled at her top speeds. At 7:00 PM on December 31, 1993; Southern Cross became the first giant airship to once again land beneath Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro since the Graf Zeppelin in 1937.
New Year’s Eve in Rio is always an overwhelmingly gay and wild event; but the arrival of the great airship that had visited the South Pole made everything even more spectacular and exciting.
Turtle Airships had arrived!