STRATTON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.Y. - Airmen with the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing flew 241 missions, delivering more than 3,100 passengers and 4.5 million pounds of cargo and fuel to research stations across Antarctica during a deployment to the southern continent that began in October 2014 and ends this week.
This is the 27th year that the unit has supported the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Program as part of Operation Deep Freeze, providing military logistics support for the research effort.
"This was a great season for the 109th," said Air Force Lt. Col. Clifford Souza, from the wing's 139th Airlift Squadron, who returned home with about 30 Airmen on Feb. 24. "We flew over 155 on-continent missions in Antarctica as well as intercontinental missions from New Zealand to Antarctica. We're glad to be back and have one more year under our belt."
The wing deployed 575 Airmen and seven LC-130 Hercules ski-equipped aircraft to McMurdo Station, the hub of the American presence in Antarctica during the five month support season.
About 120 Airmen were at McMurdo Station at any given time, as Airmen rotated between Antarctica and the 109th Airlift Wing's home in Scotia, New York. On average Airmen spent two months in Antarctica.
The first LC-130 returned home with passengers Feb. 23 with more Airmen following throughout the week via C-17 Globemaster III.
The final six LC-130s that were deployed and remaining Airmen are expected to return home within the next week. The unit's 27th season supporting the National Science Foundation began in October.
The first Airmen who returned to Stratton Air National Guard Base, located just outside Schenectady, New York, noted that it was colder in New York state than it had been at McMurdo Station when they left.
"It was colder here than it was down there," Air Force Master Sgt. Shawn Talbot said. "But the wind makes it horrible, same as here. When the wind and the snow get whipping around, it gets into everything, all the crevices of the buildings."
A few hours before the Airmen arrived home, Albany was still below zero, while McMurdo Station was sitting at 5 degrees. The return home to colder temps was a shock for other reasons as well.
"Especially since we had to come through Hawaii," Souza said, "and we spent a day there, it was like, 'OK, here we go! We have to break all the cold weather gear out of our Arctic bags, so we can just survive driving home.'"
The unique capabilities of the ski-equipped LC-130 aircraft make it the only one of its kind in the U.S. military, able to land on snow and ice.
"We have the only 10 ski equipped C-130s in the entire U.S. inventory – that's Navy, Air Force, Army, Marines," said Air Force Maj. David Panzera , a LC-130 pilot with the unit. "We are the only ones with them."
The Air Guard aircrews support a variety of research that occurs in the Antarctic, Panzera said.
"People would ask, rightfully, what are the research efforts there," Panzera said. "It's not just climate, which some people think that's all they do. It's not. They do volcanology – the study of volcanoes – that's right next to us called Mount Arabis. They do glaciology, plate tectonics. They study the stars and other sciences are just amazing, especially sea life at the edges of the continent because nothing can live in the interior."
Panzera said it's difficult to describe how beautiful the Antarctic is. This year was his 17th season with Operation Deep Freeze and he said he looks forward to the assignment each year.
"My flight, which takes me to the South Pole, is a two hour 45 minute flight," he said. "But you fly over some of the most amazing mountain ice sceneries that the world holds."
This mission season also saw the successful deployment of "IcePod" devices on the wing's LC-130 "Skibird" aircraft, an imaging system that can measure the depth of an ice sheet.
"IcePod focuses on the development of an integrated ice imaging system that can measure in detail both the ice surface and the ice bed, helping in the understanding of why ice sheets are changing at such a rapid rate," said Air Force Lt. Col. Blair Herdrick, chief of Antarctic operations at the 109th AW.
"The system (is) enclosed in a Common Science Support Pod mounted on the rear troop door of the LC-130. This (was) the first operational use of the CSSP," he said.
Crews flew nine flights total with the IcePod over a three-week period.
"These were the final tests before the IcePod is fully commissioned," said Air Force Maj. Joshua Hicks, a 139th AS pilot who flew the missions. "Overall it went very well. We completed what we needed to do."
The continued work supporting Operation Deep Freeze garnered attention from military leadership as well. Both Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James and Air Force Lt. Gen. Stanley Clarke III, Air National Guard director, visited Antarctica and the Airmen stationed there in January.
Air Force Maj. Marc McKeon, assistant chief of Antarctic operations, said the people are what contribute to a successful season.
"People enjoy the mission," he said. "You have to enjoy what you do in order to be good at it. And we have some of the best maintainers and aircrew that the Air National Guard has to offer."