http://www.nzherald.co.nz/latestnewsstory.cfm?storyID=195324&thesection=news&thesubsection=general
A project by a Christ church based group to recover the remains of an aircraft which have been lying in a remote area of Antarctica for more than 20 years has been given the backing of the Antarctic Heritage Trust.
The Antarctic Aviation Preservation Society wants to recover the remains of a Fokker Super Universal aircraft damaged by a storm in 1929 while being used on Admiral Richard Byrd's first Antarctic expedition.
The project has now been endorsed by the Antarctic Heritage Trust which administers historic sites within New Zealand's Ross Dependency.
Secretary of the preservation society Chris Rudge said the trust has given its support in principle for the recovery.
It has also offered to provide guidance in identifying professional organisations and individuals for members of the preservation society to contact for technical conservation advice.
Mr Rudge said members of the society saw the letter they had received from the trust as a significant endorsement of the recovery project.
Members of the society also propose to clean up the site by removing leaking fuel drums that were left in the area in the late 1940s by a US Government expedition.
The Fokker Super Universal was wrecked during a storm in the Lake Aquamarine site when it was ripped from its tie-downs by a gust of wind estimated at around 240kmh.
The aircraft flew backwards for almost a kilometre before crashing back on to the surface of the lake.
Admiral Byrd's daughters gifted the aircraft to the people of New Zealand in 1998 as a thank you gesture for all the assistance New Zealanders gave to their father.
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Group to recover Byrd aircraft from Antarctica
16.06.2001 3.48 pm