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Re: For Tony

Posted by Tony Jarvis on Fri Dec 12, 2003 01:36:17 PM

In reply top For Tony posted by peter on Thu Dec 11, 2003 06:05:33 PM

: Tony.
: Would it not be possible to move these remains in winter
: with a C130?

The discussion on this thread has certainly been interesting and reaffirms to me that there are still people out there that are interested in these artifacts in the Arctic!
I feel that I can speak with some authority on C-130's as I have flown the only civilian one in Canada, C-GHPW of First Air, for the last 20 years.
The break down of the wing section at it's greatest chord on a York is about 14 feet my manuals tell me. That will not fit into the back of a Herc, even on an angle. Length and weight are not an issue.
As for the topography in the area, it is flat (sea level) from Hall Beach until where HMX is and then the land starts to rise westward. Really, it is not an issue here and in the winter the only place that is blown clear of snow on Hall Lake is directly in front of the wreck. Must be some quirk of nature for the area and I suspect that is why this particular stretch was used for the DEW Line build-up which is what the York was doing when it came to grief.
I have looked at this problem over and over for years(I even have the BS tools for disassembly) and the only way is probably the method I mentioned earlier.
Yes, that is HMY in the water and there was a fatality but it does not affect recovery. They did a night ditching on the water and the Captain pulled the F/O out of the cockpit. They both spent almost 10 days laying on the extended wing flaps just feet above the water surface, the Captain uninjured and the F/O with two broken legs. Finally, just before rescue, the Captain died of exposure. The F/O was rescued and just passed away about a year ago, spending the rest of his life as a simulator instructor with two prosthetic legs.
I would love to recover what is left of HMX and HMY and restore one as a tribute to it's yeoman service in the Arctic, another unknown aircraft. However, I will have to content myself for the time being with the Throttle (Hobbs) box recovered from HMX and the instrument panel from HFQ (first York in Canada, crashed Hall Beach) in my basement!

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