Summary Severe weather Survivors 6 Date 30 December 1946 Operator United States Navy Crew count 9 | Fatalities 3 Aircraft type Martin PBM Mariner Number of deaths 3 Survivor 6 Location Thurston Island | |
Site Thurston Island, Antarctica Similar 1946 Railway Air Services, 1946 American Overseas, TWA Flight 6963, British European Airways F, TWA Flight 513 | ||
The 1946 Antarctica PBM Mariner crash occurred on December 30, 1946, on Thurston Island, Antarctica when a United States Navy PBM Mariner crashed during a blizzard. The aircraft, designated George 1, was supporting Operation Highjump.
The crash killed crewmembers Aviation Radiomen Wendell K. Hendersin and Fredrick W. Williams and Ensign Maxwell A. Lopez. Six surviving crewmembers, including Aviation Radioman James H. Robbins and co-pilot William Kearns, were rescued 13 days later by an aircraft from USS Pine Island (AV-12). Hendersin, Williams, and Lopez were buried at the crash site and their remains have not been recovered.
A two-expedition recovery mission was planned but subsequently cancelled for November 2008 and November 2009 to recover the three fatalities of the crash from their 150-foot-deep 61-year-old temporary grave.