Once in a blue moon: Tides turn up historic find

AUSTRALIAN explorers have credited record low tides on the blue moon for the “one-in-a-million” discovery in Antarctica of one of the world’s first airplanes, found buried in ice.

The monoplane, which was the first aircraft off the Vickers factory production line in Britain just eight years after the Wright brothers’ first flight, was taken to Antarctica by Australian explorer Douglas Mawson in 1911.

He hoped to stage the first flight over the ice cap, but his dreams were dashed when the pilot who accompanied the craft from London crashed it during a demonstration flight.

It was badly damaged but Mawson wanted to take the Vickers to the Antarctic to use as an “air tractor” to pull his sledges, said Australian conservationist David Jensen. However, its engine seized up in the cold and Mawson abandoned the Vickers at Cape Denison in 1914.

Three teams of scientists searched for the fuselage, last sighted almost totally buried in 1975.

But it was the combination of historically low tides, prompted by a blue moon and melting of the ice that led to its chance discovery on New Year’s Day, Jensen said.

“One of our heritage carpenters was wandering along the edge of the harbour... and by chance spotted the piece of the metal amongst the rocks.”

The team had been preparing for a large-scale drilling into the ice, said Jensen.