Vietnam and later, James L. Burson

After 12 attempts, my crew and I feared the worst.

We were at Dye-3 site in Greenland. Our mission was to pick up ice core samples and scientists and return them to Sonderstrom Air Force Base, also in Greenland.

I was a technical sergeant; my crew and I lifted off the runway in a C-130D at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, on June 10, 1975. We stopped at Yellow Knife, Northwest Territory, Canada, for fuel. We ate lunch and continued on our mission, arriving at Sonderstrom while the sun was still shining. During this time of year, the sun never really sets.

On June 13, we flew to the Dye-3 site to pick up the samples. We were supposed to bring them back to Sonderstrom, so a C-141 aircraft could pick them up.

Dye-3 has an elevation of 9,700 feet. At that elevation 36 percent of available horse power is gone. That morning the outside air temperature was 44 degrees. The surface snow was pure slush.

We made four practice runs to see if we could pack the runway, as such. We had eight jet-assisted takeoff (JATO) bottles for take off. But if you can’t break the nose ski loose and get it out of the snow, it’s not going to even begin to fly.

After eight more attempts, our crew hadn’t gotten more than 58 knots of airspeed and fuel was getting low. We knew we had to do something different.

What we did was unorthodox as you could get. We changed our aircraft center of gravity and prayed. We put the four scientists and all of their baggage way back in the tail up on the door as far as we could get them. On a snow take-off like this one, we needed to get the nose ski broken loose from the slush.

The co-pilot literally slams the yoke from the forward stop to the aft stop. The pilot keeps the wings level and throttles to the fire wall. The engineer calls off the air speed and fires the JATO at the correct time. Too early and you won’t get the nose ski up and you have to remove and replace eight 200-pound JATO bottles. No fun, plus you sink in snow past your waist while doing it.

Here we are on the 13th run. Wing level, throttles to the fire wall, captain pumping the yoke to break the nose ski loose. I am calling the air speed off loud and clear, my finger ready to punch the JATO button. “55, 56, 57, 58, 58, 58 ...” It faltered a wee bit. One more pump of the yoke and then “59, 60, 61, 62, 63 ...” and the nose skit was getting lighter. “Fire!” yelled the pilot and the JATO cut in as my finger mashed the button. We were off and flying back to Sonderstrom.

Once the samples reached Sonderstrom, they were flown to a lab in Buffalo, N.Y., where they were refrigerated and analyzed. Each sample was put into an insulated core container that was labeled as to which depth it came from on the ice cap, which is 10,000 feet thick.

The scientists looked at each slice about 3 inches in diameter under an electron microscope. They examined pollen volcanic ash seeds and several other things that had been in the atmosphere several years before.

The Air National Guard of the 109th in New York flew all ski missions after our crew returned to Elemendorf AFB on June 17, 1975.

PRIOR EXPERIENCES
I had 14 years in the Air Force, before going to the Dye-3 site. I enlisted May 29, 1961, and was in maintenance for the first three years and then volunteered as a flight mechanic. I began flying at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina. During the next two years, I attended flight school at Sewart Air Force Base, Tenn.

Then I began flying the line. The first year I flew 1,017 hours. I then transferred to Ching Chang Kong, Taiwan, for 13 months. I spent at least 25 days per month in Vietnam and Thailand. I then was transferred back to Sewart AFB and was a replacement unit instructor for two years.

An assignment to Rhein Main Air Base, Germany, came and I was there for four years. I was in the 7406th Support Squadron, a super secret outfit. When I was transferred back to the States, I changed career fields and was an audio/visualist at Hanscom AFB, MA. During this time I was promoted to an E-6 technical sergeant and exactly one year to the day, I was called back to fly to Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska. This was because I was an instructor engineer, test flight engineer and ski-qualified.

By this time, I had more than 5,000 hours flying time, one Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with nine oak leaf clusters and an Air Force Commendation Medal.