Viewing page 25 of 51

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[preprinted]] 41 [[/preprinted]]

[[underlined]] Dec. 30 [[/underlined]] Cont.
all during loading w pallets & gear. Here we sit at 3:20. Mail brought in was sorted in time to get me one note from Tom (Dec 11, Tucson) 1 for Dean, 2 for Shiraishi, and many each for the 2 Germans. 

At 3:30 we skied away.

Not quite. We moved a little and sat until 3:45. Finally, all stuffed in to our canvas & net seats the Herc started up. As we raced past camp we could see the tail of a 2nd Herc which had finally landed. (Our Herc was 1st scheduled to make 2 flights to Darwin; [[strikethrough]] then [[/strikethrough]] the 1st one via J9. Then we heard that it would stop for us & then go to J9. Then; that a Herc had tried to land at Byrd but could not & was [[therefore symbol]] coming w fuel to Darwin-- Ours was the 1st Herc)

As we got up speed we hit rough ground and the most unholy crashing, bumping & thumping took place. Things fell to the floor & suddenly the crewman in charge got a message from cockpit; "Everyone back aft" he shouted excitedly. As the Herc slowed down again - it wasn't taking off on that run after all. I remembered watching a Herc aim for the Mts one afternoon & barely clear them. We all unstuffed and squeezed back past 2 pallets of cargo; lay on the tiled loading [[floor??]], and were strapped down w ribbon. The Herc tried it again - w more unholy banging & jumping -- and our own cargo pallet full of crates & [[??]] directly in front of us ready to roll back & crush us in a crash, but we made it. And after clearing the range, back we went to our seats. I carrying my camera case w [[??]] & [[??]] & [[??]] gloves throughout. It was as exciting a flight as I ever need. I supposed we were in danger and moving aft

Transcription Notes:
[[made some minor clarifications but I can't decipher all the ??! Katie 10/10]]