Argentine Air Force Flies to South Pole
From Antarctic Journal of the United States Jan-Feb 1966

On November 3, 1965 (1410 UTC), a C-47 and two Beavers of the Argentine
Air  Force landed at the South Pole. It was the second time in a few
years that Argentine aircraft made the trip from South America. The
previous  visit occurred on January 7, 1962, when two C-47s of the
Argentine Navy arrived at the Pole.
The leader of this year's expedition was Major Mario Olezza, 
Argentine Air Force, who piloted the C-47. His co-pilot was Lieutenant 
Carlos Bloomer Reeve. One of the Beavers was piloted by Major Jorge 
Munoz and Lieutenant Luis Cano, the other by Lieutenant Oscar Fontaine. 
There were nine additional persons aboard.
The route followed by the aircraft was parallel to that used in 
1962. Starting from Rio Gallegos in Patagonia, it extended by way of 
Robinson Island on the east side of the Antarctic Peninsula, where the 
Argentine Army and Air Force maintain a joint station, Teniente 
Matienzo, to General Belgrano Station on the Filchner Ice Shelf. From 
General Belgrano, the aircraft made the flight to the South Pole.
The arrival of the planes with 14 men on board raised the 
population of the South Pole Station to 52, about two and one-half 
times its winter complement. On November 10, however, the C-47, with 
all but four of the Argentines aboard, took off for McMurdo Station 
where United States Navy maintenance personnel assisted in the repair 
of an engine and the replacement of a wheel strut. On November 24, the 
C-47 departed McMurdo for Sobral, an Argentine station located at 
81°04'S. 41°36'W. As it passed over the South Pole, the C-47 was joined 
by the Beavers for the return flight.

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The arrival of the two Beaver aircraft marked the first single-engine
fixed-wing landing at Pole. The 800-mile flight from Belgrano took about
8 hours. --Bill