Talk:Williams Field

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Contents 1 Call for input 2 Sea Ice Runway 3 Question about Image:WILLIAMSFIELD.jpg 4 Question about Image:Galaxy Antarctica.jpg

[edit] Call for input

William Field's strategic role in moving cargo and personnel in and out of one of Earth's most remote regions warrants a substantive and well-researched article. With the right input, we could develop this into a featured article nomination.

It's going to be tough sledding to get a featured article nomination out of this topic. I find very little that has been written about William's Field, Antartica's oldest and arguably most important airport.--Fishdecoy 00:01, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone have any reliable sources with which they can build this article re:

• Flight operations (flight control, re-fueling, maintenance, crash crew, etc.)
• Pilots

http://www.spectrumwd.com/c130/articles/lc130h.htm

• Maintaining the runway(s)
• Weather conditions and forecasting
• Personnel
• Social conditions

For instance: this webpage, although not authoratative and undated: http://www.escapeartist.com/efam3/ice_story.html

Also the former Willys Tavern: http://www.vaq34.com/vxe6/vxemcmurdo.htm

--Fishdecoy 13:15, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

• Other

In particular, it looks like there are plans underway to once again move Williams before it falls into McMurdo Sound. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Fishdecoy (talk • contribs) 21:50, 10 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Sea Ice Runway

This page seems to report many things about the Sea ice runway (instead of Willy Field) which should probably be moved there. Mtruch 20:17, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

As principal author of the article to date, I may have strayed too far from the Williams airfield in including content about the sea-ice and blue-ice runways. In part, I am trying to help the reader understand the extraordinary air operations in and around Williams Field, all of which are inter-connected operationally. My yet unreferenced thesis is that Williams Field is the hub of these operations. For instance, Williams appears to the only "airport" of the three runways, in terms of central command features, such as weather observers, crash and fire control, communications, etc. I am currently looking for citations that indicate whether or not Williams is the flight control center for all three airstirps at McMurdo: Williams snow runway, the annual ice runway, and the blue-ice runway. I welcome anyone's help in the search.--Fishdecoy 12:38, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

This page refers to moving the the airport infrastructure from the sea-ice runway to Williams Field, in advance of the annual ice breakup: Moving the Airport--Fishdecoy 17:41, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Research confirms that there are 3 separate airports at McMurdo Station. Subsequently, your observations are correct, Mtruch, about moving the Sea ice runway info. I am in the process of doing so now. --Fishdecoy 16:53, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Question about Image:WILLIAMSFIELD.jpg

Can anyone confirm that the article's WILLIAMSFIELD.jpg is a pic of Williams Field? The caption ("in front of McMurdo ..." makes me wonder if the photo may be of the sea ice runway, which during its seasonal operations is indeed in front of McMurdo. However, Williams is farther away. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Fishdecoy (talk • contribs) 17:18, 17 March 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Question about Image:Galaxy Antarctica.jpg

I suspect that this image may depict an aircraft at the sea ice runway, rather than Williams Field. Only ski-equipped aircraft can land at Williams. Any aircraft experts out there that can interpret this picture?--Fishdecoy 17:24, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

I removed this pic. Research shows that this type of plane would land at an ice runway, not Williams Field. See: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0214.htm In addtion, the existing photo caption cited the wrong year for the photo.--Fishdecoy 22:12, 17 March 2007 (UTC)