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Antarctic's First Plane, Found In Ice

Posted by timothy on from the ice-tractor-cometh dept.

Arvisp writes "In 1912 Australian explorer Douglas Mawson planned to fly over the southern pole. His lost plane has now been found. The plane – the first off the Vickers production line in Britain – was built in 1911, only eight years after the Wright brothers executed the first powered flight. For the past three years, a team of Australian explorers has been engaged in a fruitless search for the aircraft, last seen in 1975. Then on Friday, a carpenter with the team, Mark Farrell, struck gold: wandering along the icy shore near the team's camp, he noticed large fragments of metal sitting among the rocks, just a few inches beneath the water."

14 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. I claim the movie rights by suso · · Score: 4, Funny

    And inside they found a pipe in a keg of gun powder that had a pipe with clues that mean that there is a treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence.

    1. Re:I claim the movie rights by MistrBlank · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'll claim rights on a second story and write the one that has the pilot still sitting in the cockpit with his chest blown out. And several miles below the ice surface there's a temple that's a home to aliens that another alien race comes in to exterminate after the expedition team frees them.

    2. Re:I claim the movie rights by Arancaytar · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, they found traces of an ancient race of tentacled aliens that were ultimately responsible for creating us. Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!

    3. Re:I claim the movie rights by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, they found traces of an ancient race of tentacled aliens that were ultimately responsible for creating us. Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!

      So, you're saying I should not have fried up that batch of giant calamari?

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    4. Re:I claim the movie rights by sayno2quat · · Score: 2, Funny

      You would have been fine, except you didn't post anonymously.

      --
      Sure I sold you robot insurance. But you were attacked by a cyborg. Not covered.
  2. press release by Nick+Number · · Score: 2, Funny

    A spokesman for the team discovering the aircraft issued a short statement, consisting solely of

    "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!"

    ...in an Australian accent.

    --
    Promote proofreading. Don't mod up sloppy posts.
  3. It was made of gold? by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Then on Friday, a carpenter with the team, Mark Farrell, struck gold: wandering along the icy shore near the team's camp, he noticed large fragments of metal sitting among the rocks, just a few inches beneath the water."

    The plane was made of gold? I guess they don't build 'em like they used to, huh?

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. The famous Miskatonic Antarctic Survey found by minginqunt · · Score: 3, Funny

    I hope you're all preparing to welcome our new Shuggoth overlords.

    I suspect I, for one, will.

  5. Re:Cue the pissing contest by nschubach · · Score: 3, Funny

    We get tired of the competition between Ohio and North Carolina for the origin vs. actually flying the first plane so we have to look elsewhere to pick fights.

    --
    Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
  6. just be careful... by catbertscousin · · Score: 3, Funny

    Take some dogs with you when you drill, and if they start going nuts about any large, plant-like objects you find, leave them alone!
    Also listen for strange piping sounds in the wind.

    --
    No good deed goes unpunished. - Avon, Blake's 7
  7. Re:Cue the pissing contest by Culture20 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Which is exactly why we should end this "first" bullshit in the first place.

    First Post!

  8. I guess we can thank global warming by zorro-z · · Score: 2, Funny

    It does seem as if the melting of Antarctic ice is what revealed the long-lost plane. Global warming, anyone?

    --
    -Z
  9. Why did nobody find it, in all those years? by Hurricane78 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Let me guess: It hid in plane site! ^^

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  10. Re:The Independent is a little dishonest here by aqk · · Score: 1, Funny

    A few paragraphs down in TFA:

    Mawson had hoped to stage the first flight over the Antarctic ice cap, but the plane crashed on the Australian mainland before he set sail. No one was hurt, but with the wings damaged and no time to repair them, the explorer adapted the craft to haul his sledges, adding skis to the undercarriage and a special tail-rudder.

    It was an airplane before being loaded on the boat, then it was just a cool looking tug.

    Umm... before you go any deeper...

    CANADA INVENTED THE SNOWMOBILE.
    Take THAT, Mr. Big-Dick!

    --

    .
    - aqk
    F U /. illiterates.