84 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Issue No 221947, together with spares selected by Tachella.
The following day the vessel left for Ushuaia,
Tierra del Fuego, where it arrived on January- Tachella flew several training sorties over the
area with photographer Tte Corb Culasso during
January 17–22, and on the 23rd the Walrus was
hoisted back on deck.
At 0645hr the following day, ARA Patagonia
left Ushuaia and headed for the Boyd Strait,
arriving at Deception Island on January 29. It left
the same day and headed south to the Melchior
Islands, where it arrived on January 31 with the
whaler Don Samuel. The Walrus was offloaded
at Deception Island and Tachella undertook the
first survey flight with Culasso and Jorge Román.
Tachella recalled the flight in a diary published
after his return to Buenos Aires:
“We took off at 1500hr, climbed to 2,000m
[6,500ft] and headed south. The scenery was
really impressive, with vast frozen surfaces
marbled with tiny blue lines. By 1800hr we were
in the area of Puerto Melchior. We alighted, but
the Jefe de la Expedición (Expedition Chief), Tte
Frag Garcia, ordered us to continue to search for
ice formation in the straits and channels while
the good weather continued. We refuelled,
loaded provisions and took four men. We took off
at 1900hr and headed south to survey the coast.
We flew over Gerlache Strait and confirmed the
presence of British personnel at Port Lockroy, but
had to return soon owing to a snowstorm that
surprised us while we were heading for Islas
Argentinas. We returned at 2200hr with the sun
still above the horizon. After alighting, the Walrus
was hoisted back aboard ARA Patagonia.”
The diary continues:
“The weather on February 7 was fine and clear,
so we took off for a survey flight over the South
Shetland Islands. We very soon ran into heavy fog
and had to turn back. The conditions were ideal
for a reconnaissance sortie on February 18. We
took off from Port Lockroy at 1500hr with Garcia
as a passenger but the flight very soon became
unsafe owing to ice forming on the wings.”
On March 5 the Walrus was damaged during
take-off from Puerto Melchior. The amphibian
was carrying a normal load and there was almost
no wind. The distance available for the run was
around 765yd. During take-off Tachella realised
that the aircraft would not clear an obstacle soABOVE With the low Antarctic sun casting shadows in the cockpit, Walrus M-O-4 is hoisted on to its cradle aboard
ARA Pampa during the 1947–48 Naval Antarctic Campaign. The Walrus I was built with a metal hull, but the Mk II,
built by Saunders-Roe, incorporated a wooden hull to free up wartime stocks of priority light-alloy materials.JUAN C. CICALESI VIA AUTHOR