Interview of Irving J. Morrison by Brian Shoemaker

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CDR Morrison (Jim) was born in Geneva New York in 1922. His father, his mentor, was a veteran of the WW I Signal Corps. Growing up he was introduced to legendary fliers Frank Hawkes, Wiley Post and Roscoe Turner. He went for a ride with Amelia Earhart in his Dad’s lap when he was six years old. He followed all of the Byrd expeditions of the 1920s and 30s in the newspapers and movies. He was able to watch Byrd’s Giant Snow Cruiser drive through Schenectady, NY in 1935 on the way to Antarctica. Jim joined the navy in 1940 and trained as an Aviation Mechanic. He was assigned to fly Catalina amphibious aircraft. He had a number of combat flying assignments during World War II including the Battles of Midway, Santa Cruz Islands, Guadalcanal, and Solomon Islands. Later he was invalided in a US navy Hospital with what turned out to be a lingering case of malaria. After the war Jim had a variety of assignments, which included a tour of duty at Ohio State as a student and teacher of naval aviation with the Naval Science Department. He participated during the Korean War from aircraft carriers Roosevelt, Midway, Kearsarge and Tarawa and in 1954 was assigned to an aviation unit aboard the USS Tarawa evacuating refugees that were fleeing French Indo-China (later called Viet Nam) after the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu. Jim was commissioned as a Limited Duty Officer (Aviation) in 1957. Shortly afterward he met CDR Edward Ward, who had been first Commanding Officer of VX-6, the Navy’s Antarctic flying squadron. He recommended Jim for Antarctic duty. And after some negotiation with the Bureau of personnel he was assigned to VX-6 to “winter-over” in an aviation maintenance billet. Enroute to report to VX-6 Jim was invited to visit Lockheed’s Marietta, Georgia facilities where they were manufacturing ski-equipped C-130 aircraft for the US Air Force for use in the Arctic. He received a very thorough briefing by USAF and Lockheed staff while there. Jim reported to VX-6 shortly afterward and reported what he had learned at Lockheed. He deployed to Antarctica shortly afterward, arriving at McMurdo in October 1958. He gives a very thorough description of life in McMurdo quarters, food, showers, ham radio, movies, etc. He became very interested in the scientific research and spent a lot of time in the biology lab as well as other scientific facilities. Shortly after arriving, he and his Executive Officer, CDR Jerry Barlow, had lunch with Admiral Dufek where they discussed his briefing at Lockheed on ski equipped C-130 aircraft. As a result, Jim’s orders to winter-over were cancelled and he was appointed the project officer for the acquisition of the C-130 Hercules aircraft. To acquaint Jim with the environment that the C-130’s would be operating in he was flown to remote science sites around the Antarctic – including Byrd Station, Little America, Hallett Station, Pole Station and to science camps in the Victoria Mountains and Ross Island by helicopter. He redeployed to the United States in Mid-December 1958. Shortly after arriving home, Jim was sent to the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics to work with the engineering staff that would approve and purchase the C-130. Jim was given the official title of CNSFA/VX-6 Special Projects Officer to acquire the C-130. Jim details the two-year period of negotiations, engineering modifications, flight tests, politics etc. that surrounded the acquisition of the aircraft in this interview. In the end the navy spent $16,000,00 for four aircraft 148218, 19, 20 & 21. He discusses how he and the BUAIR staff short-circuited several years of testing to deliver the aircraft some four years early in 1960-61 for service in the Antarctic. Basically they did it by testing the planes under working condition in the Antarctic from McMurdo. He covers the testing history in some detail. He relates being aboard 148320 the first U.S. Navy C-130 to land in Antarctica in October 1960. After two years of testing the planes were released from direct contractor support to standard military support in 1962. Jim notes that the first C-130’s that came to Antarctic were USAF three bladed propeller (Navy’s were to be four bladed with more powerful engines) models that had been used previously in Greenland. However they did a credible job, paving the way for the Navy models. While organizing all this Jim supervised upgrades and maintenance of all the other aircraft working in Antarctica. He was also responsible for setting up maintenance services for aircraft in Christchurch, New Zealand as well as Quonset Point, Rhode Island. He discusses the two seasons that the Navy operated the C-130 “On the Ice” and how the problems that cropped up were accommodated. Jim talks about flying commercially and being approached by Vice President Richard Nixon. Nixon knew Dr Tom Jones and was interested in the Antarctic Program. He offered to help if any problems cropped up – through Dr. Jones. Jim did report acquisition problems through Tom Jones on some occasions and the problems magically disappeared. Jim was also involved in obtaining support from the Army in the early 1960s. The Army brought six Bell UH1B Huey helicopters to Antarctica in 1960. The first turbine helicopters to fly in the Southern Hemisphere. He describes their operations in detail. Jim was assigned to shore-duty from 1962 to 1965 in Washington DC. At the end of his tour, at an Antarctican Society meeting, his old friend Dr. Tom Jones approached him. Jones arranged for Jim to be assigned to VX-6 as the Assistant Maintenance Officer. In the summer of 1965 Jim became involved in the process of transferring ownership of the C-130’s that he had obtained for the squadron to the National Science Foundation. Other than that his tour as Assistant Maintenance Officer was routine – especially in comparison to his first tour. In 1968 he transferred to CAG 60 staff in Quonset Point, Rhode Island and retired from the Navy in1969. Today he makes his home in Concord New Hampshire.

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