A P2V-7LP Neptune crashed on takeoff from Wilkins Station, Antarctica, where it had refuelled en route back to McMurdo Station. in support of Operation Deep Freeze 1962. Four aircrew and one passenger were killed, with four aircrew surviving. Per en eyewitness report: “The landing had been so violently rough that it had broken loose the 400 gal internal tank in the bomb bay and the 4″ filler pipe was spewing out raw fuel running down the bottom of the plane on take off. At the ignition of the JATO on the t/o run, it acted like a Roman Candle. With the burning of the fiberglass tail cone, all of the acrid smoke was drawn right up to the cockpit and the pilots were blinded. They tried to return to the field and just couldn’t make it. The pilot managed to level the wings before they hit and that saved some of the guys.”