{"id":30647076,"date":"2026-11-01T10:34:21","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T09:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/que-sera-sera-r4d-first-plane-land-south-pole-1956\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T10:37:02","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T09:37:02","slug":"que-sera-sera-r4d-first-plane-land-south-pole-1956","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/es\/que-sera-sera-r4d-first-plane-land-south-pole-1956\/","title":{"rendered":"Que Sera Sera: The First Plane to Land at the South Pole, 1956"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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At 8:34 p.m. local time on 31 October 1956, a twin-engined Navy transport with skis bolted to its wheels bounced across the hard snow of the polar plateau and slid to a halt. Its engines kept running. Nobody aboard wanted to find out whether they would start again.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The aircraft was a US Navy R4D-5L, a ski-equipped version of the Douglas <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/c-47-skytrain\/\">C-47 Skytrain<\/a>, and someone had painted <em>Que Sera Sera<\/em> on her nose. Whatever will be, will be. She had just become the first aircraft ever to land at the South Pole, and the seven men inside were about to become the first people to stand there since Robert Falcon Scott in January 1912.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Seventy years ago yesterday, that landing turned the bottom of the world from a place you reached on foot, at enormous cost, into a place you could fly to. Everything that has happened at the Pole since, from the first station to today&rsquo;s neutrino telescopes, began with one old Skytrain and a pilot who later admitted it was close to madness.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border:1px solid #e2e7ee;padding:18px 22px;margin:22px 0 26px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px\"><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> US Navy Douglas R4D-5L Skytrain <em>Que Sera Sera<\/em>, Bureau Number 12418, ski-equipped C-47 variant<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Squadron:<\/strong> US Navy squadron VX-6, Operation Deep Freeze II<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Landed:<\/strong> 31 October 1956, 8:34 p.m. local time, the first aircraft ever to land at the South Pole<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Pilot:<\/strong> Lt Cdr Conrad &ldquo;Gus&rdquo; Shinn; co-pilot Capt William Hawkes<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Aboard:<\/strong> Seven Navy men, including Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, Commander Task Force 43<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Flight:<\/strong> About 800 miles from McMurdo Sound to a plateau more than 9,000 feet high<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>On the ground:<\/strong> 49 minutes, at nearly 60 degrees below zero Fahrenheit<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Takeoff:<\/strong> 15 JATO rocket bottles carried, fired four at a time to break the frozen skis free<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Today:<\/strong> On display at the National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">An old Skytrain for the hardest landing on Earth<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The flight was part of Operation Deep Freeze II, the second season of the US Navy&rsquo;s logistics effort for the International Geophysical Year. The plan for 1956&ndash;57 was to build a scientific station at the geographic South Pole itself. Before anyone could build there, someone had to prove an aircraft could land there and, much more importantly, take off again.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, commander of Task Force 43 and a veteran of Byrd&rsquo;s expeditions and Operation Highjump, chose Lieutenant Commander Conrad &ldquo;Gus&rdquo; Shinn and his crew from the Navy&rsquo;s Antarctic squadron VX-6 for the job. The aircraft was Bureau Number 12418, a wartime-built Skytrain converted for polar work, named after the Doris Day hit of that year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/rear-admiral-george-dufek-task-force-43-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"Black and white portrait of US Navy Rear Admiral George J. Dufek in a fur-lined polar parka, signed to the personnel at McMurdo Sound\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, commander of Task Force 43, in a portrait he signed for the men at McMurdo Sound after the 1955&ndash;56 season. A year later he became the first American to step out at the South Pole. US Navy photo \/ public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Shinn knew the aircraft well, and did not love her. As we told in our history of <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-deep-freeze-antarctic-aviation-lc-130-pegasus\/\">Operation Deep Freeze and 70 years of US aviation in Antarctica<\/a>, his official report from the first season described 12418 as an aeroplane that flew in a perpetual skid. But she was what the Navy had, and the R4D was light enough to land on open snow that heavier aircraft would not have risked.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The problem was physics. The polar plateau lies at more than 9,000 feet, where the thin air saps engine power and wing lift at the same time. The loaded aircraft weighed around 28,000 pounds. To have any hope of getting back into the air, the crew fitted rocket bottles for jet-assisted takeoff, JATO, under the fuselage: fifteen of them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Seven men, 800 miles, 49 minutes<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Seven Navy men flew from McMurdo Sound on 31 October: Dufek; Captain Douglas Cordiner, commanding officer of VX-6; Shinn as pilot; Captain William Hawkes as co-pilot; navigator Lieutenant John Swadener; crew chief AD2 John P. Strider; and radioman AT2 William Cumbie Jr. The route ran about 800 miles south across the Ross Ice Shelf and up over the Transantarctic Mountains.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tbudQOR2pgU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">Archival footage of Rear Admiral Dufek and the crew boarding the ski-equipped R4D for the flight to the South Pole during Operation Deep Freeze.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>They were not alone. A US Air Force C-124 Globemaster carrying journalists flew overhead, ready to drop survival supplies if things went wrong, and photographed the landing from above. Another ski-equipped R4D, <em>Charlene<\/em>, waited on the Liv Glacier with its engines running for most of the day, according to its pilots Eddie Frankiewicz and Jim Waldron, ready to fly a rescue.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;Everything was critical in that day: attitude and altitude and air speed, weight and balance. We hardly stayed in the air.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Lt Cdr Conrad &ldquo;Gus&rdquo; Shinn<\/strong> &mdash; Pilot of <em>Que Sera Sera<\/em>, Antarctic Deep Freeze Oral History Project, 1999 (via the Boston Globe)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Shinn brought her in on the main skis with a hard, bouncing touchdown. Dufek was first out of the door. The party planted the American flag and set up a radar reflector and other navigational aids to guide future aircraft to the site. Two of the three cameras froze on arrival; Swadener had kept his inside his parka, which is why the moment survives on film.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/que-sera-sera-landing-south-pole-31-october-1956.jpg\" alt=\"Aerial view of the R4D Que Sera Sera kicking up snow as it lands on skis at the South Pole, photographed from an Air Force C-124\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\"><em>Que Sera Sera<\/em> touches down at the South Pole on 31 October 1956, photographed from the US Air Force C-124 Globemaster that circled overhead in case a rescue was needed. US Navy photo \/ public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>They stayed for 49 minutes. It was only the third time in history that people had stood at the South Pole, after Roald Amundsen&rsquo;s party in December 1911 and Scott&rsquo;s a few weeks later. Later surveys suggested the skis had actually come to rest a few miles from the precise geographic pole, which, with the navigation of 1956, everyone involved considered close enough.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;We stood in the center of a sea of snow and ice that extended beyond our vision.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Rear Admiral George J. Dufek<\/strong> &mdash; Commander Task Force 43, on stepping out at the South Pole (quoted by the Naval History and Heritage Command)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">&ldquo;Like an old mud hen&rdquo;<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Getting there, Shinn said for the rest of his life, was the easy part. While the engines idled, the snow under the warm skis had melted and refrozen. When he opened the throttles, the R4D did not move. &ldquo;We just sat on the ice like an old mud hen,&rdquo; he told the Associated Press in 1999.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>He began firing the JATO bottles, four at a time. Salvo after salvo roared out beneath the fuselage before the skis finally tore loose and <em>Que Sera Sera<\/em> staggered into the thin air, barely flying, inside a cloud of ice crystals she had blasted up herself. Shinn flew out on instruments until they cleared it, then turned north for the long trip home.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t34AWkzQTec\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">National Archives footage of Operation Deep Freeze aviation in 1956, including the crew of <em>Que Sera Sera<\/em> boarding at McMurdo and Navy JATO takeoffs from the snow.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Back at McMurdo, crew chief John Strider played the whole thing down to a reporter. The only problem on the flight, he joked, was that his coffee would not percolate at 12,000 feet. Years later, when strangers were introduced to Shinn as the first man to land at the South Pole, friends said he would gently point out that, more importantly, he was the first man to take off from it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/que-sera-sera-r4d-beardmore-auxiliary-air-base-1956.jpg\" alt=\"The ski-equipped R4D-5L Que Sera Sera parked on snow next to fuel drums at the Beardmore auxiliary air base in Antarctica, with mountains behind\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\"><em>Que Sera Sera<\/em> idles beside her refuelling tanks at the Beardmore auxiliary air base in 1956, the weather and fuel stop used for flights between McMurdo and the Pole. US Navy photo \/ public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The first brick of a polar station<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The landing was not a stunt. It proved that people and cargo could be flown to the Pole, and the build-up began within weeks. R4Ds landed the first Seabee construction crew there in November 1956, while Air Force Globemasters airdropped tons of material. The Amundsen&ndash;Scott South Pole Station has been occupied continuously ever since.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Shinn flew to the Pole about 17 times by his own count. He received the Legion of Merit, and Mount Shinn, one of the highest peaks in Antarctica, carries his name. Dufek went on to succeed Byrd as supervisor of US programmes in the South Polar regions, and Dufek Coast and the Dufek Massif are named after him.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q8y2I4PzVNo\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">The National Science Foundation marks the 60th anniversary of the first South Pole landing, which opened the Pole to the science it still supports there.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><em>Que Sera Sera<\/em> herself survived. She is preserved at the National Naval Aviation Museum aboard <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/air-bases\/pensacola\/\">Naval Air Station Pensacola<\/a> in Florida, suspended from the roof in her white-and-orange VX-6 colours, still carrying her skis and the racks for the JATO bottles that got her home. The same basic design is still at work in Antarctica today: turboprop conversions of the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/douglas-dc-3-airliner-history-cr-smith-c-47\/\">Douglas DC-3<\/a> fly to the Pole every summer alongside ski-equipped <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/c-130-hercules\/\">LC-130 Hercules<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/que-sera-sera-lc-47h-skis-jato-pensacola-museum.jpg\" alt=\"Side view of the white and orange US Navy Skytrain Que Sera Sera, Bureau Number 12418, suspended in the National Naval Aviation Museum with skis fitted\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Bureau Number 12418 today, with her VX-6 &ldquo;XD&rdquo; tail code and skis still fitted, at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. Photo: kitmasterbloke \/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>After he retired in 1963, Shinn settled in Pensacola and visited his old aeroplane at the museum for years, telling visitors how it had been done. He died on 15 May 2025, aged 102. &ldquo;In retrospect, it was sheer madness,&rdquo; he said of that Halloween flight. Whatever will be, will be. On 31 October 1956, it was history.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: Naval History and Heritage Command (National Naval Aviation Museum), National Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, US Antarctic Program, The Boston Globe, Wikipedia (VXE-6, Operation Deep Freeze, George J. Dufek, Conrad Shinn), South Pole Station history (southpolestation.com), douglasdc3.com<\/em><\/p>\r\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What was the first plane to land at the South Pole?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The first aircraft to land at the South Pole was Que Sera Sera, a ski-equipped US Navy Douglas R4D-5L Skytrain, Bureau Number 12418. Flown by Lieutenant Commander Conrad &ldquo;Gus&rdquo; Shinn of squadron VX-6, it touched down at 8:34 p.m. local time on 31 October 1956 during Operation Deep Freeze II.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who was aboard Que Sera Sera at the South Pole?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Seven US Navy men flew on Que Sera Sera: Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, Captain Douglas Cordiner, pilot Lieutenant Commander Conrad Shinn, co-pilot Captain William Hawkes, navigator Lieutenant John Swadener, crew chief John P. Strider and radioman William Cumbie Jr. They were the first people to stand at the Pole since Scott in 1912.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How long did Que Sera Sera stay at the South Pole?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The crew of Que Sera Sera spent 49 minutes at the South Pole on 31 October 1956, with the engines running to stop them freezing. In temperatures of nearly 60 degrees below zero Fahrenheit they planted the American flag and set up a radar reflector and other navigational aids for future flights before taking off again.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did Que Sera Sera need JATO to take off from the South Pole?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The polar plateau lies at more than 9,000 feet, where thin air reduces engine power and lift, and while the R4D idled its skis froze to the snow. Pilot Gus Shinn fired the aircraft&rsquo;s JATO rocket bottles four at a time until the skis broke loose and Que Sera Sera staggered into the air.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Where is Que Sera Sera today?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Que Sera Sera is preserved at the National Naval Aviation Museum aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. The R4D-5L is suspended in the museum in its white and orange VX-6 colours, still fitted with the skis and JATO racks it carried on the first South Pole landing in October 1956.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why was the plane called Que Sera Sera?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The R4D was named Que Sera Sera, meaning whatever will be, will be, after the popular Doris Day song of 1956. The name suited a flight nobody had attempted before: no aircraft had ever landed at the South Pole, and nobody knew for certain whether it could take off again.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who was Gus Shinn?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Conrad &ldquo;Gus&rdquo; Shinn was the US Navy pilot who made the first aircraft landing at the South Pole on 31 October 1956. He flew to the Pole about 17 times, received the Legion of Merit and had Mount Shinn in Antarctica named after him. He retired in 1963 and died on 15 May 2025, aged 102.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the first plane to land at the South Pole?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The first aircraft to land at the South Pole was Que Sera Sera, a ski-equipped US Navy Douglas R4D-5L Skytrain, Bureau Number 12418. Flown by Lieutenant Commander Conrad \\\"Gus\\\" Shinn of squadron VX-6, it touched down at 8:34 p.m. local time on 31 October 1956 during Operation Deep Freeze II.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who was aboard Que Sera Sera at the South Pole?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Seven US Navy men flew on Que Sera Sera: Rear Admiral George J. 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He retired in 1963 and died on 15 May 2025, aged 102.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-deep-freeze-antarctic-aviation-lc-130-pegasus\/\">Operation Deep Freeze: 70 Years of US Aviation in Antarctica<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/douglas-dc-3-airliner-history-cr-smith-c-47\/\">Douglas DC-3: The Airliner That Made Flying Pay for Itself<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/charles-blair-excalibur-iii-transpolar-mustang-1951\/\">Charles Blair: The Lone Mustang That Crossed the North Pole<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/polar-routes-arctic-overflight-why-not-antarctica\/\">Polar Routes: Why Airliners Cross the Arctic but Not Antarctica<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 31 October 1956 the US Navy R4D Que Sera Sera became the first aircraft to land at the South Pole, carrying Rear Admiral George Dufek and pilot Gus Shinn.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":30646918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30647076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Que Sera Sera: First Plane at the South Pole, 1956 | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Que Sera Sera, a ski-equipped US Navy R4D, made the first landing at the South Pole on 31 October 1956 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