Dramatic rocket-assisted polar takeoff image released
Fairfax Media
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The US Air Force has released a picture of one of their C130 Hercules aircraft using a dramatic rocket-assisted take off in Antarctica last week.
The US Air Force Air National Guard plan flew in a science team to the Shackleton Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains, south of New Zealand's Scott Base.
The ski equipped Hercules landed on what the fliers called an "open field" – an unprepared snow plain in the mountains.
To take off again the plane used JATO or jet assisted take off bottles which blast the aircraft into the air.
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