 Once the party arrived at the site of North Ice, their stores and equipment, more than 86 tons of it, were air-dropped from two RAF Handley Page Hastings transport aircraft, flying from Thule.During the supply operation, on 16 September 1952, Hastings No.WD492 of 47 Squadron, having already made a series of parachute drops, was making the second in series of free fall drops at an altitude of only , when it was caught in a white-out, and made a forced belly landing.