 Polar 2 in June 2008. | |
| Shootdown | |
|---|---|
| Date | 24 September 1985 |
| Summary | Shoot-down |
| Site | Dakhla, Western Sahara 23°38′N 15°56′W / 23.63°N 15.94°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Dornier 228-100 |
| Operator | Alfred Wegener Institute |
| Registration | D-IGVN |
| Flight origin | Dakar-Yoff Airport, Senegal |
| Destination | Lanzarote Airport, Canary Islands |
| Occupants | 3 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 3 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Polar 3 was a Dornier 228 owned and operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute that was shot down south of Dakhla, Western Sahara by guerrillas of the Polisario Front on 24 February 1985.
Polar 2 and Polar 3 were the first German airplanes to reach the South Pole when they landed there in December 1984 and were returning from a five-month mission to the Antarctic, having been based at the Gondwana Station.[1] While in Antarctica, Polar 2 was damaged and the bulk of the survey work had to be carried out by Polar 3.[2]
- ^ Ehemalige Flugzeuge Archived 11 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Alfred Wegener Institute – Former airplanes, accessed: 18 April 2009
- ^ Thomson, Michael Robert Alexander; Crame, J. Alistair; Thomson, Janet W. (16 May 1991). Geological Evolution of Antarctica. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-37266-4. Retrieved 19 April 2009.