On December 30 , 1946 , aviation radiomen Wendell K. Hendersin , Fredrick W. Williams , and Ensign Maxwell A. Lopez were killed when their Martin PBM Mariner '' George 1 '' crashed during a blizzard . The surviving six crew members were rescued 13 days later , including aviation radioman James H. Robbins and co-pilot William Kearns . A plaque honoring the three killed crewmen was later erected at the McMurdo Station research base , and Mount Lopez on Thurston Island was named in honor of killed airman Maxwell A. Lopez
crashed
1946 Antarctica PBM Mariner crash
Operation Highjump