''Polar 3'' was a

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. 245 were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 1983, Hindustan Aeronautics ...

owned and operated by the

Alfred Wegener Institute The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (German: ''Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung'') is located in Bremerhaven, Germany, and a member of the Helmholtz Association ...

that was shot down south of Dakhla, Western Sahara by guerrillas of the

Polisario Front The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Spanish language, Spanish: ; ), better known by its acronym Polisario Front, is a Sahrawi nationalism, Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to end the occupatio ...

on 24 February 1985. ''Polar 2'' and ''Polar 3'' were the first German airplanes to reach the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

when they landed there in December 1984 and were returning from a five-month mission to the

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

, having been based at the

Gondwana Station Gondwana Station is a German Antarctic research station Research stations are facilities where scientific investigation, Data collection, collection, analysis and experimentation occurs. A research station is a facility that is built for the p ...

.Ehemalige Flugzeuge
Alfred Wegener Institute – Former airplanes, accessed: 18 April 2009 While in Antarctica, ''Polar 2'' was damaged and the bulk of the survey work had to be carried out by ''Polar 3''.

Incident

''Polar 3'' (FL 90) and ''Polar 2'' (FL 110) were two survey-and-research airplanes of the

returning from a mission in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. On 24 February, at approximately 14:45 local time, the two planes took off from

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

bound for

Lanzarote Airport César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport (), commonly known as Lanzarote Airport and also known as ''Arrecife Airport'', is the airport serving the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. The airport is located in San Bartolomé, Las Palmas, south ...

, Canary Islands. Their cruise height was 2750 m (approximately 9,000 ft).Rakete traf die ''Polar 3''

Hamburger Abendblatt ''Hamburger Abendblatt'' () is a German daily newspaper in Hamburg belonging to the Funke Mediengruppe, publishing Monday to Saturday. The paper focuses on news in Hamburg and its surrounds, and produces regional supplements with news from Norde ...

, 28 February 1985 (accessed 18 April 2009). The two planes' ultimate destination was the Dornier aircraft facility near

Oberpfaffenhofen Oberpfaffenhofen is a village that is part of the municipality of Weßling in the district of Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany. It is located about from the city center of Munich. Village The village is home to the Oberpfaffenhofen Airport and a ...

in Bavaria, Germany. The last radio contact made with ''Polar 3'' occurred at approximately 16:30 GMT. At some point thereafter, it was shot down south of Dakhla by Polisario guerillas. Allegedly, they had mistaken it for a Moroccan spy plane. All three of the ''Polar 3s crew memberspilot Herbert Hampel, co-pilot Richard Möbius (both 47) and mechanic Josef Schmid (28)were killed. ''Polar 2'', five minutes ahead of ''Polar 3'', escaped unharmed. The bodies of the ''Polar 3'' crew were eventually recovered five days later.Rebels shoot down Do. 228
(accessed 18 April 2009).

Reaction

The German government did not recognize Morocco's claim to Western Sahara at the time, remaining neutral in the conflict. They heavily criticized this incident. Polisario admitted to shooting down ''Polar 3'' but pointed ultimate blame at Morocco for the incident, claiming Morocco used Dornier 228s as spy planes. Polisario fighters had mistaken this particular 228 as a Moroccan spy plane and were unaware Morocco had opened the airspace over the combat region. The year prior, Polisario had shot down three airplanes, two Moroccan and one Belgian. Morocco denied the use of Dornier 228 planes. The question was also raised as to why the air traffic control in

directed the plane over the disputed and potentially dangerous Western Sahara territory rather than the safe airspace to the west over the Atlantic Ocean.

Aircraft

''Polar 3'' was a special version of the Dornier 228-101. The plane had been equipped with a combined wheel and ski landing gear, allowing it to land on snow as well as on hard surfaces. The plane had modified generators on board, additional tanks and de-icing equipment for propellers and wings. It was also specially insulated for use in polar regions.Description of ''Polar 2''
, accessed: 19 April 2009 ''Polar 2'' and ''3'' weighed almost seven tons and could be used for survey missions as well as for transport and search and rescue missions. The scientific equipment the plane carried was used for measuring the

magnetic Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, m ...

and

gravity field In physics, a gravitational field or gravitational acceleration field is a vector field used to explain the influences that a body extends into the space around itself. A gravitational field is used to explain gravitational phenomena, such as ...

of the Earth,

surface conductivity A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is t ...

, surface temperatures, ice thickness and

topographic Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scienc ...

layouts below the ice surface.

References

External links

Alfred Wegener Institute website
*
Description of ''Polar 2'' (with pictures)

Aviation safety network – Report on Polar 3

Newspaper article on ''Polar 3'' {{Use dmy dates, date=August 2014 Aviation accidents and incidents in Western Sahara Aviation accidents and incidents in 1985 Airliner shootdown incidents Western Sahara conflict Exploration of Antarctica Aviation history of Germany Accidents and incidents involving the Dornier 228 Dornier aircraft Individual aircraft 1985 in Western Sahara 20th-century aircraft shootdown incidents 1985 murders in Africa