Good stuff, Brian. But one reason why the military route might have run down McMurdo Sound to the Byrd Reporting Point is that the military aircraft intended to land at McMurdo Sound - not to turn around and go back home.
Obviously, I've been bagging Capt. S. But can anyone out there explain the clear and obvious contradiction in his evidence? He said that he was told by Captain Wilson at the briefing that the nav track went down McMurdo Sound. In the same breath, he said that when overflying the TACAN at McMurdo Station, he noted that he was an unusual distance off-track. Gents: please think about this. If you had been told at the briefing that the nav track went down McMurdo Sound, you would expect to be left of track when over McMurdo Station. So what the f8ck do you have to report? Nothing.
The NZALPA boys out there are always going to have to answer that question one day. It's been hanging around for 30 years.