How Marines Used The Corsair To Make Ice Cream

Have you ever heard of anyone making ice cream by using their Corsair? A Corsair is a fighter/bomber plane, so how did they do it?

Sugar Rush

Stuck on the island of Peleliu with no fresh food and refrigeration, Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-122 wanted to satisfy their sweet tooth. The Marines cut the ends off an old belly-mounted drop tank, strung a wire on both ends, and mounted an access panel to its side.

First Attempt

An ammunition can was put into the panel – and inside the can was a mixture of canned milk and cocoa powder. It was attached to the Corsair and flown by J. Hunter Reinburg as a so-called “Oxygen Systems Test”.

This meant that the aircraft would fly high and long enough to freeze the mixture into ice cream. However, after 35 minutes of flight time, the mixture was cold but not frozen.

Finding The Right Place

In their next attempt, the Marines bolted ammo cans filled with the same mixture under the wing. This proved to be more successful, as it yielded 10 gallons of ice cream. 

The texture was subsequently improved by adding small propellers to the ammo cans that turned a screw, churning the ice cream. These “Operation Freeze” flights soon became routine, all of which operated under the guise of a different test flight.