Dornier Do-18

In The Hesperus Prophecy, the U.S. Army learns about a German civilian ship fitted with airplane-launching catapults and two Luftwaffe planes. The vessel is headed into the Atlantic Ocean, mission and destination unknown, so U.S. Army Chief of Staff Malin Craig asks for opinions about the potential threat posed by the MS Schwabenland. One of the people queried is Director Harold Bowen, triggering the Clypeate’s race to Antarctica and fueling their hopes of finding the Declan of prophecy.

When the FV Melville reaches Antarctica, three teams are assigned to hunt down and surveil the Nazis, each setting off in a Higgins Eureka LCP landing craft. While these vessels are well-designed for offloading personnel onto land, they are open, exposed, and could be easily spotted by the Dornier Do 18s. While these planes were originally developed for carrying transatlantic mail, the Luftwaffe used 70 Dornier Do 18s for reconnaissance and search-and-rescue missions. Worried the German planes would easily spot their landing craft, each Higgins Eureka LCP was fitted with a tarp roof and then sprayed with water, helping them blend in with the surrounding icebergs. It worked, and all three teams reached Queen Maud Land.