A TEAM of Australian conservationists say they have found what they believe to be the remains of the first aeroplane ever taken to Antarctica. Australian explorer Douglas Mawson had the single-propeller Vickers with him on a 1911-12 expedition but it was abandoned because of engine troubles. Brought to the frozen continent without its wings, the plane was used for a time as a kind of motorised sledge. The conservationists are working to restore Mawsons original wooden huts. The plane had not been seen since the mid-1970s, when researchers photographed the steel fuselage nearly encompassed in ice. After searching for three summers, the Mawsons Huts Foundation team stumbled upon metal pieces of it on New Years Day. The biggest news of the day is that weve found the air tractor, or at least parts of it team member Tony Stewart wrote on the teams blog from Cape Denison in Antarcticas Commonwealth Bay. The air tractor, as the plane was described, was abandoned by Mawsons expedition because its engine could not withstand the extreme temperatures. The engine itself was removed and returned to Vickers in the UK. Mawson had removed the planes wings back in Australia because of an accident during a demonstration flight in Adelaide which had damaged them. Nobody was hurt in the accident but there was no time for repairs before the 31-strong expedition set sail for Antarctica. The pilot was sent home to England in disgrace while the fuselage was used as an air tractor to tow sledges, according to the Mawsons Huts Foundation website. Mr Stewart said it had been an exciting search. Friday was possibly the only day in several years when the rocks were sufficiently exposed and the tide was low enough and we were here to see it, he added. BBC