A sight that is surely a very rare one in a group of islands just south of the Arctic Circle, here at IWM Duxford sit two DHC-6 Twin Otters belonging to the British Antarctic Survey, the UK's national polar research institute. These aircraft, two of the five that are owned by the BAS, are registered in the Falkland Islands overseas territory, and during the southern hemisphere's winter months are normally based in Canada for maintenance, and in the summer months they provide a shuttle service for scientists working in the British Antarctic Territory. Striking as the red colour of the fuselage is, it's primarily there in case the worst should happen - against the perpetual blanket of white snow that covers the Earth's southern polar continent, the red stands out like a sore thumb, and would make the aircraft easy for rescuers to spot in case one ever crashed.

The British Antarctic Survey also operates a single ship for polar research, named the RRS Sir David Attenborough. Some of you may remember that the original name for the ship was put to an unfiltered online poll, with the clear winner being 'Boaty McBoatFace'. While the ship was named after one of Britain's greatest naturalists and broadcasters, the democratic choice of name was still honoured by being awarded to one of the Attenborough's research submarines.

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