I was a KC-135 navigator on a 45 day TDY Tanker Task Force assignment to Eielson AFB during late December-January 1975. The morning we were to depart the lower-48 we learned that there had been a horrific crash a few hours before. We were diverted on the way to pick up an investigation team in WA. We landed in Alaska with a temperature of -56F. At that temperature, those old J-57 engines still have enough idle power to kick us off the end of the runway unless two are completely shut down as soon as we are definitely down to stay. All flying was suspended for more than a week during the accident investigation. I remember temperatures for the next 8 days never rose above -40F/C (-40 is the same in both systems) day or night. Day 9 went to +40, then back down again for the next month. What had happened was crews that fatal night were waiting on the tarmac while maintenance was being performed on one or more aircraft before launch. Typically, bases south would send their "hanger queen" aircraft north because they were certain to get needed maintenance done. Usually you could see "blood" in the snow under those parked planes, as the hydraulic seals leaked in the extreme cold and the red fluid puddled underneath.
So that mission night while waiting, there were not enough portable heaters that could pipe warm air into the cockpit of all the waiting aircraft. Topped off with maximum fuel for the mission, engines were off during the wait to launch, so no warmth could come from idling engines. One or more crews complained of freezing, reporting later that even the coffee in their cups froze solid during the hours long ground delay. The doomed crew took off cold compromised and likely did not have fully operational thought processes. The gear failed to go up on that one plane, resulting in increased drag and decreased lift. The flight plan called for a sharp turn a few miles after departure, and with the distraction and drag of gear stuck down and without enough altitude, one wing caught the ground in the banked turn and the plane augured in, scattering debris on the Tanana River. Investigators gathered all they could of the wreck and laid it out on the floor of an empty hangar in the relative configuration as found. It was very spooky to see. It was said that Boeing could predict the location of every piece with a computer program they had. Years later I went to an aircraft mishap investigators school and our training included parts of aircraft laid out in the desert just as they had been found in various kinds of accidents.
I remember in my quarters the frost making a thick layer o ice several inches thick on and below my window. Dense ice fog kept us grounded for several days. Being in officer's quarter's, Im sure the enlisted folk did not fare any better. At that time the Alaska pipeline was just under construction a few miles from base. I set out to explore on foot, wearing every bit of issued and private cold weather clothing I could dig up. We were told that regardless of what we wore, what would get cold upon walking would be our knees, since with each step the warm air surrounding knees was forced out of our pants, even with quilted insulated underwear. Sure enough, my knees got cold. Since the date was not far from the Winter Solstice, there was only about 3 hours of useable daylight that far north. It took just 1.5 hours to walk to the pipeline for a short look-around, another 1.5 hours to get back to base.