In the autumn of 1928, Byrd left the United States aboard the City of New York and the Eleanor Bolling, heading for New Zealand with three airplanes and one helicopter. On board were 82 expedition members and materials for a polar station. On December 26, 1928, they reached the Bay of Whales, where the station “Little America” was established. A very large area was explored by air and by sled journeys: King Edward VII Land, Marie Byrd Land, and the Rockefeller Plateau.
The main objective of this expedition, however, was the flight to the South Pole. The aircraft had overwintered in a hangar made of snow blocks, disassembled into individual parts, and was reassembled in early November 1929 at temperatures as low as -50 degrees. Everything worked perfectly, now only the weather had to cooperate. Because of the heavy total weight, a direct flight to the Pole was not possible; supply depots had to be set up along the way for the return flight. Thus, on November 19, Byrd flew toward the Pole to explore a suitable area. The depot was established at the Axel Heiberg Glacier in the Queen Maud Mountains.
On November 28, 1929, a geological group led by Dr. Laurence Gould signaled that the weather over the mountains was excellent. They quickly decided to begin the historic flight toward the South Pole. At 3:29 p.m., the heavily loaded “Ford Trimotor” rolled along the rough ice runway of “Little America” and lifted off on its historic flight. The small aircraft, named “Floyd Bennett,” carried a crew of four, additional fuel, food supplies, and emergency equipment, bringing its weight to over seven tons. Byrd served as navigator, Bernt Balchen piloted the plane, Harold June was co-pilot, and Ashley McKinley acted as photographer, tasked with documenting the entire flight route.
The three engines produced 975 horsepower. Cruising speed was over 160 kilometers per hour (about 100 mph). For navigation in the endless expanse, they had only two drift meters and a sun compass on board. The only scientific instrument, besides temperature, pressure, and humidity gauges, was a heavy aerial camera.
As they approached the Axel Heiberg Glacier, they saw another glacier nearby that lay lower, meaning the aircraft would not have to climb as high. On the spur of the moment, Byrd chose the still-unknown glacier, without knowing what the air currents would be like there. The aircraft was shaken violently, and Balchen desperately tried to gain altitude. The pass they needed to cross lay ahead, but the plane would not climb higher. Should they dump fuel or throw food supplies overboard? Their lives could be at risk. “Throw a load of food overboard,” Byrd ordered. The aircraft responded immediately and began to climb. But the glacier’s ridge was still too high. Another package containing 150 pounds of food was thrown out. Now the aircraft reached the necessary altitude to cross the pass. “Those were the worst minutes of our flight,” Byrd later said.
Afterward, they could see to the horizon—no more mountains, the route to the Pole was clear. At about 145 kilometers per hour, Byrd now guided the plane over the rough, glacier-covered terrain. At 1:14 a.m., Byrd noted: “The great moment had come! The imaginary point, the lonely point on the face of the earth, lay beneath us.” The crew dropped the American flag, weighted with a stone from the grave of Floyd Bennett in Arlington Cemetery. At an altitude of about 800 meters above the ice, Byrd steered the plane several miles to the right, then back at an angle toward the Pole.
At 1:25 a.m., the aircraft set course back toward “Little America.” After several hours of flight, they once again sighted the Axel Heiberg Glacier and crossed the pass without difficulty. At the planned stopover, they refueled, and after 18 hours and 37 minutes of flight time, the aircraft finally landed back at its starting point at 10:10 a.m.
Richard E. Byrd and his crew had completed a historic flight and opened new paths for Antarctic research. “We were deaf from the engine noise, exhausted from the strain of the flight, but we forgot all that in the stormy welcome from our comrades,” Byrd later said.
With this flight, Richard E. Byrd became a hero of the United States. Congratulations from President Herbert Hoover and from around the world arrived at “Little America,” placing Antarctica at the center of global attention for a time.
Christian Hug