Military-funded collegiate programs furnished solutions to challenges in transpolar Arctic warfare. Indeed, the amount at stake for the United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Russia, and now China at the earths northern pole has led to a steady escalation of force one pundit dubbed the new Arctic great game.2)Osborn A (2018) Putins Russia in Biggest Arctic Military Push Since Soviet Fall. In January 1946, Admiral Richard Byrd ordered the brand-new aircraft carrier Philippine Sea to turn into the wind and six huge propeller-powered long-range Douglas Skytrain cargo planes were. With the approval of the Chief of Naval Operations, the expedition sought to emphasize polar survival techniques, assess cold-weather equipment, and build on progress made between 194647. Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, International Council of Scientific Unions, Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora, Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals, Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities, Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, South African Citizens in Antarctica Act, 1962, "ATS Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty", "Falkland Islands Dependencies (Hope Bay Incident)", "Historia y Arqueologa Martima. In April 1914, he transferred to the armored cruiser USS Washington and served in Mexican waters in June following the American intervention in April. [11], Shortly after the entry of the United States into the First World War in April 1917, Byrd oversaw the mobilization of the Rhode Island Naval Militia. On December 8, 1954, Byrd appeared on the television show Longines Chronoscope. Spearheading the calls for government-sponsored polar initiatives during the early Cold War, Admiral Byrds arguments for developing the American presence in the polar regionsparticularly Antarcticagrew more strident as USSoviet tensions increased. Byrd did not mince words in his defense of Highjump II. Read more about our fact-checking work here . With research conducted during Highjump II, glacial highways could be developed for logistics support with improved surface transport equipment; extreme weather missions would simulate war-time operations and conditions; and pilots would learn to make forced landings in Arctic conditions. Byrd was appointed to lead the operation. Journal of Historical Geography 44:70. London: Routledge, 1:153155; for his own account of his experience manning the remote weather station, see Byrd R (1938) Alone. He received the society's War Service Medal for his service during the First World War. Byrd was then assigned to the ill-fated dirigible ZR-2 (formerly known by the British designation of R-38). Operation Deep Freeze with Byrd in command laid the groundwork for the IGY in Antarctica 1955-56. Key Australian legislation applying Antarctic Treaty System decisions include the Antarctic Treaty Act 1960, the Antarctic Treaty (Environment Protection) Act 1980 and the Antarctic Marine Living Resources Conservation Act 1981. Byrd was one of only four American military officers in history entitled to wear a medal with his own image on it. Conversely, he believed the poles could provide America with the coal and oil reserves necessary to fuel a long-term war without relying on foreign powers in the event of material shortages. However, one American trailblazer pushed the envelope of polar exploration in the interwar era. His papers served as the nucleus for establishment of the BPRC Polar Archival Program in 1990. Journal of Historical Geography 44:7071. [4] Byrd and Bennett said they reached the North Pole, a distance of 1,535 miles (1,335 nautical miles). The Arctic Institute, 27 July; Tavenier R (2021) Russia and the Arctic Council in 2021: A New Security Dilemma. Antarctic expeditions, they argued, could deny foreign use of Antarctic land for military purposes, be used to train naval, engineering, and aviation experts in polar techniques, and become a safe polar laboratory to test valuable minerals and resources. Letter, Admiral M.B. Were he alive today, Admiral Richard Byrd would certainly have agreed. Putnams Sons. Born: October 25, 1888, Winchester, Va. Concurrently, before his death, plans were devised for what became Admiral Byrds final actthe organization of Navy Task Force 43 to support international scientific efforts in preparation for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) 19551956.35)Chronology of Events During Operation Deep Freeze (September 1954April 1960) Box 207, Folder 7365, Byrd Papers. Putnams Sons. [22][23], Accepting that the conflicting data in the typed report's flight times indeed require both northward and southward ground speeds greater than the flight's 85-mph airspeed, a Byrd defender posits a westerly-moving anticyclone that tailwind-boosted Byrd's ground speed on both outward and inward legs, allowing the distance said to be covered in the time stated (the theory is based on rejecting handwritten sextant data in favor of typewritten alleged dead-reckoning data[24][25]). The flight left from Spitsbergen (Svalbard) and returned to its takeoff airfield, lasting 15 hours and 57 minutes, including 13 minutes spent circling at their Farthest North. The war fought through the Arctic during WWII was essentially a tactical weather war waged for control of high-latitude meteorological weather stations whose data could predict patterns affect[ing] crucial operations in the theaters of war in central Europe. Admiral Byrd is the only person to have three ticker-tape parades in New York City (in 1926, 1927, and 1930) given in his honor. Testing military gear in controlled cold-weather conditions was not enough; long-term polar projects were necessary to develop the ways and means of carrying out necessary operations in the Arctic.29)Draft, Presentation to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the Value of Operation Highjump II to National Defense (Undated) Box 206, Folder 7331, Byrd Papers. Balchen, whose knowledge of Arctic flight operations proved invaluable, was the primary pilot on Byrd's flight to the South Pole in 1929. [18], Since 1926, doubts have been raised, defenses made, and heated controversy arose over whether or not Byrd actually reached the North Pole. These multinational geostrategic operationsboth in the Arctic and in Antarcticaare not historically unprecedented. It was decided that only men who had not served overseas would be allowed on the mission. Senator Harry F. Byrd, a dominant figure in the Virginia Democratic Party from the 1920s until the 1960s; their father served as Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates for a time. Siple went on to earn an doctorate and was probably the only person, other than Byrd himself, to participate in all five of Byrd's Antarctic expeditions. [4] The original signatories were the 12 countries active in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 195758: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Richard Evelyn Byrd dedicated his life to peaceful progress for mankind. Because a nuclear strike would come over the North Pole, Byrd argued that American strategists now had to consider polar preparedness as vital to national defense. He carried the society's flag during his first Antarctic expedition to dramatize the spirit of adventure into the unknown, characterizing both the natural and social sciences.[36][37]. In 2006, the New Zealand police reported that jurisdictional issues prevented them issuing warrants for potential American witnesses who were reluctant to testify during the Christchurch Coroner's investigation into the death by poisoning of Australian astrophysicist Rodney Marks at the South Pole base in May 2000. He was the brother of Virginia Governor and U.S. Seven months of intensive preparation and fundraising preceded the projects official Naval review. In addition, he received the Medal of Honor, the Silver Lifesaving Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Navy Cross. It is the last great challengedown there lies the greatest adventure left in exploring and aviation.9)Rose L (2008) The Life of Richard E. Byrd. I want to encourage exactly the debates and fact-finding you see people engage in on that Facebook thread, Boucher added. He rendered valuable service as Secretary and Organizer of the Navy Department Commission on Training Camps, and trained men in aviation in the ground school in Pensacola, and in charge of rescue parties and afterwards in charge of air forces in Canada. ANTARCTIC TREATY Admiral Byrd was excited about the international cooperation exhibited by the 12 nations that agreed to participate in the International Geophysical Year. Byrd R (August 1956) All-out Assault on Antarctica. (Coincidentally, in 1925, then Army Air Service Reserve Corps Lieutenant Charles Lindbergh had applied to serve as a pilot on Byrd's North Pole expedition, but apparently, his bid came too late. The Antarctic Treaty Secretariat was established in Buenos Aires, Argentina in September 2004 by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM). Bob grew up in Los Angeles, was an Eagle Scout, and earned B.S. The Antarctic Treaty; Full Antarctic Treaty; Science. Photographs can be seen on Getty Images (here). Brought to you by Robert Byrd Breyer, Admiral Byrd's oldest grandson. Thirteen US Navy support ships (besides the flagship USSMount Olympus and the aircraft carrier USSPhilippine Sea), six helicopters, six flying boats, two seaplane tenders, and 15 other aircraft were used. If you are a taxpayer or a small business owner and looking for some assistance in tax filing preparation then Christopher L Byrd can be of assistance to you. It was scheduled to depart on October 1, 1949. Recently, General Charles Q. "Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, U. S. Navy, was the man who proved the absolute necessity of the airplane in Antarctic research. Unlike the 1926 flight, this expedition was honored with the gold medal of the American Geographical Society. Collecting, storing, arranging and publishing the documents of the ATCM. For more on Cold War projects in Alaska, see Farish M (March 2013) The Lab and the Land: Overcoming the Arctic in Cold War Alaska. While military, economic, and political competition in the Arctic has grown dramatically in recent decades, the effects of climate change and the growing rivalry between the United States, China, and Russia has once more transformed Antarctica into a strategic frontier worthy of renewed attention. The tasks of the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat can be divided into the following areas: Antarctica currently has no permanent population and therefore it has no citizenship nor government. Byrd, Balchen, Acosta, and Noville flew from Roosevelt Field, East Garden City, New York, in the America on June 29, 1927. In Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, Byrd and the Little America bases are the final stop in Marian Graves' journey to circle the globe by flight over the North and South Poles. By the 1950s, the United States and Canada began collaborating in continental defense by sharing Arctic research and scientific data. Though the successful tests of submarine-launched, nuclear-equipped Polaris missiles and development of intercontinental long-range ballistic missiles in the 1960s reduced fears of a Soviet invasion across the Arctic ice, for a brief period in the early Cold War, the U.S. Navy made a concerted effort to push the envelope of polar exploration and prepare itself for such military eventualities. New Haven: Yale University Press; Huntington R (2010) Race for the South Pole: The Expedition Diaries of Scott and Amundsen. To people like Byrd, Cold War tensions made the Arctic a strategic region, particularly for national security.6)Doel R, Friedman R, Lajus J, Srlin S & Wrkberg U (2014) Strategic Arctic Science: National Interests in Building Natural KnowledgeInterwar Era Through the Cold War. As Byrd's image is on both the first and second Byrd Antarctic Expedition Medals, he was the only American entitled to wear two medals with his own image on them. Scott was credited for first discovering that Antarctica was a continent, reaching the South Pole in January 1912, one month after Amundsen. 51 of 1997. As a senior officer in the United States Navy, Byrd was recalled on active duty on March 26, 1942, and served as the confidential advisor to Admiral Ernest J. He has hiked, camped, and climbed from . The establishment of a very definite and aggressive policy of exploration and use in those areas, they concluded, [is] considered desirableby the United States.16)Rose L (2009) Assault on Eternity: Richard E. Byrd and the Exploration of America, 194647. [28], Once again, Byrd named Floyd Bennett as his chief pilot, with Norwegian Bernt Balchen, Bert Acosta, and Lieutenant George Noville as other crewmembers. Photo: Wikimedia. The Antarctic Treaty is often considered to represent an example of the common heritage of mankind principle. The expedition continued in Antarctica without him until the last of its participants left Antarctica on March 22, 1941. (480) 407-6520. Draft, Presentation to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the Value of Operation Highjump II to National Defense (Undated) Box 206, Folder 7331, Byrd Papers. He would later name a region of Antarctic land he discovered "Marie Byrd Land" after her, and a mountain range, the Ames Range, after her father. The interview appeared in the Wednesday, March 5, 1947, edition of the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, and read in part: Admiral Richard E. Byrd warned today that the United States should adopt measures of protection against the possibility of an invasion of the country by hostile planes coming from the polar regions. Reuters, January 30; Seethi K (2021) Russia, the United States, and Churning Arctic Geopolitics. Journal of Historical Geography 44:70. 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