In 1929 a four-man crew became the first Antarctic explorers to fly
over the Earth’s South Pole. The aircraft used to make the
historic flight was a Ford Trimotor.
While substantial exploration of the Artic and Antarctic by land and
sea had occurred far earlier, exploration of these regions by air was
in its infancy during the decade of the 1920's. Of particular
focus was the goal to fly over both the North and South Poles.
The historic first flight to the South Pole originated from Little
America, an exploration base camp situated on Antartica’s Ross Ice
Shelf. Distance to the South Pole was about 800 miles as the
crow flies.
A Ford Trimotor aircraft, the Floyd Bennett (S/N NX4542), was selected
for the epic polar air journey. The crew consisted of
pilot Bernt Balchen,
co-pilot Harold June, navigator Richard E. Byrd, and radio operator
Ashley McKinley.
The fabled Trimotor was well-suited for the rigors of polar
flight. The all-metal aircraft measured 50-feet in length and
had a wing span of 76-feet. Empty weight was roughly 6,500
pounds. Power was provided by a single 520-HP Wright Cylone
and a pair of 200-HP Wright Whirlwind radial engines.
Following departure from Little America at 02:39 UTC, the Floyd Bennett
headed for the South Pole. Navigation was via sun compass due
to the proximity of the South Magnetic Pole.
Myriad glaciers, massifs, plateaus, and crevasses marked the stark,
rugged landscape unfolding under the Floyd Bennett’s flight
path. The most imposing of these geological features were the
Queen Maud Mountains that towered more than 11,000 feet above sea level.
Pilot Balchen struggled
to get his aircraft over the high mountain pass that runs between
Mounts Fridtjof and Fisher. The crew jettisoned empty fuel
cans and hundreds of pounds of precious food to lighten the
load. The Floyd Bennett cleared the terrain by about 600 feet.
Just after 1200 UTC (local midnight) on Friday, 29 November 1929, the
Floyd Bennett and its crew flew over the Earth’s South Pole.
After briefly loitering around the Pole, the aircraft headed back to
Little America at 1225 UTC.
According to plan,
Balchen
landed the airplane to take on 200 gallons of fuel that had been
pre-positioned at the base of the Liv Glacier. The Floyd
Bennett took-off again and landed back at Little America around 21:10
UTC. Total mission time was nearly 19 hours.
United States Navy Commander Richard E. Byrd now had flown over both
poles. He would go on to successfully explore the Antarctic
for many more years. For his part in the South Pole
overflight, Byrd was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.
Today, the aircraft that made the first flight over the South Pole in
November 1929 is displayed in the Heroes of the Sky exhibit at the
Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.