Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1939-10-19

Byrd tthen Commander BYRD sent
q request to the chief of the weather
bureau for a man with experience
in both meteorological and aerolog
zeal work to accompany Admiral
Byrd. | was given the assignment
and on April 5. tho expedition sail
ed from the Brooklyn navy yard on
the s. S. Chantier for Kings Bay,
Spitzbergen.
My most important work on this
expedition was to advise Admiral
Byrd when | felt the weather condi-
tions were favorable for the polar
flight The fight was made on May
9, 1926, which was the first sue
cessful flight over the North Pole.
Previous attempts had been made
by Captain Amundsen and others,
but failed on account Of bad wealth
er conditions being encountered on
the fight Two days after Byrd's
successful polar flight Captain
Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth
took off from Kings Bay i'll the air
ship Norge for a fight over the
North Pole and thence to Alaska.
While at Kings Bay. | had the
pleasure of dining with Captain
Amundaen and Lincoln Ellsworth,
and other officers of the Norge. in
Guiding the Italian Nobili, who COM
manded the airship Italia, which,
in making a trip from Rome to the
United States via North Pole, was
caught in a storm and wrecked
soon after leaving Kings Bay OH the
last leg of the flight. Many of the
crew lost their lives. This was in
1927.
On our return trip from Spitzen-
hel@en, we stopped off a week in
London While there, Floyd Ben
nett, who piloted Admiral Byrd over
the North Pole. and | decided we
would fly to Paris on the Imperial
Airways. 1t will be remembered
hat isis was nearly two years be-
fore the first commercial airways
was organized in the United States.
The expedition landed in New
York on June 10, and I was initiat-
ed to the famous ticker-tape and
paper barage up Broadway from the
battery TO the city hall where We
We're received bv the mavor
It was aboard the ship on our
Way huAle ,I.,1, .A~Alir.>l I'd re-
vealed his plans to me of the Ant
arctic expedition. Little | thought
when | agreed to accompany him
that we would be on our way to the
Antarctic within a little over two
years from that day.
Antarctic Expedition 192S-3O
The summer Of 1928 found mem
bers of the Byrd Antarctic expedi-
tion busy collecting supplies and
loading the ships for departure to
the Antarctic the latter part of Sep
tember The chief of the weather
bureau had assigned me to the eX
pedition as chief meteorologist. |
Soon after reporting for duty. Ad- |
miral Byrd appointed me fourth in
command of the expedition.
The expedition reached the Bay
Of Whales, Antarctica, on Dec. 2S,
1928. After many weeks of hard
houses. comfortable base was es-
tablished on the barrier near the
bay. called Little America.
The meteorological work in the
Antarctic was conducted along the
same general lines as that of first
order weather bureau station in the
United States, including upper air
Investigations with both kites and
PILOT balloons In addition to being
in charge of the routine meteorolog-
ical work. | had the responsibility
of deciding the time for Admiral
Byrd to make the South Polar flight
which took place November 28-29,
1929, as well as numerous other ex-
ploring ana surveying flights. Ad-
vice was gwen also on work pro-
jects about camp which would be af-
fected by wind and drifting snow.
The expedition left the Antarctic
in the latter part Of February, 1880,
and arrived in New York the first
half of June.
| felt little the worse from the ef-
fects of the four months winter
night, it was very monotonous of
course
The most important discoveries
made on the expedition were the
Rockefeller mountains and the Edsel
Ford range. Admiral Byrd named
a group of mountains in the latter
range, "Haines mountains after
myself
Antarctic Expedition III, 1933-35
The second Byrd Antarctic expe-
dition sailed from Boston in the lat
ter part of September, 1893. Again
was assigned by the weather bu-
reau as chief meteorologist of the
expedition. Before Admiral Byrd
left Little America to occupy the
advance base, he appointed me third