radio
date: label: date made
content: ca 1968
name: label: maker
content: Sylvania Electric Products Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: This handheld radio set, AN/PRC-63 (SER BMJ 2569), was used by Gerald (Jerry) R. Pitzl, while serving as a navigator for the 1967 and 1968 Plaisted Polar Expeditions—the second of which successfully reached the North Pole via snowmobile on April 20, 1968.
label: Description
content: The Plaisted team was the first to reach the North Pole using Ski-Doos, snowmobiles that were initially introduced in the late 1950s by Canadian Joseph-Armand Bombardier. The idea to embark on this journey was formed by two friends, Ralph Plaisted and Art Aufderheide, at a bar in Duluth, Minnesota. Plaisted was referred to Jerry Pitzl, who was working as a high school geography teacher, as a potential navigator. (See also 2022.0033.01 and 2022.0033.03.)
label: Description
content: No one on the team had familiarity with polar expeditions. Plaisted was an insurance salesman, and his fellow explorers included a doctor, a mechanic, an engineer, a teacher, and a nephew of Ski-Doo developer Bombardier. Despite his inexperience, Plaisted managed to get funding and support from several companies, ultimately planning an expedition that greatly differed from previous polar explorations. Snowmobiles replaced dog teams. Packing rations and fuel with the goal of self-sufficiency gave way to a regular resupply of goods via airplane.
label: Description
content: The pilot of that plane, Weldy Phipps, was an adept Arctic aviator. The ability to rendezvous with resupply flights was accomplished using a beacon created with this small handheld radio. There were times when Phipps could not locate the team, which would delay the infusion of much needed supplies, but he would resume the search on the following day. The team only had one radio of this type, which showed a remarkable faith in its operation. From snowmobiles to radio, technology of the time was fully embraced. These advantages did not assure success nor remove the danger posed by the extreme cold and the terrain. The first attempt the team made for the Pole was aborted in 1967 after a month on the ice. They tried again and succeeded the next year.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Pitzl, G.R., "Navigating to the North Pole—A Surface Traverse," Journal of the Institute of Navigation, v. 16, no. 1, 1969, p.32-36.
label: Description
content: Pitzl, G.R., True North: Victory in the Race to the Pole, Page Publishing, Inc., December 14, 2021.
label: Description
content: Lawson, G., "An Insurance Salesman and a Doctor Walk Into a Bar, and End Up at the North Pole: The story of an accidentally pioneering expedition," The New York Times Magazine, March 17, 2016.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts
label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Middlesex
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Gerald R. Pitzl
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0033.02
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0033.02
label: accession number
content: 2022.0033
objectType: label: Object Name
content: radio
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 41.5 cm x 8 cm x 3 cm; 16 11/32 in x 3 5/32 in x 1 3/16 in