US NAVY ADMIRAL ARCTIC EXPLORER PIONEER AVIATOR MEDAL HONOR AUTOGRAPH SIGNED VF

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US NAVY ADMIRAL ARCTIC EXPLORER PIONEER AVIATOR MEDAL HONOR AUTOGRAPH SIGNED VF:
$20.50

RICHARD E. BYRD

(1888 – 1957)

U. S. NAVY REAR-ADMIRAL, ARCTIC EXPLORER, PIONEER AVIATORand MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT!

Admiral Byrd was an American naval officer who specializedin feats of exploration. He was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer,and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights, in which he served as anavigator and expedition leader, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a segment of theArctic Ocean, and a segment of the Antarctic Plateau. Byrd claimed that hisexpeditions had been the first to reach the North Pole and the South Pole byair. However, majority of polar experts are now of the opinion that RonaldAmundsen has the first verifiable claim to each pole. Byrd was a recipient of the Medal of Honor,the highest honor for heroism given by the United States.

Here’s BYRD’S AUTOGRAPH SIGNATURE –SIGNED:

“R.E. Byrd”

The document measures 3 ¼”x 1 ¾” and is in very fine, clean condition.

ARARE & Excellent Piece of Early Polar Exploration Memorabilia to add toyour Autograph, Manuscript, & Ephemera Collection!

Biography of R. E. Byrd

Richard E. Byrd,infull Richard Evelyn Byrd (born Oct.25, 1888,Winchester, Va., U.S.—diedMarch 11, 1957,Boston),U.S.naval officer, pioneer aviator, and polar explorer best known for hisexplorations of Antarcticausing airplanes and other modern technical resources.

After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1912, Byrd wascommissioned an ensign in the U.S. Navy. He learned flying at the U.S. NavalAir Station, Pensacola, Fla., and served in the navy with distinction until theend of World War I. After the warhe developed navigational methods and equipment for NC flying boats, one ofwhich made the navy’s first transatlantic airplane flight in 1919.He also assisted with dirigibles built for transatlantic crossings. His polarcareer began in 1924 when he had command of a small naval aviation detachment withCommander D.B. MacMillan’s Arcticexpedition to western Greenland, based at Etah.

The experience of flying over sea ice and glaciers in western Greenlandhad fired Byrd with the ambition to fly over the North Pole.On May 9, 1926, Byrd, acting as navigator, and Floyd Bennettas pilot made what they claimed to be the first airplane journey over the North Pole, flying fromKing’s Bay, Spitsbergen, Norway, to thePole and back. The flight lasted 151/2hours, with no mishaps beyond an oil leak from the starboard engine of theirFokker trimotor airplane. For this feat they were both awarded the U.S.Congressional Medal of Honor and wereacclaimed as national heroes. Some doubt always lingered over whether theirplane had actually reached the North Pole, and one of Byrd’s early associates,Bernt Balchen, even claimed after Byrd’s death that the flight to the NorthPole had been a hoax. The discovery in 1996 of the diary that Byrd had kept onhis famous flight shed new light on this question. Byrd’s diary entries suggestthat the airplane was still about 150 miles (240 km) short of the North Polewhen Byrd decided to turn back because of his concern over the oil leak. (Ifthis is true, then credit for the first flight over the North Pole actuallybelongs to Roald Amundsen of Norway, Lincoln Ellsworth of the United States, and Umberto Nobile of Italy, whomade a well-documented flight over the Pole in a dirigible three days afterByrd’s flight.)

Byrd next aided the American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh withnavigational training and the use of the specially extended runwayfor Lindbergh’s transatlantic solo flight in May 1927. Byrd then decided tomake an attempt to fly the Atlantic from west to east; and in June 1927, withthree companions, he made the flight in 42 hours, crash-landing in bad weatherat Ver-sur-Mer on the coast of Brittany, France. For thissuccessful flight he was made a Commandant of the French Legion of Honour.

In 1928 he announced his decision to explore the unknown regions of theAntarctic from the air. With large financial backing from such wealthyAmericans as Edsel Ford and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., his fame was such that hecould inspire the American public to contribute liberally to the estimated costof the venture, which was about $400,000.

Antarctic expeditions

Byrd’s first Antarctic expedition (1928–30), the largest and best-equippedthat had ever set out for that continent, sailed south inOctober 1928. A substantial and well-supplied base, called Little America,was built on the face of the Ross Ice Shelf,a wide plain of shelf ice fronting the Ross Sea near anindentation in the ice cliff named the Bay of Whales. Flights weremade from this base over the Antarctic continent. A range of high mountains,named the Rockefeller Mountains, was discovered; and alarge tract of hitherto unknown territory beyond them was named Marie Byrd Land,after Byrd’s wife. On Nov. 29, 1929, Byrd, as navigator, and three companionsmade the first flight over the South Pole,flying from Little America to the Pole and back in 19 hours with no mishap.Byrd was afterward promoted to rear admiral for this achievement.

1933–35 a second Byrd expedition visited Little America with the aim ofmapping and claiming land around the Pole; he extended the exploration of Marie Byrd Land and continuedhis scientific observations. During the winter of 1934 (from March to August)Byrd spent five months alone in a hut at a weather station named Bolling Advance Base, buried beneath the ice shelf face 123miles (196 km) south of Little America, enduring temperatures between −58° and−76° F (−50° and −60° C) and sometimes much lower. He was finally rescued in adesperately sick condition, suffering from frostbite and carbon monoxide poisoning. Thiswas perhaps his most controversial exploit.

At the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Byrd took command ofthe U.S. Antarctic service and led a third expedition to Antarctica in 1939–41, thisone financed and sponsored by the U.S. government. Bases were located at LittleAmerica and Stonington Island,off the AntarcticPeninsula. Byrd’s discovery of Thurston Island greatlydecreased the length of unexplored coast of the continent.

During World War II Byrd served onthe staff of the chief of naval operations and, among other duties, evaluatedPacific islands as operational sites. After World War II Byrd was placed incharge of the U.S. Navy’s Operation HighJump. This Antarctic expedition, his fourth, was the largest andmost ambitious exploration of that continent yet attempted and involved 4,700men, 13 ships (including an aircraft carrier), and 25 airplanes. Operation HighJump’s ship- and land-based aircraft mapped and photographed some 537,000square miles (1,390,000 square km) of the Antarctic coastline and interior,much of it never seen before. Byrd flew into Little America from the deck ofthe aircraft carrier Philippine Sea north of the ice pack, about 700miles (1,100 km) from the camp. He made a second flight over the South Pole and took part inseveral other flights.

In 1955 Byrd was made officer in charge of the United States’ Antarcticprograms and became the senior authority for government Antarctic matters. Inthis capacity he helped supervise Operation Deep Freeze,a major scientific and exploratory expedition sent to the Antarctic under navyauspices as part of the program of the International Geophysical Year(1957–58). Byrd accompanied the expedition aboard the icebreaker Glacierand took his last exploratory flight over the South Pole on Jan. 8, 1956.

Byrd’s accomplishments

Byrd was one of the world’s foremost aviators and displayed extraordinarygifts in organizing successful expeditions to Antarctica. His major achievementwas to apply the airplane, radio, camera, and other modern technical resourcesto these polar explorations. His five Antarctic expeditions made progressivelygreater use of ski-planes, ship-based seaplanes, and even helicopters (in1946–47) to transport men and equipment and to carry out systematicreconnaissance and mapping programs using aerial photography. The expeditionsyielded a wealth of new information about the continent, and operations HighJump and Deep Freeze in particular were milestones in the history of sustained,permanent scientific polar research. The aerial sextant and wind-driftinstruments that Byrd invented in the years following World War I considerablyadvanced the science of aerial navigation and were of great use in his ownexplorations.

Byrd wrote several books about his adventures. His first book, Skyward (1928), contains descriptions of his1928–30 expedition to Antarctica, his flight to the North Pole, and his flightacross the Atlantic. Little America (1930) is anofficial account of his aerial exploration in the Antarctic and his flight tothe South Pole, and Alone (1938) describes hisexperiences at Bolling Advance Base. Byrd was extremely competent in publicrelations, and his expeditions were surrounded by a glare of publicity thatmade him a national hero and an internationally famous figure.

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