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Richard Evelyn Byrd - My Favourite Books
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Richard Evelyn Byrd
1888-1957
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American aviator and polar explorer, b. Winchester, Va. He took up aviation in 1917, and after World War I he gained great fame in the air. He commanded the naval air unit with the arctic expedition of D. B. MacMillan in 1925. He and Floyd Bennett reported their historic flight from Spitsbergen to the North Pole and back again in 1926; however, entries from his diary suggest that they may not actually have reached the pole. In 1927 Byrd and three companions made one of the spectacular early flights across the Atlantic. A record of his flights was presented in Skyward (1928). Two years later he led a well-equipped and efficiently organized expedition to Antarctica. Establishing a base at Little America, he discovered the Rockefeller Range and Marie Byrd Land, and late in 1929 he and Bernt Balchen flew to the South Pole and back. The large party gathered much scientific information.
In 1930 Byrd was promoted to rear admiral, and his book Little America was published. His second large expedition was organized in 1933, and headquarters were established once again at Little America. As winter approached, he set up an advance base 123 mi (198 km) closer to the South Pole and stayed there alone for several months making observations. Discovery (1935) and Alone (1938) were records of this fruitful expedition. In 1939–40 he was again in the antarctic, commanding a government expedition, and in 1946–47 he headed the U.S. navy expedition, the largest yet sent to the region (see Antarctica). In 1955, Byrd was placed in command of all U.S. antarctic activities, and in 1955–56 he led his fifth expedition to the region. Due mainly to his efforts, the U.S. navy organized (1955–59) Operation Deep Freeze. |
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Alone
The Classic Polar Adventure
by Richard E. Byrd
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Already famous for his flights over the North and South Poles, Admiral Richard E. Byrd (1888-1957) set out in 1934 on what would become his most harrowing adventure. Isolated in the polar night with no hope of rescue until spring, Byrd began suffering inexplicable symptoms of mental and physical illness. ALONE is the remarkable story of his struggle to save his life and his sanity.
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Aufbruch ins Eis
by Richard Evelyn Byrd
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1934 bricht der berühmte Polarforscher R. Byrd zu seinem größten Abenteuer auf: 6 Monate will er ganz allein in der Nacht des ewigen Eises am Südpol verbringen - ein Wettlauf auf Leben und Tod. 'Ein atemberaubendes, nahezu umwerfendes Drama.'
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Skyward
His Life, His Thrilling Adventures, His North
by Richard Evelyn Byrd
More details and online buying at:
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Biography of Richard Byrd.
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To the Pole
The Diary and Notebook of Richard Byrd, 1925-1927
by Richard Evelyn Byrd, Raimund E. Goerler
More details and online buying at:
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Around the turn of the 20th century, polar exploration became the symbol of national pride and individual worth. Ernest Shackleton, Robert Scott, Roald Amundsen, and Robert Peary, among others, ensured themselves a place in history for their daring assaults on two of the most inhospitable regions on earth: the North and South Poles. In the course of their explorations, these men pitted themselves against a merciless landscape--Shackleton's ship was crushed in Antarctic ice; Scott and four companions died in a howling blizzard on their way back from the South Pole. If walking to the Poles was difficult, flying there presented its own set of problems. Yet, in 1926 Admiral Richard E. Byrd and his pilot, Floyd Bennett, set out to fly over the North Pole. According to Byrd, they succeeded. In the decades since this feat, a shadow of doubt has crept over Byrd's claim. Critics question whether Byrd could have flown to the Pole and back in the amount of time that actually elapsed between his takeoff and return to Spitsbergen, Greenland; allegations that Byrd's calculations were incorrect bolstered hearsay gossip that Bennett had told another pilot that they'd never reached the Pole.
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