Richard Byrd

Richard Byrd (1888-1957), American explorer, author, aviator, and naval officer, known for leading several air and land expeditions to Antarctica, and for discoveries there.

Richard Evelyn Byrd was born in Winchester, Virginia. He was graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1912. Designated a naval aviator in 1918, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander, and in 1925 he commanded the naval air unit of the expedition to Greenland led by American explorer Donald Baxter MacMillan.

Byrd received the Medal of Honor for being the first person to fly over the North Pole; he made the flight with American aviator Floyd Bennett; however, there is some evidence suggesting that he and Bennett may not have reached the pole. In 1927 Byrd flew the first transatlantic airmail from New York to France with Norwegian American Bernt Balchen and Americans Bertrand B. Acosta and George O. Noville.

During his first expedition to Antarctica, from 1928 to 1930, Byrd established a base, Little America, on the Bay of Whales. In the course of mapping 388,500 sq km (150,000 sq mi) of Antarctica, members of the expedition discovered the Edsel Ford Range and Marie Byrd Land. In 1929 Byrd made the first flight over the South Pole, together with Balchen and American pilots Harold I. June and Ashley C. McKinley. Byrd was promoted in 1930 to the rank of rear admiral, retired.

Byrd led a second expedition to the Antarctic from 1933 to 1935. During that expedition Byrd conducted meteorological and auroral research alone in a shack for five months 196 km (122 mi) south of Little America. The expedition party surveyed 1,165,500 sq km (450,000 sq mi) of territory and undertook research in many branches of science.

During his third expedition, from 1939 to 1940, four exploratory flights were made, resulting in many discoveries.

In a fourth Antarctic expedition from 1946 to 1947, Byrd explored and mapped approximately 2,188,500 sq km (845,000 sq mi) of territory, about one-third of it newly discovered. Byrd made his second flight over the South Pole before returning to the United States.

In 1955 Byrd was appointed head of “Operation Deep-Freeze,” an Antarctic expedition organized by the United States in connection with the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958). Early in 1956 Byrd made his third flight over the South Pole. He left the expedition shortly thereafter. Byrd wrote Skyward (1928), Little America (1930), Discovery (1935), Exploring with Byrd (1937), and Alone (1938).