2009-04
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/31/2009
Richard E. Byrd TLS, on Byrd Antarctic Expedition, Boston, Ma. Stationary, dated August 12, 1928, one pg., fine. Explorer Robert E. Byrd writes to James E. West, Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America a few months before his first expedition to Antarctica in early 1929. He writes in full: "I want to express to my sincere appreciation for the telegram you sent me on the occasion of the radio talk the other night. The confidence you expressed there was a real help in getting the backing of the country, as the radio talk went to about ten millions of people. Best of good wishes, I am, ever yours, R.E. Byrd" In 1928, Byrd began his first expedition to the Antarctic involving two ships, and three airplanes: a Ford Trimoter called the Floyd Bennett (named after the recently deceased pilot of Byrd's previous expeditions); a Fokker called The Stars and Stripes; a Fairchild called the Virginia (Byrd's birth state). A base camp named "Little America" was constructed on the Ross Ice Shelf and scientific expeditions by dog-sled, snowmobile, and airplane began. Photographic expeditions and geological surveys were undertaken for the duration of that summer, and constant radio communications were maintained with the outside world. After their first winter, their expeditions were resumed, and on November 29, 1929, the famous flight to the South Pole and back was launched. Byrd, along with pilot Bernt Balchen, co-pilot/radioman Harold June, and photographer Ashley McKinley, flew the Ford Trimotor to the South Pole and back in 18 hours, 41 minutes. They had difficulty gaining enough altitude, and they had to dump empty gas tanks, as well as their emergency supplies, in order to achieve the altitude of the Polar Plateau. However, the flight was successful, and it entered Byrd into the history books. After a further summer of exploration, the expedition returned to North America on June 18, 1930. A 19 year-old American Boy Scout, Paul Allman Siple, was chosen to accompany the expedition. Unlike the 1926 flight, this expedition was honored with the gold medal of the American Geographical Society. Byrd, by then an internationally recognized, pioneering American polar explorer and aviator, served for a time as Honorary National President (1931-1935) of Pi Gamma Mu, the international honor society in the social sciences. In 1928, he carried the Society's flag during a historic expedition to the Antarctic to dramatize the spirit of adventure into the unknown, characterizing both the natural and social sciences. Byrd would take four more expeditions to Antarctic, the last being in the mid 1950's. An extraordinary American.
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