Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [28], Marine biologist and polar explorer James Marr was selected as leader of the expedition. Delve into a world shrouded in mystery as a team of dedicated researchers share their experiences and expertise . [54] Port Lockroy began postmarking mail on 12 February, indicating the importance given to philatelic duties. [8] In a crew profile, deckman Edward Beardsley described his worst memory as "when Seaman Vance Woodall died on the Ross Ice Shelf under a piece of roller equipment designed to 'pave' the ice to build an airstrip. In 1962 FIDS was re-named the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), following Britain's ratification of the Antarctic Treaty and the creation of British Antarctic Territory. If the Soviet report is based on disinformation, then its release serves to promote international conditions for a future false flag UFO . On 18 November Lamb led a field party back to Blyth Point (on Wiencke Island) to complete his botanical collecting there. Obviously, it was very difficult to avoid the common stereotypes about the exterior of flying saucers imposed by movies. Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 19461947, (also called Task Force 68), was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV. The other two Mariners were launched shortly afterward. During his flight to the North Pole, Admiral Byrd is said to have flown past the Pole and into an opening leading to the Earth. [49][50][51], Although long-used by ships visiting the area, Port Lockroy's location restricted the range of scientific activities possible because the Gerlache Strait rarely froze, so cutting off access to the mainland. [citation needed] New Swabia was explored by Germany in early 1939 and named after that expedition's ship, Schwabenland . Training personnel and testing equipment in frigid conditions while also making weapons and snow vehicles. Rather than deny the heavy casualty reports, Admiral Byrd revealed in a press interview that Task Force 68 had encountered a new enemy that could fly from pole to pole at incredible speeds.. Why are humans not allowed to explore Antarctica? Abandoned Hektor Whaling Station, Deception Island, April 1945. Operation Highjump commenced 26 August 1946 and ended in late February . A War Fleet, complete with Aircraft Carriers, Destroyers and Attack Submarines, surrounded and invaded Antarctica. [38], On 12 November 1943 Bransfield finally sailed from Tilbury, joining a small coastal convoy bound for Falmouth. Lieutenant Jim Cornish had the honor of flying the first helicopter in and out of Little America IV. After dropping a United Nations flag over the South Pole, Byrds crew continued their photo mission. April 29, 2023 LUFOS Documentaries, Latest posts 0. We returned to the great door after 1945, and we walked back through it afterwards. The Central Group and Philippine Sea did not depart Norfolk until January 2, 1947. His ATA gene was used to gain access to the Antarctic outposts defense system via the Control chair by Stargate Command. Besides conducting reconnaissance, each was large enough to undertake rescue operations. Cameron Mitchell, a Major with the United States Army, was critically injured when the plane he was in crashed shortly after the battle with Anubis armies. During his naval career, he was a pioneer in the air and a polar explorer. The footage captures the ship making its way up the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. In 1935, the Thule Society was looking for a location to test a new powerful armament. Farrington senior wireless operator mechanic, William R. Flett base leader, geologist, Norman F. Layther wireless operator mechanic, Gordon J. Lockley base leader, meteorologist, zoologist, Alan W. Reece base leader, meteorologist, James E.B.F. Operation Highjump (OpHjp), officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946-1947, was a United States Navy operation organized by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd Jr., USN (Ret), Officer in Charge, Task Force 68, and led by Rear Admiral Richard H. Cruzen, USN, Commanding Officer, Task Force 68. [20][21], An Expedition Committee was established in June 1943, chaired by A.B. The Eastern, Western and Central group ships departed at different intervals and ports on both coasts. Nevertheless, a site for the hut was chosen on Goudier Island and Base A was established, discharging cargo beginning at once. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. The author of A Flight to the Land Beyond the North Pole describes a man with delicate features and years etched on his face. [59] On 22 April Marr and others were aboard when the vessel visited Cape Renard to erect a Union Jack and British Crown Land sign. Originally scheduled for a six month period, the scientific expedition was officially called The United States Navy Antarctic Development Program, and given the operational name Highjump. The film re-enacted scenes of critical events, such as shipboard damage control and Admiral Byrd throwing items out of an airplane to lighten it to avoid crashing into a mountain. Acheson, Colonial Office Under-Secretary, with members from the Colonial Office, Foreign Office, Admiralty, Treasury, Crown Agents, Ministry of War Transport and Discovery Investigations. [49][64] As spring advanced Lamb took advantage of the low tides and melting snow to conduct an ecological study of the local beaches, Marr encouraging the others to collect zoological specimens. Our hope is that now we have the entire material to make a detailed map of all of Antarctica, said Byrd. Permission is granted to include extracts of this article on websites and email lists with a link to the original. Operation Tabarin was the code name for a secret British expedition to the Antarctic during World War Two, operational 1943-46.Conducted by the Admiralty on behalf of the Colonial Office, its primary objective was to strengthen British claims to sovereignty of the British territory of the Falkland Islands Dependencies (FID), to which Argentina and Chile had made counter claims since the . Most importantly, the UFO force had inflicted heavy casualties on the US Navy that was powerless to oppose it. The media covered the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition nearly as thoroughly as the first, but the men from Little America broadcast the radio programs that were played throughout American homes. The HO3S-1 was lost but Dufek and the pilot were saved before freezing to death in the frigid water. George 1 climbed to 1,000 feet to get above the snow and ice. Charles W. Thomas, USCG, Commanding, Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, "Scientific Diving Under Ice: A 40-Year Bipolar Research Tool", "Operation Highjump: The Great Antarctic Expedition", "Operation Highjump: A Philatelic Introduction", "Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature", "Declassified Records on Operation Highjump", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Highjump&oldid=1152719615, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the United States Coast Guard, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Both were approved. A base hut was built on Coronation Island, South Orkney Islands (Base C) but not occupied. Port Lockroy, laboratory in Bransfield House, Jan 1945. In the Soviet intelligence report, never before known testimony by two US Navy servicemen with Operation Highjump was revealed. 14 men over-wintered in 1944. Develop techniques for establishing and maintaining air bases in Antarctic. EXPLORE OUR ONLINE CHANNEL, BRITISH PATH TV. Though plausible, this is highly unlikely given that the US and USSR were still allies at the time of Operation Highjump, and had a common interest in finding and destroying any hidden Nazi base(s) in the South Atlantic. The Eastern Group of ships reached Peter I Island in late December 1946. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. [60] Port Stanley Town Hall, in which the Post Office was located, was destroyed by fire on 16 April. Getting the big Douglas birds to Antarctica presented a formidable challenge as, lacking the range to fly from a land base, they had to be launched from Philippine Sea. The ships stationed in the Pacific left San Diego, Calif., the same day. In 1947, Admiral Richard E. Byrd led 4,000 military troops from the U.S., Britain and Australia in an invasion of Antarctica called "Operation Highjump", and at least one follow-up expedition. Pentagon plans for Alien invasion exist according to military professor, "Foundations for Globally Managing Extraterrestrial Affairs The Legacy of the Nazi Germany-Extraterrestrial Connection. The naval contingent, known as Task Force 68, was commanded by Rear Adm. Richard H. Cruzen and Rear Adm. Richard E. Byrd commanded the scientific and research elements, with six Douglas R4D-5L aircraft (Navy C-47As) at his disposal. Pilot LeBlanc would lose both of his badly burned and frozen legs. Based on those documents, we decided to design our own flying saucer with some balance changes. newsletter for the best of the past, delivered every Monday and Thursday. Operation Tabarin veterans Reece, White and Russell remained at their bases and continued their work for the FIDS. Artwork, Jim Nichols. A plaque honoring the three killed crewmen was later erected at the McMurdo Station research base,[13] and Mount Lopez on Thurston Island was named in honor of killed airman Maxwell A. Lopez. This article is copyright and should not be added in its entirety on other websites or email lists without authors permission. In the circumstances of war and time constraints it was difficult to find a ship built to navigate through sea ice and with sufficient cargo capacity. These souvenir philatelic covers are readily available at low cost. Operation "High Jump", which was, basically an invasion of the Antarctic, consisted of three Naval battle groups, which departed Norfolk, VA, on . Norwegian trawlers in the area reported the ice to be the heaviest in more than 40 years. [79], Among other accomplishments, it brought Chilean President Gabriel Gonzlez Videla to inaugurate one of its bases personally, and he thereby became the first head of state to set foot on the continent. Blair in March 1944), Gwion Davies handyman, scientific assistant, James E.B.F. The naval component of Operation Highjump was known as Task Force 68 and comprised 4700 military personnel, one aircraft carrier (the USS Philippine Sea among the largest of all carriers of the time), and number of naval support ships and aircraft. A 2006 Russian documentary, recently translated, made public for the first time a 1947 secret Soviet intelligence report commissioned by Joseph Stalin of Task 68s mission to Antarctica. An alternative explanation is that the 1947 Soviet report contained U.S. orchestrated disinformation that was being conveyed to Soviet authorities by a Soviet mole known by the US intelligence community. On August 26, 1946, chief of U.S. naval operations Admiral Chester Nimitz announced that a massive combined military expedition dubbed Operation Highjump would be launched into Antarctica in December during summer in the Southern Hemisphere. The following day the attempt was reluctantly abandoned and the decision made to proceed south-west along the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in search of an alternative mainland site. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. Our aim is the revive and preserve naval history! Sadly, this was not to be. The largest dormant volcano in Antarctica, Mount Sidley, was discovered by him. Determining the feasibility of establishing, maintaining, and utilizing bases in the Antarctic and investigating possible base sites; Developing techniques for establishing, maintaining, and utilizing, Amplifying existing stores of knowledge of, This page was last edited on 1 May 2023, at 22:14. Each PBM carried survival equipment consisting of 100 days worth of rations, skis, sleds, medicine, warm clothes and sleeping bags. Two crewmen were killed instantly when they were thrown through the propeller blades. [6][7], The Central Group of ships reached the Bay of Whales on January 15, 1947, where they began construction of Little America IV. One of their naval journals stated, U.S. So too, the Maddox cited by Soviet espionage was similarly consigned to an official memory hole. Task Forces went to Antarctica to destroy the remaining bases of the Fourth Reich and capture a new unique armament flying saucers. [9][10], The entry of Japan into the war in December 1941 increased the threat, with fear that Japan might seek to seize the Falkland Islands as a base in the South Atlantic. [1] The huskies provided the core of a British Antarctic husky population, used for survey journeys, that lasted for fifty years. Raimund Goerler, the chief archivestroy, discovered the diary while rummaging through a box of artifacts in the collection. Pinguin seized a haul of 20,320tons of whale oil, one of the largest prizes seized by a commerce raider during the war. Later on the British expedition paid the Argentine meteorological station on Laurie Island a courtesy visit. [15][18][23] Mackintosh prepared a detailed scientific programme for the shore parties. Although theyve discovered some interesting facts, theyve come up empty-handed when it comes to what Byrd had written in his diary. [18][19] Final instructions were issued in November 1943, clarifying the physical and political objectives, importance of the issuing of stamps, appointment of magistrates and other acts of sovereignty. It was fought in the air above Antarctica and in close proximity to Earth. Aircraft reconnaissance began near Antarctica at the end of January 1947, mostly in the northern area around Queen Maud Land and covered more than 22,000 air kilometers as well as capturing more than 70,000 photographs. Many people died during the eight weeks that the Byrd expedition lasted. [27] The expedition was considered top secret but by April 1944 news of it had leaked out, not least because of the philately work undertaken at the direction of the Colonial Office. The ensign of Admiral Byrd was commissioned in the South Pole in response to Highjumps claim that the operation was operational. Base B occupied one of the buildings. During its return flight the rotor blades became so coated with ice that the helicopter crashed several feet short of the ships landing pad. According to Frank Joseph the USS Maddox was either a torpedo boat, or torpedo-carrying destroyer. He goes on to explain what may have happened to the Maddox mentioned in the Soviet report: A USS Maddox was indeed sunk by enemy action, but five years earlier by a German dive-bomber during the Allied invasion of Sicily. What happened on that flight? Before Byrd heard about it, agartha had penetrated over 2,300 miles beyond the South Pole. [8], Naval ships and personnel were withdrawn back to the United States in late February 1947 because of the ufo attacks happening from the nazis, and the expedition was terminated due to the early approach of winter and worsening weather conditions.[9]. Operation Windmill (OpWml) was the United States Navy's Second Antarctica Developments Project, an exploration and training mission to Antarctica in 1947-1948. Grumman J2F-6 Duck amphibians with the group performed reconnaissance, supply and, if needed, rescue and medical missions. Other operations would follow, including the U.S. Navys Operation Windmill in 1947-48, and eventually treaties were signed by all involved nations to ensure that Antarctica remained a nonmilitary zone. All footage can be viewed on the British Path website. Admiral Byrds statements were published in the Chilean Press but never publicly confirmed by US authorities. Several were well known to them through the Discovery Investigations, including the chief steward Thomas Berry, ship's carpenter Lewis Ashton, senior wireless operator James Farrington, handymen John Matheson and Gwion Davies. A full programme of science and mapping was undertaken. [47][1], The expedition sailed for Hope Bay, arriving on 7 February, to find that the approach to the bay from Antarctic Sound was through a 10-mile wide band of pack ice. Its no secret that Richard Byrds exploration of the Antarctic continent in the 1930s is legendary. [17] During the planning stage the priority for the location of the second base was changed to Hope Bay, since it was on the mainland, with an option to erect a hut on Signy Island if resources allowed. In fact, the USS Maddox was the destroyer fired upon in the Gulf of Tonkin incident of 1964. [58] On 17 April, she delivered a large quantity of mail to be stamped and cancelled. According to people who knew him, he never fully recovered from the time alone on ice in 1934. John P. Szehwach, a radioman stationed on the USS Brownson, gave testimony of how UFOs appeared dramatically out of the ocean depths. The next two days were spent searching for a site for Little America IV. The end of World War II led to renewed interest in the Antarctic region. The line suddenly snaps and he falls into sea. Operation Highjump, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946-1947, was a United States Navy operation organized by RADM Richard E. Byrd Jr. USN, (Ret), Officer in Charge, Task Force 68, and led by RADM Richard H. Cruzen, USN, Commanding Officer, Task Force 68. [56] From there the vessels sailed to Grytviken, South Georgia, where the Hooley family disembarked, before returning to the Falkland Islands, taking official mail. [69], On 7 February, Marr resigned on account of poor health and later returned to the Falklands, with Taylor replacing him as expedition leader. About ten miles away, the torpedo-boat Maddox burst into flames and began to sink Having personally witnessed this attack by the object that flew out of the sea, all I can say is, it was frightening.[Our Real War of the Worlds"]. [8] On 5 March, Queen of Bermuda visited the abandoned Norwegian Hektor Whaling Station in Whalers Bay, Deception Island, which was a well known safe harbour, destroying stocks of coal and oil, and associated equipment, to prevent them falling into enemy hands. This victory was a key turning point in the war, and ultimately led to the Allied victory. He flew to Iceland to inspect a Norwegian sealer Veslekari, built in 1918, that had been used on Arctic expeditions in the past. Mount Flora behind. When the weather cleared again on December 29, George 1 was once more lowered over the side and took off with a crew of nine, including Pine Islands skipper Captain Henry H. Caldwell, who was along as an observer. In 1947, Admiral Richard E. Byrd led 4,000 military troops from the U.S., Britain and Australia in an invasion of Antarctica called "Operation Highjump", and at least one follow-up expedition. [16] It features Chief of Naval Operations Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz in a scene where he is discussing Operation HIGHJUMP with admirals Byrd and Cruzen. Base D, Hope Bay, under construction, 1 March 1945. Admiral Byrd took four ships to Antarctica: the flagship USS Bear, the USS Snow Cruiser, the armed escort USS Wyatt Earp, and the supply ship USS Edisto. During Highjump the six R4Ds completed 28 photographic flights and captured more than 21,000 images. Researchers speculate about what really happened and why Robert Frost was silenced for decades. Through "Operation Paperclip," the Nazis infiltrated aerospace companies, banking, media, and the US government, including NASA and the CIA after WWII. Consider that in 1946-47, a new chamber was built in the heart of the majestic admirals chamber. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. [65], List of Winterers 1944[66][67][68][1] British Antarctic Survey Operation Tabarin List of personnel}}, On 6 December, William Scoresby returned to Station B bringing plants native to the Falklands and soil for Lamb to conduct a transplantation experiment, which ultimately failed due to low humidity and strong winds. The fantastic speed with which the world is shrinking recalled the admiral is one of the most important lessons learned during his recent Antarctic exploration. [52], The main hut, named Bransfield House in memory of their original expedition ship, was a prefabricated design by the Norwich firm of Boulton and Paul. [14] In 2007 a group called the George One Recovery Team was unsuccessful in trying to get direct military involvement and raise extensive funds from the United States Congress to try and find the bodies of the three men killed in the crash. The Battle of Antarctica, also known as Operation Highjump, during which U.S.A. On August 26, 1946, chief of U.S. naval operations Admiral Chester Nimitz announced that a massive combined military expedition dubbed Operation Highjump would be launched into Antarctica in December during summer in the Southern Hemisphere. [46] Few of the buildings were inhabitable, but one of the whalers' dormitories was selected for Base B. Unloading commenced immediately and by 6 February the two ships were able to depart, leaving geologist Flett as leader of a five-man party. [1], Following Cabinet approval in January 1943, there was an intensive period of planning, recruitment and procurement, before the expedition left the UK in November 1943, led by Lieutenant-Commander James Marr. A hand-written note by Roberts explains that the name, after the Paris night club Bal Tabarin, was chosen because of the amount of night work required and the chaotic organisation. Copyright 2012. The destructive technology used by the UFOs in the Soviet intelligence report was not something that had been developed by the defeated Nazis who had only shortly before been forced to retreat to the South Atlantic. Argentine flags were raised in these locations and all territories south of 60S and between 25W and 68.34W were declared annexed. Then the men would move inland to establish Little America IV, headquarters for Byrd and his six R4Ds. The early Haunebu was 25 meters in diameter, held a team of 8 people, could reach a speed of 4,800 km/h, and its operation time was 18 hours. I have to warn my compatriots that the time has ended when we were able to take refuge in our isolation and rely on the certainty that the distances, the oceans, and the poles were a guarantee of safety. [18], The expedition code name 'Tabarin' was acknowledged in October when departments within the Admiralty were informed,[24] though it is likely to have been in use earlier. The Central Group was the command center for the operation. Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japans nuclear attacks, are no more. L/S Captain George Dufek being transferred from one ship to another by breeches buoy. https://www.britishpathe.com/ [71], A few fossil specimens were collected at Hope Bay in February, with systematic gathering of paleobotanical specimens from Mount Flora's shale beginning on 8 June. On December 2, 1946, the ship sailed from Norfolk, VA, reaching the Bay of Whales, New Zealand on January 16, 1947. [32] Marchesi had served on the Discovery Investigations with Marr.