Richard Evelyn Byrd was born into a famous Virginia family in 1888. He entered the United States Naval Academy at the age of 20 and was commissioned in 1912. His passion for the airplane began during World War I when he learned to fly. Subsequently Byrd became a flying instructor for the US Navy. Significant credit must be given Byrd for the present American interest in the south polar regions. His success as a naval aviator and transatlantic flier, along with the North Pole flyover, instilled enough confidence in the public to make them financially assist in the support of his first two Antarctic expeditions. From Byrd's first expedition in 1928-30 until 1955, eleven expeditions, excluding the WILKINS-HEARST EXPEDITION , left the United States…show more content… S. Exploring Expedition under Charles Wilkes in 1840. The expedition launched a revival of interest in the Antarctic for Americans, an area much in the public mind during the early…show more content… Byrd in 1928 may be considered the first of the mechanical age of exploration in Antarctica. The program was the first of its kind to utilize the airplane, aerial camera, snowmobile and massive communications resources. Although Sir Hubert Wilkins, on November 6, 1928, was the first to fly an airplane in Antarctica, he preceded Byrd by only ten weeks. (Byrd first flew on January 15, 1929). However, Byrd's flights, made with three planes (Ford monoplane, Fokker Universal and a Fairchild monoplane), were much more significant than Wilkins since they were made in higher latitudes and were tied in with ground surveys. Sir Douglas Mawson was the first to use radio in the Antarctic, and the whalers, RRS DISCOVERY, the Norwegian exploring ship NORVEGIA and Sir Wilkins had all been using radio in the Antarctic at the time the Byrd Expedition entered the field but Byrds use of communications equipment overshadowed that of the others as regular wireless communications were established with the outside world, as well as with all flights and field parties. As Byrd put it, "...this single department received more attention than any other, for our program called for the most elaborate system of communication ever proposed in a Continent where radio conditions are notoriously bad". Assistance was provided for the selection of equipment by the US Navy, the New York Times and several corporations. Five radio engineers were assigned to the
