Antarctic Flying

Bruce Charnov

The beauties and dangers of Antarctic Flying, especially in the years 1933-1934

Jenifer Murray and Colin Bodill's trip to the poles is but the latest rotary-wing chronicle of historic flights in the polar regions. The earliest excursions began even before helicopter flights.

In America a Kellet autogiro would briefly become the most famous autogiro in the world when its corporate owner, the Pep Boys chain of automotive stores, lent it to Rear Admiral and national hero Robert E. Byrd for his second Antarctic Expedition of 1933 - 1935. The 'Pep Boys Snowman' K-3 Autogiro (NC12615) was a converted K-2 that the company had used for advertising purposes.

It is likely that the Pep Boys corporate executives had been impressed by the publicity gained by the Champion Spark Plug Company, from the involvement of Lew Yancy and 'Miss Champion' in the Mayan explorations in the Yucat‡n the previous year. Pep Boys Company made the most of the publicity, even featuring a photo of Admiral Byrd christening its Autogiro at Camden, NJ. The 'Snowman' left Boston in October 1933, securely placed aboard Byrd's supply ship Ruppert. It was unloaded in the Bay of Whales, after a largely uneventful journey on January 28, 1934, and flown to the expedition's forward base at Little...