Operation Highjump

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Activities in Antarctica During the 20th Century
International agreements
Antarctic Treaty System
British Commonwealth activities
Scott's 1st expedition (1901-04)
Shackleton's 1st expedition (1907-09)
Scott's 2nd expedition (1910-13)
Shackleton's 2nd expedition (1914-17)
Shackleton's 3rd expedition (1921-22)
Mawson's expedition (1929-31)
The Graham Land Expedition (1934-37)
Operation Tabarin (1943-45)
Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Fuchs-Hillary) (1955-58)
French activities
Charcot's 1st expedition (1903-05)
Charcot's 2nd expedition (1908-10)
German activities
Drygalski's expedition (1901-03)
Filchner's expedition (1911-12)
The New Swabia Expedition (1938-39)
Norwegian activities
Amundsen's expedition (1910-12)
U.S. activities
Operation Highjump (1946-47)
Operation Windmill (1947-48)
Ronne's expedition (1947-48)
Operation Deep Freeze (1955-56)

Operation Highjump (OpHjp), officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946-47, was a United States Navy operation organized by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd in Antarctica under the command of Richard Cruzen, which was launched on 26 August 1946 and lasted until 1947. The massive Antarctic task force included 4,700 men, 13 ships, and multiple aircraft.

The stated claims of the operation were as follows

to train personnel and test material in the frigid zones
to consolidate and extend American sovereignty over the largest practical area of the Antarctic continent
to determine the feasibility of establishing and maintaining bases in the Antarctic and to investigate possible base sites
to develop techniques for establishing and maintaining air bases on the ice, with particular attention to the later applicability of such techniques to operations in interior Greenland. (where, it was then believed, physical and climatic conditions resembled those in Antarctica)
to amplify existing knowledge of hydrographic, geographic, geological, meteorological and electromagnetic conditions in the area.

1 Timeline
2 Fictional Reference
3 Trivia
4 Involved
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Timeline

The Western Group of ships reached the Marquesas Islands on December 12th, 1946, whereupon the Henderson and Cacapon set up weather monitoring stations. By the 24th, the Currituck had begun launching aircraft on reconnaissance missions.

The Eastern Group of ships reached Peter I Island in late December 1946. On December 30, Aviation Radiomen Wendell K. Henderson and Fredrick W. Williams and Ensign Maxwell A. Lopez were killed when their PBM Mariner George 1 crashed during a blizzard. The surviving six crewmembers, including Aviation Radioman James H. Robbins and co-pilot William Kearns, were rescued 13 days later.[1] A plaque was later erected at the McMurdo Station research base, honouring the three killed crewmen, and in December 2004, efforts were made to find their bodies.[2]

The Central Group of ships reached the Bay of Whales on January 15, 1947, where they constructed temporary runways along the glaciers, in a base dubbed Little America IV. Vance N. Woodall died during a "Ship unloading accident" sometime after December 30 1946.

After the operation ended, a follow-up Operation Windmill returned to the area, citing that a large percentage of the aerial photographs from the earlier mission had been poorly exposed, and needed to be re-shot. Finn Ronne also financed a private operation to the same territory, until 1948.

[edit] Fictional Reference

In Robert Doherty's "Area 51" series, references to Operation Highjump are used. They use the operation as a conspiracy theory based on the idea that alien craft are hidden somwhere under the ice.

[edit] Trivia

Operation Highjump has become a topic among UFO conspiracy theorists, who claim it was a covert US military operation to conquer alleged secret underground Nazi facilities in the Antarctica and capture the German Vril flying discs, or Thule mercury-powered spaceship prototypes.
Killed airman Maxwell A. Lopez had a mountain named in his honour after his death, Mount Lopez on Thurston Island.
Father William Menster served as chaplain during the expedition. He became the first member of the clergy to visit the continent, and in a service in 1947 he consecrated Antarctica.

[edit] Involved

Eastern Group

commanded by Captain George J. Dufek

Western Group

commanded by Captain Charles A. Bond

Central Group

The aircraft carrier USS Philippine Sea also participated, although it was not assigned to any of the groups. Research scientist Paul Siple also contributed to the expedition.