Three photos from Adm. Richard Byrd's 2nd Antarctic expedition, which made Collins radios and Arthur Collins a legend in the broadcasting industry at age 23. Photos and quotes From Discovery: The story of the second Byrd Antarctic expedition by R. E. Byrd. (1935)

The RADIO SHACK: (15x31x8 ft.) "It was the neatest, certainly the most comfortable building in Little America. . . . One corner was set apart for the weekly General Foods broadcasts over Columbia Broadcasting System. It became a studio by the hurried acts of brushing the chessmen from the monitor board, advising Bailey please to pipe down on his snoring, plucking the reindeer hairs from the collapsible organ (the fur from the caribou sleeping bags got into everything; when you got up in the morning you looked like a moulting caribou), and carefully conveying from the vicinity of the microphone all coal bags, coal scuttles, pokers, stray pups, water buckets, etc. over which the agitated performers were likely to stumble." Bailey sent a noon transmission daily to NYC. You could set your watch by his schedule. At a minute to noon the lights in the kitchen and machine shop blinked, Bailey's warning to shut off all power tools (meat grinder, saws, drills, etc.) Power was limited and the radio dispatch priority #1. A minute another flicker as the noon traffic went out.

The ADVANCE WEATHER BASE, 123 miles south of Little America. (9x13x8 ft.) Byrd at the radio telegraph key. He almost died here in 1934 from carbon monoxide poisoning due to fumes from a faulty stove and generator. Determined not to call for help and risk the lives of his men in a rescue attempt, he persisted in his weather observations and endured 2 1/2 months of Antarctic winter, cold and alone in the darkness, leaving a will and final instructions nailed to the wall.

SPRING: August 21. "We glanced up from the wash basins to the enthralling discovery that a perfect light was growing in the ventilators and the skylights, a light you couldn't call mauve, or pink, or rose, or any other color--just the loveliest, most significant color you can imagine. Standing about in their baggy underwear, the amateur navigators were disputing as to whether this day or the next (when the sun cleared the high ridge to the north) was the official date of the sun's return. . . (three men) skied out to the Barrier and saw it--saw the shining bulk of the sun hoist itself clear of the white smoothness of the frozen sea. It was the real thing they said. The whole sky was suffused by a rose-pink glow, and the clouds on the horizon were opaline ships. . . The temperature was -71 degrees. A bracing spring day. . . in daylight anything was endurable."

For the full story see last Thursday's post, or visit us in July! Thanks to the Arthur A. Collins Legacy Assoc. for loaning us Byrd's marvelous book.

Radio crew for Byrd Expedition II (1933-35) L to R: Clay Bailey, Amory Waite, Jr., John Dyer, Guy Hutcheson.
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Clay Wilson Bailey (1896-1994), Senior Radio Operator, is at Find a Grave memorial #34349903
Amory Hooper ("Bud") Waite, Jr. (1902 - 1985) FAG #116379716
John Newton Dyer (1910-1996) FAG #129258950
Guy Carlton Hutcheson (1911-2004) FAG #24527066 ... See MoreSee Less

17 hours ago  ·  

Lt. Cdr. Richard E. Byrd, who had commanded the aviation wing of the 1925 MacMillan Arctic expedition that made Arthur Collins famous at age 15, returned north in 1926, and acting as navigator, with chief petty officer Floyd Bennett (1890-1928) piloting, made the first successful flight over the North Pole on May 9. Bennett had accompanied Byrd on his 1925 adventure. President Coolidge honored both men with Congressional Medals of Honor, and Byrd was promoted to Commander. He then turned his attention to Antarctica, organizing three major expeditions between 1928 and 1941, and bringing Collins shortwave (SW) radios along each time. Bennett went in name only, having succumbed to pneumonia in April, 1928 on a flight to rescue three downed fliers in remote Quebec.

Byrd's first expedition to Antarctica (1928-1930) resulted in the establishment of a major base, Little America, from which he explored thousands of miles of uncharted territory, climaxing with the overflight of the South Pole on November 29, 1929. The plane was a giant tri-motor Ford named the Floyd Bennett. Byrd navigated, accompanied by a pilot, radio operator/co-pilot and photographer. A Collins SW radio-telegraph system sent news of their achievement. The limited power available made dots and dashes the only reliable means of communicating over the huge distance back to the U.S. and it brought Byrd world-wide acclaim and another promotion.

Rear Admiral Byrd returned to Antarctica in 1933-1935. This time he brought a Collins SW radio-telephone (i.e. voice) system and bet his future and that of the fledgling Collins Radio Co. on the durability of the equipment and his ability to broadcast live from the South Pole over the CBS radio network. Collins loaned Byrd three radios--two 100W models for communicating between the camps and a 1,000W Model 20B for communicating with Argentina, which would then relay the signal to NYC for nationwide distribution. No one had ever tried a transoceanic broadcast with less than a 40 or 50KW transmitter, but the Collins equipment incorporated a number of advanced features. Byrd's broadcasts became a family staple on Saturday nights at 10 PM EST over the next several months and Collins Radio secured its future in SW and radio broadcasting equipment. . . no mean trick in the middle of the Great Depression.

The durability of Collins radios was amazing to everyone except Collins engineers and their users. Byrd's refrigerator-sized 20B withstood an ocean voyage and a 100-mile overland haul by dogsled, amazingly just strapped to the sled, apparently without packing, to make the first live broadcasts from Antarctica. Solid state transistor technology was decades in the future--the radio used tubes, but such was the durability of Collins radios that reliability engineers were known to test them occasionally by dropping them off buildings! An amazing and little known fact is the Collins Radio equipment the astronauts took to the moon and that withstood the force of a Saturn-V rocket blast-off, wasn't 100% sold-state either. The S-band power amplifier still used one tube that was deemed more reliable than a solid-state circuit. A giant vote of confidence in Collins engineering!

Learn more about the famous Byrd expeditions to the South Pole and the early years of the Collins Radio Co. in the upcoming exhibit: The Collins Story: On the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing, coming to the Marion Heritage Center in July, in collaboration with the Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association.

Photos: Arthur Collins (so young!) gives his refrigerator-sized 20 B transmitter a final inspection. CBS equipment and Collins radios on the dog sleds in Antarctica. All courtesy of Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association. President Coolidge giving Floyd Bennett his Medal of Honor in 1926; Byrd, with his, looking on; from the Library of Congress.
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Richard Evelyn Byrd (1888-1957) is at Find a Grave memorial #158.
Floyd Bennett (1890-1928) is at FAG #2121.
Donald Baxter MacMillan (1874-1970) FAG memorial #3162.
Eugene F. McDonald (1886-1958) FAG #74699782.

Byrd led a third expedition to Antarctica 1939-1941, this one sponsored by the U.S government with the aim of mapping the coast and establishing new bases. ... See MoreSee Less

3 days ago  ·