Welcome to the Byrd Aircraft Recovery Expedition

President's Message
Over eighty years ago my grandfather, Admiral Richard E. Byrd, led the first of his five expeditions to Antrctica.His goal was to fly over the South Pole in a Ford Trimotor which he did in November, 1929. He took two other airplanes and one of them, a Fokker Super Universal, was the first plane to land on the Antarctic continent. In March, 1929, he sent his geologist out in the Fokker for some geologic studies. A blizzard roared in, ripped the Fokker from its moorings, and sent it crashing onto the frozen surface of Lake Aquamarine where it still sits all these years later. My grandfather embodied the spirit of exploration and we believe that this airplane should be restored and placed in a Museum in the United States. Expeditions and achieving goals make excellent draws for causes, and as such, we have formed the Byrd Aircraft Recovery Expedition to both recover and restore the first plane to land on Antarctica as well as raise funds for Parkinson's disease research and awareness. Our organization is in its beginnings, but we have formed an outstanding team which includes aviators, explorer's, medical doctors, and documentary producers. Please join us as we embark on our journey to recover and restore the first aircraft to land on the Antarctic continent as well as raise funds and awareness for Parkinson's disease.
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Team Corner

Michele's Blog
05/02/2010 - 19:27
Michele's picture
Last Thursday evening, I found myself giving the keynote address to about 100 folks in Mojave who were celebrating all of the high school seniors with 4.0 gradepoint averages. After giving a short overview of my job at the Keck Institute for Space Studies (www.kiss.caltech.edu), I shared some "Life Lessons from a Space Geek." 

One of those lessons was "choose a memory over a meeting."  I learned this from Andrea Donnellan (see our Board Roster) when we worked together at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I had the opportunity to go to a launch, but decided to stay at work and prepare for an upcoming meeting. She told me I would never remember the meeting for which I worked so hard - but that I would always remember the launch. She was right. I stayed for the meeting and regret to this day missing that launch.

Well, I am happy to say that I am going to "do whatever it takes" (another one of my life lessons) to make sure that I do not miss out on having the memory of being a part of the Byrd Aircraft Recovery Expedition.  Talk about a memory that will last forever... I ended my talk in Mojave with our expedition chant - "Let's get that Fokker!"

Be a part of history and make your own memory with the Expedition Team and get involved.  If you think you can help us in any way - please let us know - we'd love to have you on board. 
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