 Photo of Byrd and the Fokker Universal from Byrd's Little America |
In 1928, Admiral Richard E. Byrd embarked on an expedition to Antarctica, which included numerous science investigations as well as his famous flight over the South Pole. For the expedition he brought a Ford Trimoter, a Fokker Universal, and a Fairchild monoplane. On March 7, 1929, following Byrd's discovery and naming of the Rockefeller Mountains, his geologists set out to explore the range. They landed in marginal weather, and though they securely tied the plane, severe winds blew it backwards on March 13, 1929, wrecking the aircraft. Byrd later rescued the crew, but the plane remains near the Rockefeller mountains, frozen into Lake Aquamarine.
 Chas Day and the Fokker |
Eighty years later, Dr. Andrea Donnellan and her mountaineer, Chas Day, visited the plane while installing a continuously operating GPS receiver nearby. Remarkably, the plane still sits on the top of the ice. Byrd recovered the engine and instruments, but the frame and skis remain. In 1999, Donnellan gave a talk to the Kern Antelope Historical Society on Antarctica and showed pictures of the wreckage and started a friendship with Al and Cathy Hansen who expressed interest in recovering the airplane. Al and Cathy connected Andrea with Dick Rutan with whom she completed her instrument and commercial pilot training. The interest in the airplane grew and Ron Sheardown of Anchorage Alaska joined in.
 Bob Byrd Breyer at Norm Vaughn's 100th birthday party |
Antarctica and airplanes have a way of binding people together, and Ron Sheardown, Dick Rutan, Andrea Donnellan, Bob Oberto, and Bob Byrd Breyer, Admiral Byrd's Grandson, all attended Norman Vaughn's 100th birthday party in Telluride, Colorado. Norm Vaughn was the last surviving member and dog sled driver of Byrd's 1928-1930 expedition to Antarctica. Interestingly, both Norman Vaughn and Andrea Donnellan were 19 years old on their first expeditions to Antarctica. Talk of recovering the airplane continued and in August of 2007, much to her disappointment, Donnellan was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. She's found her support and friendship in that same group of people, who have decided to recover the first plane to land on Antarctica, while raising funds and awareness for Parkinson's.
