Operation Highjump
A year after World War II ended, the U.S. Navy mounted a massive-though hastily planned-mission to the bottom of the world.
- By Paul Hoversten
- Air & Space magazine, July 2007
Pine Island, anchored off Antarctica during Operation Highjump, prepare a PBM-5 Mariner for flight during a snowstorm. Operation Highjump
The three Navy airmen who in 1946 became the first U.S. casualties in Antarctica (see “Executive Editor Paul Hoversten asked Dian Olson Belanger, a historian of polar exploration and the author of Deep Freeze: The United States, the International Geophysical Year, and the Origins of Antarctica’s Age of Science (University Press of Colorado, 2006), to talk about Highjump and its legacy.
A & S: What was the significance of Operation Highjump?
Belanger: No U.S. naval expedition had been in Antarctica for 100 years before that, not since the [Charles] Wilkes expedition of 1838–42. Highjump was a significant illustration of the state of the world and the cold war thinking at the time. The nuclear age had just begun, and the real fears were that the Soviet Union would attack the United States over the North Pole. The Navy had done a training exercise there in the summer of 1946 and felt it needed to do more. The northern winter was coming, and Highjump was a quickly planned exercise to move the whole thing to the South Pole. Politically, the orders were that the Navy should do all it could to establish a basis for a [land] claim in Antarctica. That was classified at the time.
A & S: Admiral Richard Byrd, who led the Highjump expedition, had 13 ships, 23 aircraft, and 4,700 men. Quite a contingent.
Belanger: It was the largest naval expedition ever in Antarctica. Even the [Operation Deep Freeze] expeditions during the International Geophysical Year [in the 1950s] were a fraction of that. These were also newly released soldiers and sailors from World War II. And there were very few of those 4,700 who had any [polar] experience. So it’s a little odd that they would have conjured up so many. The leadership ranks were very thin, especially in the flying ranks.
A & S: Was Byrd able to accomplish all his objectives?
Belanger: No. Admiral Byrd by then was a minor player. His name was, of course, illustrious, and they wanted to make use of that. But in fact, while he had the titular control of the operation, the Navy really called the shots. From the research I’ve done, Byrd really wasn’t well. He never really recovered, according to people who knew him, from his time alone on the ice in 1934. As for the exercise, it was so brief and cobbled together. They were supposed to do a lot of photo mapping. But as one of the pilots, Conrad “Gus” Shinn [who flew Douglas R4Ds from the carrier USS Philippine Sea], told me, “We didn’t really know what we were doing. We didn’t know about precision flying or what we were looking at.”
A & S: The only casualties on Highjump were the three Navy men killed in the George 1 airplane crash in December 1946. Do you think the Navy should recover their bodies?
Related topics: Navy Cold War Era
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Comments (14)
I served on the USS Pine Island AV-12 1960-63.
It is the Sworn oaths of Naval heritage and Honor, that demands we bring our Sailors home.
Posted by Dennis McLaughlin on September 9,2008 | 09:44 PM
I read with great interest the article about Operation Highjump By Paul Hoversten. In other articles I found on the Web they mention that there was a Documentary movie prepared and released in 1948 about Operation Highjump; I have tried to find a place to buy it without success. The www.militarymovie.com site used to have it but now they don't. Does someone know where acn I get a copy of the film?
Best regards,
Enrique Setaro / Miami, FL
Posted by Enrique Setaro on September 20,2008 | 01:47 PM
My father participated in Operation Highjump, as an aircraft machinist/mechanic.
When I was 8 years old, he obtained a copy of the official navy films, on loan, and showed them to my 3rd grade class.
At the time, he was still a reservist or "weekend warrior," stationed at US Naval Station Atlanta (then based at Chamblee, GA, now Peachtree DeKalb Airport).
Posted by Ann Donnelly on October 16,2008 | 01:49 PM
My Dad, Robert A. Swisher Sr., was a Diesel Mechanic, on board the USS Mount Olympus, Admiral Byrd's Flagship.
He is still going strong at 81, and living in NJ. Dad's post-war Navy tour, and participation in the 1946-1947 Expedition, were his most memorable life achievements.
We are Extremely Proud of Dad!
Sons & Grandsons
Posted by Robert A. Swisher Jr. on December 16,2009 | 09:23 AM
My father was killed in a plane crash in Oct 1956. He was on a plane named boopsie.Tonight in my moms things I found a letter from Admiral Byrd that he sent to her when he was killed. I have been searching for info as I was only 1 year old when he was killed.
Posted by nora marze on March 31,2010 | 11:30 PM
My father, Lt.jg Robert P Heekin was a flight navigator and I believe he was on the USS Phillipine Sea.
There is a National Geographic Magazine dated October 1947 with a feature article about Hi Jump. Original copies of which are very easy to find on the web.
In 1948 "The Secret Land" won the Academy Award for full lengh feature documentary. A film crew traveled with Operation Hi Jump and the documentary was the result. I managed to track down a copy at Ohio State University, which houses Byrds Papers in the Byrd Polar Research Center - http://bprc.osu.edu/ The person I talked to wasn't sure if it was a complete original cut of the documentary but it didn't seem chopped up. I obtained a copy for approximately fifteen dollars several years ago.
Unfortunately my father died in 1983 but I was lucky enough to hear some stories about the expedition.
Posted by Colleen on April 13,2010 | 06:00 PM
my father was on the admiral Byrd expedition IN THE SOUTH POLE 1946.HE DID HIS BASIC TRAINING IN BAINBRIDGE MARYLAND SEPT 14 1946
Posted by SALVATORE PETER INDORATO on May 2,2010 | 04:33 PM
My husband, seaman Milton R Cooper was a navy diver on a destroyer during the Operation Highjump expidition. He made several investigatory dives with the team of divers. He is now almost 82 and hasn't forgotten the extreme cold.
Posted by Helen Cooper on June 2,2010 | 09:43 PM
* Operation Hijump
* History of Flight
* By Paul Hoversten
* Air & Space Magazine, July 01, 2007
The following was in the Comments section in response to the above article.
"My father, Lt.jg Robert P Heekin was a flight navigator and I believe he was on the USS Phillipine Sea. There is a National Geographic Magazine dated October 1947 with a feature article about Hi Jump. ------------- Unfortunately my father died in 1983 but I was lucky enough to hear some stories about the expedition.
Posted by Colleen on April 13,2010 | 03:00PM"
Her father was the navigator of the DC-3 airplane flying Admiral Byrd from the Carrier Phillippine Sea to Little America. Cmdr. Hawkes was the pilot and I was the copilot. I just came across this comment while searching the Web. Is there any way you can research this old article and forward me Coileen's address? Having been a close friend and fellow pilot of Bob, I'm sure she would enjoy the material I have about the expedition and her dad. Thank you. EDITORS' REPLY: Unfortunately, Colleen did not leave an email address.
Posted by Wendell Summers on November 1,2010 | 04:34 PM
"The three Navy airmen who in 1946 became the first U.S. casualties in Antarctica ""The only casualties on Highjump were the three Navy men killed in the George 1 airplane crash in December 1946" Neither of these statements are accurate. Seman Vance Woodall was the first casualty of Operation High Jump, killed unloading equipment from USS Yancey.
Posted by v haney on April 8,2011 | 03:08 PM
My grandfather was Lt. Sylvester Jess Linn, US Naval pilot and he served on this expedition, as well. I would love to talk to anyone who remembers him or served with him. He was lost when his patrol aircraft, a P2V2 (Neptune) #39340 crashed during a rocket firing training flight in the vicinity of Yokohama Bay, Oahu, HI, November 27, 1950.
My mother and I never knew him, but we have heard tell he was a wonderful man. My grandmother passed when I was 8, so I cannot ask her now either.
His Naval service began 3-15-1943. I have a letter from Byrd to my grandmother upon my grandfather's death, extending his condolences, and several pictures of him with the "Neptune" he flew. I also have a copy of his patch, which is the god Neptune on a flying turtle holding a trident in his left hand and a missile in his right. My email is sitheag@gmail.com Thank you.
Posted by Tracey Linn Buchanan on April 26,2011 | 03:07 PM
I have been researching my family history and found info that my great uncle was on the USS Philippine Sea during Operation Highjump. His name was Verbie Lowery. Just wondering if anyone out there knew him and what his role may have been onboard ship or where I can find this info.
Thank you. EDITORS' REPLY: You can contact whichever service he was in (U.S. Navy, e.g.), via it's Public Affairs Office, and they can help you research further.
Posted by Tracie on June 13,2011 | 10:56 PM
The 1948 documentary about Operation Highjump, "The Secret Land", can be accessed on YouTube. I accessed it in an external link in the Wikipedia references after the article on Operation Highjump.
Posted by I. Inglis on July 31,2011 | 09:39 PM
My father, Cdr. Harlin M. "Bud" Keister, participated in the exercise also. At the time, he was XO of the Philippine Sea's fighter squadron but as I understand it, he was somehow involved in flying with Adm. Byrd. Dad passed away back in '96 and I'm wondering if anyone knows more about this? As I understand it, Dad flew with Adm. Byrd off the Phil Sea, but I don't think he was multi-engine qualified at the time (he later became multi-engine qualified later on in his career and went on the become Operations Officer for AEWRON Eleven, which operated Lockheed Warning Stars (the Navy's airborne early warning reconnaissance variant of the triple-tailed Constellation). So I'm guessing that I misunderstood his role in the expedition, but I'm wondering if someone could help fill in the blanks for me.
Thank you.
Michael Keister
Posted by Michael Keister on November 17,2011 | 06:32 PM