Circumnavigation of the Globe - History - AVweb

From Trona to the Poles

By Chris Austin, Rick Durden

As winter unveils its hand across the nation, it seems appropriate to take a look at one of the last of aviation’s “firsts,” the aerial circumnavigation of our globe via the Poles. The first flight around the world was made in 1924 by a U.S. Army team. The North Pole was overflown in 1926 by the airship Norge with Umberto Nobile, Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth, among others (an attempt by Floyd Bennett and Richard Byrd a few days earlier in a Fokker Trimotor had not made it although it was long, wrongly, given credit as the first).  The legendary Bernt Balchen flew Richard Byrd and two other crewmen over the South Pole in a Ford 4-AT Trimotor in 1929. (Twenty years later Balchen would become the first fly an aircraft over both Poles, when he was in the pilot in command of a U.S. Air Force C-54 that circled the North Pole in the middle of a flight from Fairbanks, Alaska to Thule, Greenland.) However, the combination of tremendous overwater distances and potential for horrendous weather meant that no one managed to fly around the world over the Poles until more than 60 years after the Wrights made their first flights. And it took a jet, with its ability to fly high and far, to pull it off for the first time. Looking back from the perspective of scheduled airline flights that currently cover over 7000 NM, and knowing that general aviation airplanes have now flown around the world via the Poles, it can be difficult to understand the risks that were taken and the planning that was necessary to make the first circumnavigation via the Poles. For a perspective on this, Chris Austin, son of one of the organizers and pilots on the first round-the-world-via-the-Poles flight wrote the following about the flight and the people involved, as told to him by his dad. If you’ve got access to one, it helps to have a globe as you read this as it’s otherwise tough to visualize the route and distances involved. Ed. The Idea Comes to Life On November 14th, it was 50 years since the first flight set out to circumnavigate the globe via the Poles. My father, Fred L. Austin, came up with the idea for this flight after attending a Wings Club meeting where the speaker had commented that all the “firsts” in aviation had been accomplished. He called his good friend and fellow TWA Captain Harrison Finch, told him his idea, and they were in business. Born in Los Angeles in 1914, Fred Austin grew up in the small Mojave Desert town of Trona, California, about 180 miles North of LA towards Death Valley. Trona didn’t have an official airport but it did have an area on the dry lake that surrounded the town that a few pilots used as an airstrip. As a young boy in the 1920’s, dad was known to run out of school when hearing an airplane approaching and flag them to this strip, which sometimes resulted in a quick ride “around the patch” for the young aspiring aviator. After attending high school and college in LA, Fred returned to Trona and flew charter flights, instructed, and did any other flying in order to build time. By 1937, he was living in the town of Avalon on Santa Catalina Island flying Douglas Dolphin Amphibians to Los Angeles for Wilmington-Catalina Airlines. The following year, he was hired by Transcontinental and Western Air—TWA (Howard Hughes would later change the name to Trans World Airlines). He completed ground school taught by aviation record setter and later author of the famous books Weather Flying and North Star Over My Shoulder, Bob Buck. After some flight training he headed to Burbank Airport, where his logbook shows 30 minutes in a DC-2 followed by 45 minutes in a DC-3, and he was signed off as a TWA First Officer. By the time the US was engaged in WWII, he had upgraded to Captain on the DC-2 & -3 and had joined the Air Transport Command.  Alaska was his first assignment, flying engineers down the Aleutian Chain and hauling supplies for the Alaska Highway, followed by a stint at Homestead Air Base in Florida to run the C-46 training base for the pilots getting trained to fly “The Hump.” After the war, my father assisted TWA with the start of its International Division.  He spent many years flying DC-4’s and Lockheed Connies, his favorite airplane, and worked his way up through TWA management. He had the opportunity to evaluate the later Constellations for TWA along with the Boeing 707, allowing him the opportunity to fly the Dash 80, the original 707 prototype.  He settled into the West Coast District Manager of Flying position until the early 1960s, when he sought a new challenge. Turning the Idea Into a Plan Captains Austin and Finch agreed to plan the first flight to circumnavigate the globe via the Poles, and took leaves of absence from TWA to work full time on the preparation.  First off would be the funding of the flight.  They figured out early on that scientific research would give purpose to the flight. In addition, they would invite big names to help generate attention during the flight. Col. Willard Rockwell, Chairman of the Rockwell-Standard Corporation, became the man with the money.  His company not only backed the flight, he went along. With the sponsorship, the effort became the Rockwell Polar Flight.  Captains Finch and Austin convinced Bob Prescott, President of the Flying Tiger Line, to donate the use of one of its 707-320 freighters for the trip. This aircraft would be named “The PoleCat”.  Bernt Balchen, the first pilot ever to fly as PIC over both Poles, accepted an invitation to come along.  Dr. William Lovelace, Founder of the Lovelace Clinic that was famous for the astronaut training program, became the in-flight doctor.   Media personalities Clete Roberts and Lowell Thomas, Jr. formed the journalism department for the flight. The crew chosen was made up of top-notch aviators.  One of the first selectees was Fred Austin’s old friend, Captain Bob Buck. Bob was, and always will be, the youngest pilot to fly cross country across the USA at age 16.  The Private Pilot age was raised the following year. As an airline captain, Buck had done pioneering weather research through much of a world during World War II. Many others were selected for their expertise. The Adventure Begins The media sendoff was from Palm Springs, California. From there, the flight positioned to Honolulu, Hawaii for the official start of the circumnavigation. The flight itself to Honolulu went,smoothly but they were soon informed that Bob Prescott’s son, who had been in Palm Springs for the sendoff, had boarded a Learjet for a flight to Van Nuys. The Lear flew into a mountain after takeoff and all aboard, including Prescott’s son, were lost. Prescott immediately flew home. Despite the tragedy, the polar flight went forward.  The Boeing 707-349C, with its four 18,000-pound thrust Pratt & Whitney engines, lifted off for London via the North Pole.  The Polecat had a 7400-mile range because of several 2000-gallon collapsible fuel bladders loaded into the fuselage. The “gas bags” also acted as comfortable beds for the crew. The flight to London did not take long to become exciting. A haze of electrical smoke in the cabin required the shutdown of all non-essential power. This included the Inertial Navigation System (INS), which was being tested for the first time over the Poles. The cause of the smoke was eventually attributed to a recirculation fan, but it still had killed the use of the INS over the North Pole. Reverting to navigation techniques in use well before INS was even dreamed of, the crew pressed on, over the Pole and to London. Trapped Although serious, the electrical system and INS issue was a situation that pilots understand and regularly work through using their skill and experience. The next situation was almost out of a bad novel and certainly did not allow a pilot to make a decision and fix the problem. In the terminal in London, four pilots entered an elevator to go to Operations, but it malfunctioned and stranded them. For four hours. Although many found it humorous, there was a circumnavigation speed record to be set and the elevator was not helping.  Eventually, after much discussion with maintenance personnel and help from a set of bolt cutters, they were freed and off on the next leg. After London, the next fuel stop was Lisbon, Portugal, then a long hop to Buenos Aires, Argentina where they took on a full load of fuel for the leg over the South Pole to Christchurch, New Zealand. All went smoothly as they arrived at the Pole and circled Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station a few times. From there every direction was north. An argument erupted between a few of the pilots as to which north was the correct one. It was agreed to defer to Captain Buck.  His guidance proved correct, and the flight was on track to Christchurch (which my father always stated was the prettiest place on earth that he had ever seen). From Christchurch, they launched on the last leg to Honolulu, arriving without incident. They traveled 26,710 miles in four days. They completed the first around the world flight via the Poles and, incidentally, broke the existing speed record for a circumnavigation by any route. Aftermath After the flight, my father left TWA and assisted the startup of what was to become the world’s largest commuter airline at the time, Golden West Airlines. After that, he became president of Shorts Aircraft USA, selling many 30 and 36 seat commuter aircraft in the USA.  He retired at the age of 76 and passed away at the age of 88 in 2003. His “fastest time around the world” record did not stand for long, but, as he once said, he would “always be the first to circumnavigate the earth via the polar route.” Chris Austin grew up in Newport Beach, California and currently lives in Keller, TX, where he is a First Officer on Boeing 757s & 767s for a major airline, the fifth one for whom he has flown after a career that has included co-owing a flight school and corporate flying. From a flying family, Chris is one of five siblings, three of whom are pilots.