Okla-homey
4/6/2009, 06:23 AM
April 6, 1909: Peary's expedition reaches North Pole?
100 years ago today, American explorer Robert Peary accomplishes a long elusive dream, when he, assistant Matthew Henson, and four Eskimos reach what they determine to be the North Pole. Decades after Peary's death, however, navigational errors in his travel log surfaced, placing the expedition in all probability a few miles short of its goal.
http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/6668/70422917.png
Robert Peary. He thought he was there first.
Peary, a U.S. Navy civil engineer, made his first trip to the interior of Greenland in 1886. In 1893, the explorer began working toward the North Pole, and in 1906, during his second attempt, he nearly reached latitude 88 degrees north--only 150 miles from his objective.
http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/5180/peary02d.jpg
Peary in polar mode
In 1908, Peary traveled to Ellesmere Island by ship and in 1909 raced across hundreds of miles of ice to reach what he calculated as latitude 90 degrees north on April 6, 1909.
Although the achievement was widely acclaimed, Dr. Frederick A. Cook challenged Peary's distinction of being the first to reach the North Pole. A former associate of Peary, Cook claimed he had already reached the pole by dogsled the previous year. A major controversy followed, and in 1911 the U.S. Congress formally recognized Peary's claim.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6973/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz16.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
1907 Peary expedition
In recent years, further studies of the conflicting claims suggest that neither expedition reached the exact North Pole, but that Peary came far closer, falling perhaps 30 miles short.
http://img232.echo.cx/img232/4764/t3plane3hx.jpg
On May 3, 1952, an American scientific expedition commanded by a Sooner was the first group in history certain to have reached the North Pole.
On that day, a ski-modified U.S. Air Force C-47 piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O. Fletcher of Oklahoma and Lieutenant Colonel William P. Benedict of California became the first aircraft to land on the North Pole. A moment later, Fletcher climbed out of the plane and walked to the exact geographic North Pole, the first person in history to do so.
http://img232.echo.cx/img232/9803/jfletcher8gh.jpg
Standing alongside Fletcher on the top of the world was Dr. Albert P. Crary, a scientist who in 1961 traveled to the South Pole by motorized vehicle, becoming the first person in history to have stood on both poles.
No word of whether or not they encountered Santa or the Claus compound ;)
http://img142.echo.cx/img142/2623/insane7zo.jpg
100 years ago today, American explorer Robert Peary accomplishes a long elusive dream, when he, assistant Matthew Henson, and four Eskimos reach what they determine to be the North Pole. Decades after Peary's death, however, navigational errors in his travel log surfaced, placing the expedition in all probability a few miles short of its goal.
http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/6668/70422917.png
Robert Peary. He thought he was there first.
Peary, a U.S. Navy civil engineer, made his first trip to the interior of Greenland in 1886. In 1893, the explorer began working toward the North Pole, and in 1906, during his second attempt, he nearly reached latitude 88 degrees north--only 150 miles from his objective.
http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/5180/peary02d.jpg
Peary in polar mode
In 1908, Peary traveled to Ellesmere Island by ship and in 1909 raced across hundreds of miles of ice to reach what he calculated as latitude 90 degrees north on April 6, 1909.
Although the achievement was widely acclaimed, Dr. Frederick A. Cook challenged Peary's distinction of being the first to reach the North Pole. A former associate of Peary, Cook claimed he had already reached the pole by dogsled the previous year. A major controversy followed, and in 1911 the U.S. Congress formally recognized Peary's claim.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6973/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz16.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
1907 Peary expedition
In recent years, further studies of the conflicting claims suggest that neither expedition reached the exact North Pole, but that Peary came far closer, falling perhaps 30 miles short.
http://img232.echo.cx/img232/4764/t3plane3hx.jpg
On May 3, 1952, an American scientific expedition commanded by a Sooner was the first group in history certain to have reached the North Pole.
On that day, a ski-modified U.S. Air Force C-47 piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O. Fletcher of Oklahoma and Lieutenant Colonel William P. Benedict of California became the first aircraft to land on the North Pole. A moment later, Fletcher climbed out of the plane and walked to the exact geographic North Pole, the first person in history to do so.
http://img232.echo.cx/img232/9803/jfletcher8gh.jpg
Standing alongside Fletcher on the top of the world was Dr. Albert P. Crary, a scientist who in 1961 traveled to the South Pole by motorized vehicle, becoming the first person in history to have stood on both poles.
No word of whether or not they encountered Santa or the Claus compound ;)
http://img142.echo.cx/img142/2623/insane7zo.jpg