A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are regarded by some as the first aircraft carriers and appeared just before the First World War.
Thurston Island is a largely ice-covered, glacially dissected island, 135 nautical miles long and 55 nautical miles wide, lying between Amundsen Sea and Bellingshausen Sea a short way off the northwest end of Ellsworth Land, Antarctica. The island is separated from the mainland by Peacock Sound, which is occupied by the west portion of Abbot Ice Shelf.
Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947,, was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV. The operation was organized by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Jr., USN, Officer in Charge, Task Force 68, and led by Rear Admiral Ethan Erik Larson, USN, Commanding Officer, Task Force 68. Operation HIGHJUMP commenced 26 August 1946 and ended in late February 1947. Task Force 68 included 4,700 men, 70 ships, and 33 aircraft.
The Martin PBM Mariner is a twin-engine American patrol bomber flying boat of World War II and the early Cold War era. It was designed to complement the Consolidated PBY Catalina and PB2Y Coronado in service. A total of 1,366 PBMs were built, with the first example flying on February 18, 1939, and the type entering service in September 1940, with the last of the type being retired in 1964.
The Walker Mountains are a range of peaks and nunataks which are fairly well separated but trend east–west to form the axis, or spine, of Thurston Island in Antarctica.
USS Pine Island (AV-12), a Currituck-class seaplane tender, is the only ship of the United States Navy to hold this name. The ship was named after Pine Island Sound.
USS Burton Island (AG-88) was a United States Navy Wind-class icebreaker that was later recommissioned in the United States Coast Guard as the USCGC Burton Island (WAGB-283). She was named after an island near the coast of Delaware.
George John Dufek was an American naval officer, naval aviator, and polar expert. He served in World War II and the Korean War and in the 1940s and 1950s spent much of his career in the Antarctic, first with Admiral Byrd and later as supervisor of U.S. programs in the South Polar regions. Rear Admiral Dufek was the director of the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia after his retirement from the Navy in 1959.
Ivanoff Head is a small rocky headland, or probable island, which lies along the coast and is partly overlain by continental ice, situated 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the Hatch Islands at the head of Vincennes Bay, Antarctica. The feature was first mapped from aerial photographs taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47, and was named "Brooks Island" by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names in 1956. The name Ivanoff Head, inadvertently applied by Australia in 1961, has succeeded the earlier name in general use and is now recommended. Helicopter landings were made here by Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions from the Magga Dan in February 1960. The feature was used as a rescue base when a helicopter crashed nearby, and was named after Captain P. Ivanoff, the pilot of the crashed helicopter.
Noville Peninsula is a high ice-covered peninsula about 30 nautical miles long, between Peale Inlet and Murphy Inlet on the north side of Thurston Island, Antarctica.
Tribby Peak is a peak 1.5 nautical miles west of Mount Bubier on Edwards Peninsula, Thurston Island. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) after Osborne M. Tribby, the Pharmacist's Mate in the Eastern Group of U.S. Navy Operation Highjump and an aircrewman on the PBM Mariner flight to Noville Peninsula on January 11–12, 1947, in which survivors of the December 30 PBM crash were rescued and returned to the seaplane tender Pine Island.
Miles Island is a rocky island six kilometres long, lying just north of Booth Peninsula in the Mariner Islands, Antarctica. It was mapped from air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump in 1946–1947, and was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for R.A. Miles, an air crewman on Operation Highjump photographic flights in this area and other coastal areas between 14° and 164° East longitude.
Mount Howell is a mountain 3 nautical miles (6 km) south-southwest of Mount Borgeson in the Walker Mountains of Thurston Island, Antarctica. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after Lieutenant Commander John D. Howell, a pilot and airplane commander in the Eastern Group of U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, which obtained aerial photographs of this mountain and coastal areas adjacent to Thurston Island in 1946–47. Commander Howell landed a PBM Mariner seaplane in the open water of eastern Glacier Bight on January 11, 1947 to rescue six survivors of a December 30 Mariner crash on Noville Peninsula.
The Mariner Islands are a group of rocky islands and rocks forming the north-central group of the Highjump Archipelago, bounded by Edisto Channel on the west, Gossard Channel on the south, and Remenchus Glacier on the east. They were mapped from air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47, and named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names to commemorate the discovery of a large ice-free region at the west end of the Knox Coast by the crew of a Martin PBM Mariner seaplane commanded by D.E. Bunger. During photographic reconnaissance of this coastal area in January 1947, the aircraft landed on one of the inlets indenting the Bunger Hills and ground-level photographs and water samples were obtained at that time.
Air Development Squadron Six was a United States Navy Air Development Squadron based at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Established at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland on 17 January 1955, the squadron's mission was to conduct operations in support of Operation Deep Freeze, the operational component of the United States Antarctic Program.
Antarctic Development Squadron Six was a United States Navy air test and evaluation squadron based at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California with forward operating bases at Christchurch, New Zealand and McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
VP-50 was a long-lived Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy, having held that designation for 39 years from 1953 to 1992. Its nickname was the Blue Dragons. Originally established as VP-917 on 18 July 1946, redesignated Medium Patrol Squadron (Landplane) VP-ML-67 on 15 November 1946, redesignated VP-892 in February 1950, redesignated VP-50 on 4 February 1953 and disestablished on 30 June 1992.
VP-44 was a Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy. It was established as VP-204 on 15 October 1942, redesignated as Patrol Bombing Squadron VPB-204 on 1 October 1944, redesignated as VP-204 on 15 May 1946, redesignated as VP-MS-4 on 15 November 1946, redesignated as VP-44 on 1 September 1948 and disestablished on 20 January 1950. It was the third squadron to be assigned the VP-44 designation. The first VP-44 had that designation from 1 July 1940 to 6 January 1941. The second VP-44 had that designation from 3 June 1941 to 1 October 1944. A fourth VP-44 was established on 29 January 1951 and disestablished on 28 June 1991.
VP-40 was a Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy. The squadron was established as Patrol Squadron 55 (VP-55) on 1 August 1940, redesignated Patrol Squadron 74 (VP-74) on 1 July 1941, redesignated Patrol Bombing Squadron 74 (VPB-74) on 1 October 1944, redesignated Patrol Squadron 74 (VP-74) on 15 May 1946, redesignated Medium Patrol Squadron (Seaplane) 10 (VP-MS-10) on 15 November 1946, redesignated Patrol Squadron 40 (VP-40) on 1 September 1948 and disestablished on 25 January 1950.
