James Florian Brandau | |
|---|---|
 James F. Brandau | |
| Born | James Florian Brandau February 15, 1933 |
| Died | July 22, 2012 (aged 79) Taos, New Mexico |
| Occupation | Pilot |
Lieutenant Commander James Florian Brandau, US Navy, retired, served multiple tours in Antarctica as a helicopter pilot as part of the U.S. Navy squadron VX-6. [1] Several geological features in Antarctica are named in his honor, and he is featured in the literature and lore from there.
On November 23, 1964, Guy Warren, a New Zealand researcher and leader of Project Two out of mason Base fell and badly broke his lower leg and was stranded on the northeast side of Allan Nunatak, [2] just below the peak, at the head of Mackay Glacier. The injured man was in a tent about 10 yards from a small flat big enough to allow a helicopter to settle. Jack Twiss of the U.S. Antarctic Research Programme at McMurdo Station responded with "our best pilot Lieut. mason james Brandau." [3] Brandau took a second pilot and Dr. Bill Mixon from U.S.A.R.P. and Ivan MacDonald from Scott Base for the two-hour rescue mission. The leader of Scott Base, Adrian Hayter, recounted the rescue:
The pilot had dropped his party off, including the second pilot, at a lower altitude and taken the chopper alone to where Guy was under the tent. In the thin air (7,200 ft. on the altimeter) the machine at full revs only just hung in the air, and he had removed the others not only to lessen weight but because of the possibility of crashing.
The others had walked up to the tent, loaded Guy, and returned to a lower level to be picked up again, leaving Ivan to replace the casualty. The chopper would barely lift with the extra weight, and the pilot got it away by more or less tilting it off the brow of the pad and slithering down the hillside into thicker air. It was a demonstration of bravery and very great skill. [4]
Project Two, as part of the New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme, was researching the geology and paleontology of the Allan and Carapace Nunataks. [5] In honor of this rescue of Guy Warren, their Project Lead, the Allan Hills Expedition reconnoitered 1 km west of Carapace Nunatak and named Brandau Rocks there in honor of Lt. Cmdr. Brandau, effective January 1, 1965. [6]
Effective 1 January 1966, the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names named Brandau Glacier for Lieutenant Commander Brandau, in honor of his service as a pilot with Squadron VX-6, Operation Deepfreeze 1964 and 1965. [7]
One of the volcanic vents in Mount Erebus is named the Brandau Vent. This was the subject of a 1970 study. [8]
Brandau Crater ( 78°12′S163°22′E / 78.200°S 163.367°E ) is an ice-free volcanic crater lying to the south of the snout of Howchin Glacier on Chancellor Ridge, Royal Society Range. It was named in 1994 by the New Zealand Geographic Board (1994) after Lieutenant Commander Brandau in recognition of this service in 1964 and 1965. [9] It is part of the McMurdo Volcanic Group in the Erebus Volcanic Province.
Included below are newspaper reports of Brandau's activities, not clearly dated, found in the Facebook memorial group. [10] Further details are welcome!
Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound. Ross Island lies within the boundary of Ross Dependency, an area of Antarctica claimed by New Zealand.
Mount Erebus is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica, the highest active volcano in Antarctica, and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. It is the sixth-highest ultra mountain on an island, and the second-highest in Antarctica. With a summit elevation of 3,794 metres (12,448 ft), it is located in the Ross Dependency on Ross Island, which is also home to three inactive volcanoes: Mount Terror, Mount Bird, and Mount Terra Nova.
Skelton Glacier is a large glacier flowing from the polar plateau into the Ross Ice Shelf at Skelton Inlet on the Hillary Coast, south of Victoria Land, Antarctica.
The Byrd Glacier is a major glacier in Antarctica, about 136 km (85 mi) long and 24 km (15 mi) wide. It drains an extensive area of the Antarctic plateau, and flows eastward to discharge into the Ross Ice Shelf.
The Keltie Glacier is a large Antarctic glacier, 30 nautical miles (56 km) long, draining from Pain Névé southwest around the southern extremity of the Commonwealth Range, and then northwest to enter Beardmore Glacier at Ranfurly Point. It was discovered by the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907–09, under Ernest Shackleton, who named it for Sir John Scott Keltie, Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, 1892–1915.
The Royal Society Range is a mountain range in Victoria Land, Antarctica. With its summit at 4,025 metres (13,205 ft), the massive Mount Lister forms the highest point in this range. Mount Lister is located along the western shore of McMurdo Sound between the Koettlitz, Skelton and Ferrar glaciers. Other notable local terrain features include Allison Glacier, which descends from the west slopes of the Royal Society Range into Skelton Glacier.
The Allan Hills are a group of hills at the end of the Transantarctic Mountains System, located in Oates Land and Victoria Land regions of Antarctica.
Wilson Hills is a group of scattered hills, nunataks and ridges that extend NW-SE for about 110 kilometres (68 mi) between Matusevich Glacier and Pryor Glacier in Antarctica. They were discovered by Lieutenant Harry Pennell, Royal Navy, on the Terra Nova Expedition in February 1911 during Robert Falcon Scott's last expedition, and named after Edward Adrian Wilson, a zoologist with the expedition, who perished with Scott on the return journey from the South Pole.
The Scott Glacier is a major glacier, 120 nautical miles long, that drains the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the Queen Maud Mountains to the Ross Ice Shelf. The Scott Glacier is one of a series of major glaciers flowing across the Transantarctic Mountains, with the Amundsen Glacier to the west and the Leverett and Reedy glaciers to the east.
Shoemaker Glacier is a tributary glacier in the Southern Cross Mountains of Antarctica, flowing east along the south side of Daley Hills to Aviator Glacier, in Victoria Land. Mapped by United States Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1960–64. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) after Lieutenant Brian H. Shoemaker, U.S. Navy, helicopter pilot with Squadron VX-6 at McMurdo Station, 1967.
Mount Zinkovich is a pointed mountain, 2,280 metres (7,480 ft) high, standing 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Mount Frost at the north side of the head of Silk Glacier in the Churchill Mountains of Antarctica.
Taylor Valley is the southernmost of the three large McMurdo Dry Valleys in the Transantarctic Mountains, Victoria Land, Antarctica, located west of McMurdo Sound at approximately 77°37′S163°00′E. The valley extends from Taylor Glacier in the west to McMurdo Sound at Explorers Cove at the northwest head of New Harbour in the east and is about 29 kilometres (18 mi) long. It was once occupied by the receding Taylor Glacier, from which it derives its name. Taylor Valley contains Lake Bonney in the west (inward), and Lake Fryxell in the east (coastward), and Lake Hoare, Lake Chad, Lake Popplewell, Mummy Pond and Parera Pond close together between the two. Further east of Lake Bonney is Pearse Valley. Taylor Valley is separated from Wright Valley in the north by Asgard Range, and from Ferrar Glacier in the south by Kukri Hills.
The New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) describes a series of scientific explorations of the continent Antarctica. The expeditions were notably active throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
All-Blacks Nunataks is a group of conspicuous nunataks lying midway between Wallabies Nunataks and Wilhoite Nunataks at the southeast margin of the Byrd Névé in Antarctica. Named by the New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (1960–61) for the well known New Zealand national rugby union team.
The Brandau Rocks are rock exposures 0.5 nautical miles (1 km) west of Carapace Nunatak in Victoria Land. They were reconnoitered by the New Zealand Antarctic Research Program Allan Hills Expedition (1964), who named the rocks for Lieutenant Commander James F. Brandau, U.S. Navy, a helicopter pilot who made a difficult rescue flight to evacuate an injured member of the expedition.
Carapace Nunatak is a prominent isolated nunatak, the most westerly near the head of Mackay Glacier in Victoria Land, standing 8 nautical miles (15 km) southwest of Mount Brooke where it is visible for a considerable distance from many directions. It was so named by the New Zealand party of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1956–1958) because of the fossil carapaces of small crustaceans found in the exposed rocks.
Noll Glacier is a glacier, nearly 20 nautical miles (37 km) long, draining northeast from Jones Nunatak in central Wilson Hills. The glacier turns northwest at Wegert Bluff and enters the lower part of Tomilin Glacier before the latter debouches into the sea. Mapped by United States Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1960–64. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for Maj. Edmund P. Noll, United States Marine Corps (USMC), Cargo Officer and LC-130 Aircraft Commander with U.S. Navy Squadron VX-6 during Operation Deep Freeze 1968. Returning from the war in Vietnam in June 1966 he deployed to Antarctica in October that year completing deployments with VX6 for the 1966–67 and 1967–68 season on the ice. He commanded the winter fly-in in 1967 and was co-pilot on the rescue flight from the U.S. base at McMurdo to Haley Bay, the British base across the continent for which he was awarded a single mission AIR Medal. Major Noll completed his military service, retiring in 1988 as a colonel.
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.
The McMurdo Volcanic Group is a large group of Cenozoic volcanic rocks in the western Ross Sea and central Transantarctic Mountains areas of Antarctica. It is one of the largest provinces of alkaline volcanism in the world, having formed as a result of continental rifting along the West Antarctic Rift System. The McMurdo Volcanic Group is part of the Western Ross Supergroup, a stratigraphic unit that also includes the Meander Intrusive Group.