The Life Story of Hubert Wilkins, Australian Polar Explorer and Aviator
Hubert Wilkins (1888–1958) was an Australian polar explorer and aviator who made the first west-to-east Arctic aerial crossing. Born in Mount Bryan East, Australia, on Oct. 31, 1888, George Hubert Wilkins was educated in electrical engineering at the School of Mines and Industries in Adelaide, after which he took up photography and learned the fundamentals of flying.
As a newsreel photographer, he covered (1912–1913) the Balkan War for British newspaper and motion-picture concerns. The American explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson selected Wilkins as official photographer for the Canadian Arctic Expedition (1913–1917), and his loyalty and devotion to the aims of the expedition resulted in his promotion to second in command.
In September 1917, during World War I, Wilkins joined the Australian Flying Corps on the French front as a photographer. In 1919 he competed, unsuccessfully, for the London Daily Mail prize of $50,000 for a flight from England to Australia. Wilkins was second in command of the British Imperial Antarctic Expedition (1920–1921) and returned to the Antarctic in 1921 as naturalist on British explorer Ernest Shackleton's Quest Expedition. From 1923 to 1925 he headed an expedition to tropical Australia and neighboring islands for the British Museum.
On April 15, 1928, with Carl Ben Eielson as pilot, Wilkins flew from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Spitsbergen, Norway, a distance of 2,100 miles (3,400 km) in 20.5 hours. For this achievement, which was hailed as the greatest of all Arctic flights and helped pioneer the concept of great-circle-route flying, George V knighted him on June 14, 1928. He led the Wilkins-Hearst Antarctic Expedition in the fall of 1928, becoming the first to use an airplane in the Antarctic and the first to have flown over both polar regions. His 1,200-mile (1,900-km) round-trip flight down the coast of Palmer Peninsula, also piloted by Eielson, revealed many new geographical features.
In 1931 Wilkins went around the world in the airship Graf Zeppelin. During the same year he made the first under-ice explorations in the Arctic, making several short-distance penetrations in an antiquated U.S. Navy submarine renamed the Nautilus. Repeated breakdowns, however, forced him to abandon his attempt to cross under the pole.
From 1933 to 1939 Wilkins managed four of American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth's Antarctic expeditions. From 1942 until his death, on Dec. 1, 1958, in Framingham, Mass., he served as a consultant with various branches of the United States government, including the navy, the Weather Bureau, and the Army Quartermaster Corps. His ninth visit to the Antarctic was made during the International Geophysical Year's 1957–1958 season.
Wilkins wrote Flying the Arctic (1928); Undiscovered Australia (1929); Under the North Pole, The Wilkins-Ellsworth Submarine Expedition (1931); and, with Harold H. Sherman, Thoughts through Space, A Remarkable Adventure in the Realm of the Mind (1942).
As a newsreel photographer, he covered (1912–1913) the Balkan War for British newspaper and motion-picture concerns. The American explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson selected Wilkins as official photographer for the Canadian Arctic Expedition (1913–1917), and his loyalty and devotion to the aims of the expedition resulted in his promotion to second in command.
In September 1917, during World War I, Wilkins joined the Australian Flying Corps on the French front as a photographer. In 1919 he competed, unsuccessfully, for the London Daily Mail prize of $50,000 for a flight from England to Australia. Wilkins was second in command of the British Imperial Antarctic Expedition (1920–1921) and returned to the Antarctic in 1921 as naturalist on British explorer Ernest Shackleton's Quest Expedition. From 1923 to 1925 he headed an expedition to tropical Australia and neighboring islands for the British Museum.
On April 15, 1928, with Carl Ben Eielson as pilot, Wilkins flew from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Spitsbergen, Norway, a distance of 2,100 miles (3,400 km) in 20.5 hours. For this achievement, which was hailed as the greatest of all Arctic flights and helped pioneer the concept of great-circle-route flying, George V knighted him on June 14, 1928. He led the Wilkins-Hearst Antarctic Expedition in the fall of 1928, becoming the first to use an airplane in the Antarctic and the first to have flown over both polar regions. His 1,200-mile (1,900-km) round-trip flight down the coast of Palmer Peninsula, also piloted by Eielson, revealed many new geographical features.
In 1931 Wilkins went around the world in the airship Graf Zeppelin. During the same year he made the first under-ice explorations in the Arctic, making several short-distance penetrations in an antiquated U.S. Navy submarine renamed the Nautilus. Repeated breakdowns, however, forced him to abandon his attempt to cross under the pole.
From 1933 to 1939 Wilkins managed four of American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth's Antarctic expeditions. From 1942 until his death, on Dec. 1, 1958, in Framingham, Mass., he served as a consultant with various branches of the United States government, including the navy, the Weather Bureau, and the Army Quartermaster Corps. His ninth visit to the Antarctic was made during the International Geophysical Year's 1957–1958 season.
Wilkins wrote Flying the Arctic (1928); Undiscovered Australia (1929); Under the North Pole, The Wilkins-Ellsworth Submarine Expedition (1931); and, with Harold H. Sherman, Thoughts through Space, A Remarkable Adventure in the Realm of the Mind (1942).
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