Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
British North Greenland Expedition, 1952-1954
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- BNGE
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1952 -1954
History
The British North Greenland Expedition was the first large scale British led expedition covering the Greenland Ice Sheet. Led by Commander James Simpson, between 1952 and 1954 the expedition had a wide range of aims and objectives including developing understanding of geological mapping, meteorology, polar medicine, and polar logistics.
Across the expedition 30 men participated. Most were members of the military, with the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Army all being represented, with the remainder, non-military scientists. Many of the participants involved went on to have notable careers in exploration, academia, after the expedition, several members participated in the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1955-1958. Some of the those figures included Captain Mike Banks who later wrote a book about the expedition and went on to participate in further expeditions and Peter John Whyllie, a geologist who went on to have a notable academic career in the field. Also involved was Hal (Harold) Lister who had a notable career as a glaciologist and academic including a career at Newcastle University and Stan Paterson who also went on to have a successful academic career in glaciology after the expedition.
The expedition established it's main base at Britannia Lake for the duration of the expedition with a field base at Northice. Two field teams traversed the ice undertaking work including measuring the ice sheet, gravimetry and meteorology. A mixture of dogs and sleds and Weasel tracked military vehicles were used for transportation around the ice sheet. As well as maintaining radio communications between the individual elements of the expedition, the expedition maintained radio communications with a base in London (known as PakIce) and staff at the Danish and US Air Force base at Thule. Resupply missions were carried out by parachute drop from airplane and overland from Thule. Overall the expedition acted as a test-bed and development opportunity for practices that would be used in later polar expeditions by Britain and other countries.
While the mission was largely successful in achieving it's many broad scientific aims, there were failures too. Perhaps the most notable was the crash of an aircraft onto the ice-sheet during an early re-supply mission in September 1952, which resulted in the loss of the craft and several injured crew who had to shelter in the wreckage until a successful rescue airlift attempt. There was one fatality amongst expedition staff, Captain Hans Jenson died in an accident while working in the field. Near misses included fires in the engine room of a base which was extinguished before it caused significant damage, and breakdowns and accidents involving the Weasel tracked vehicles which were used for travel on the ice sheet.
Places
Greenland