First Flight Over Everest

As freezing winds whip through the open cockpit you can see the outline of that great mountain over your ill fitting oxygen mask. You try to concentrate on the peak but it is shrouded in a haze of snow flurries. The summit is barely visible but you aim for it, only to find that the plane won’t climb and you’re headed straight for the rocky face.  

For Honor 

Climbing and mapping the tallest mountains in the Himalayas was an achievement sought by several nations and empires. Of course the most sought after goal was reaching the top of Mount Everest, which was seen as the greatest achievement in mountaineering. Unfortunately for many this proved to be a much more difficult task than originally thought. Great Britain in particular showed much interest in reaching its summit. In the early to mid 1900s the British empire was aging and slowly crumbling, they needed to as many feats for their country as possible in order to boost national pride. Germany and its Nazi party also showed much interest in exploring and conquering the Himalayas in order to prove their superiority, but this only spurned the British on more and caused them to mount extensive expeditions to the trecherous region. 

There was also much scientific interest in the Himalayas and the behemoth Everest itself. Britain's Royal Geographical Society worked tirelessly to map the region and to discover how the magnificent mountain range had formed. Many geologists of the time did their stint in this region due to its sheer size and importance. 

Idea 

The idea to mount the summit by way of aircraft was originally pitched by a physiologist in 1918. He believed it would be a novel way to study how man’s body is affected by the change in altitude in a quick and semi controlled way. However the idea received substantial pushback by the mountaineering community, in particular the Royal Geographical Society who did not see it as honorable. Many also did not think that aircraft technology would be able to reach the altitude necessary. Admiral Mark Kerr, one of the founders of the Royal Air Force, claimed that it would be another 100 years before airplanes would be able to achieve such a feat. This was a time when aircraft were still largely made of wood and canvas and had an open cockpit. Later aircraft with pressurized cabins would not face these same issues. 

With expeditions in 1922 and 1924 to conquer the summit proving unsuccessful the idea of using aircraft to assist climbers slowly crept back. By 1933 another expedition was underway and a woman by the name of Lady Lucy Houston had a plan to assist the climbers. Lady Houston was an eccentric philanthropist with a particular interest in aviation. She funded the entire project (not the climbing expedition but the airplane expedition) and enlisted the help of retired Major L V Stewart Blacker who would plan the whole endeavor and help her overcome some hurdles in the process. 

Sir Douglas who piloted the lead plane. Courtesy of Undiscovered Scotland.

First Blacker persuaded the Royal Geographical Society that information about the mountain gained by flight would be helpful to the climbers below. Next he had to receive permission from the Air Ministry, the India Office, and the Nepali government to allow their expedition into the area. Access to the Himalayas was heavily restricted at this time for a multitude of reasons, the main one being that there were too many people trying to explore the region. During this time he also made plans for shipping the planes to the region and selected who would participate in the flight. After all accommodations were made the 1933 Houston Mount Everest Expedition made its way to the Himalayas. 

The Flight 

In Bihar, India at the Lal Balu airstrip sat the Houston-Westland and Westland-Wallace biplanes, ready for the ascent. The open cockpit two seater planes were each equipped with a supercharged nine-cylinder radial Bristol Pegasus engine that was capable of reaching 34,000 feet. Both also housed a rudimentary oxygen delivery system for the pilot and observer, not perfect by any means but certainly enough to keep the men conscious and alert. They only carried enough fuel for 15 minutes of flying in order to cut down on weight as much as possible. In the way of photography equipment, the lead plane held a fully automated Eagle III Williamson aerial camera that would take the first pictures of Everest. The lead plane, the Houston-Westland, would be piloted by Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, the 14 Duke of Hamilton, with Stewart Blacker being his observer. The following plane, the Westland-Wallace, would be piloted by  Lieutenant David McIntyre with S.R. Bennet as his observer. 

The Bristol Pegasus engine used in the planes. Courtesy of Brooklands Museum.

On the morning of April 3, 1933 the four men donned their heated electric multilayered sheepskin flight suits and climbed into the supercharged planes. At approximately 8:30 AM they took off and made their way toward the summit. Icy, 100 mph winds smacked the men's faces while Everest’s infamously unpredictable weather concocted a surprise for them. They reached their target altitude of 33,000 feet, 4,000 feet higher than Everest’s summit, and reported temperatures of negative 50 degrees fahrenheit. As they neared the summit a sudden downdraft hit both planes and drastically lowered their altitude. The pilots of each frantically fought to regain their position as they drew closer and closer to the mountain, but the winds were too strong. Nearly crashing into Everest’s face, they were narrowly saved at the last minute when an equally strong updraft lifted them back up. They skimmed Everest’s summit and became the first to see the mountain in all its glory. Only clearing the top by 100 feet, Sir Douglas later stated that they had made it over, “by a more minute margin than he cared to think about, now or ever.” 

The lead Houston-Westland as photographed from the following Westland-Wallace. Courtesy of National Geographic.

Ecstatic they returned to the airfield, only to be disappointed when finding out that the pictures taken were no good. Apparently dust had built up on the camera's lens and obscured the photos. The men wanted to make another run but Air Commodore Peregrine Fellowes, the expedition’s leader, said that the unpredictable weather made a second flight too risky. However, that did not stop the daring team. Sixteen days later on April 19, in an act of defiance the men took off once again, determined to procure usable photos. This time they successfully flew over the summit without much issue, delightfully noting that there was a steady stream of snow blowing over the mountains. 

They finally took good pictures that would now be useful to geologists and future expeditions. They would even be used 20 years later when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to successfully climb Mount Everest. 

Picture of Everest taken by the planes. Courtesy of Mirror news.

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Personal Thoughts 

I’m always interested in exploration and early aviation so this was a nice little subject to study. Unfortunately I was unable to find as much information on certain parts as I would have liked, I may come back and update this in the future. At least that The Last Englishmen book came in handy for something. 

Sources

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/4/130419-mount-everest-aviation-flight-tibet-adventure-world/

https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2013/apr/03/first-flight-over-everest-physiology

https://www.britannica.com/place/Mount-Everest/Early-expeditions

Book, The Last Englishmen by Deborah Baker