Biography

When he was younger, Wilkins studied engineering - but his true passions were photography and cinematography. In 1925, he asked for permission to fly from the Ross Sea across King Edward VII Land to Graham Land. However, the only way to gain money for this expedition was to fly around the Arctic region (between 1925 and 1928) - this earned both Wilkins and his friend Ben Eielson a place in the aviator's Hall of Fame. Later in 1928, he had enough funding to attempt a flight in Antarctica. On 16 November 1928, Wilkins and Eielson took off in the "Los Angeles" - they flew for about 20 minutes, but they had to land because of bad weather conditions. It still made history as the first powered flight in Antarctica, though. About a month later, the two men were ready for a longer flight. On 20 December 1928 they took off from Deception Island, flying for about 11 hours over the Antarctic Peninsula and along the eastern side. The covered over 2100 km and reached as far south as 71°20'S.

Wilkins's last trip to Antarctica came in 1957, as a guest of "Operation Deepfreeze". In 1958, Wilkins died of a heart attack. His body was cremated and the ashes were scattered over the North Pole.