Though the 29,029-foot-high summit of Mount Everest was first conquered on foot by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary in 1953, it was conquered by air two decades earlier.
In April 1933, RAF squadron leader Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, otherwise known as Lord Clydesdale, led an ambitious attempt to fly over the summit of the world’s tallest mountain.
With the financial backing of philanthropist Lady Houston, the Houston Everest Expedition took off from an airstrip near Purnea, India at 8:25 a.m. on April 3, 1933.
Lord Clydesdale flew a modified Westland PV-3 biplane accompanied by Colonel Stewart Blacker. Following them in a Westland PV-6 was Flight Lieutenant David McIntyre and photographer S.R. Bonnett.
The flight would test not only the mechanical capabilities of the biplanes at dizzying altitudes, but also the endurance of the pilots in the thin and frigid air.
1933
Expedition members give a statement before departing London.
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Feb. 16, 1933
Lord Clydesdale heads to his plane as the expedition sets out from England.
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April 3, 1933
Lord Clydesdale and Colonel Stewart Blacker prepare to set out from the airport at Purnea, India.
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April 3, 1933
Colonel P.T. Etherton passes the expedition crew a bag of “Everest mail” before they set out for the mountain.
IMAGE: ULLSTEIN BILD VIA GETTY IMAGESAfter 30 minutes’ flying we passed over Forbesganj, our forward emergency landing ground forty miles from Purnea, and at a height of 19,000 feet Everest first became visible above the haze.LORD CLYDESDALE
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An infrared picture of Everest, taken from 100 miles away.
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The crew members were flying without the benefit of pressurized cabins, and relied on oxygen tanks to breathe.
At one point in the flight, Bonnett felt faint and experienced shooting pains in his stomach. He paused filming and sat down inside the cabin, where he discovered a gaping fracture in his oxygen line.
He quickly tied a handkerchief around the breach, and was able to resume his duties without losing consciousness.
Everest and Makalu, seen from the south.
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The summit of Everest.
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As the planes neared Everest, the deflection of winds off the mountain created a down current, which caused the planes to drop 1,500 feet as they struggled to climb skyward.
Despite the high winds, at 10:05 both planes soared a hundred feet over the summit. They spent another 15 minutes circling the roof of the world before beginning their journey back.
Lord Clydesdale was awarded the Air Force Cross for his leadership of the expedition, and the footage shot by Bonnett was cut into the Academy Award-winning documentary Wings Over Everest.
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Everest seen from the south.
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The expedition approaches Kanachenjunga from the south.
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The head of a glacier immediately under the Everest massif.
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Nearing the summit of Everest.
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The expedition flies over Kanachenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world.
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Everest, center, and Makalu, right.
IMAGE: ULLSTEIN BILD VIA GETTY IMAGESIt is a splendid achievement — not for any material gains, any additions to aeronautical knowledge that it brings, for it brings few or none, but simply because it was one of the few last great spectacular flights in aviation which remained to be done.THE GUARDIAN, APRIL 4, 1933
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