Joseph O. Fletcher

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Joseph Otis Fletcher
Polar explorer
Spouse
Caroline Sisco Howard
​
​
(m. 1949)​

Joseph Otis Fletcher (May 16, 1920 – July 6, 2008) was an American

polar explorer.[1]

Biography

He was born outside of Ryegate, Montana on May 16, 1920, to Clarence Bert Fletcher. The family moved to Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl.[1]

Fletcher started studying at the

U.S. Army Air Corps and eventually became the deputy commanding officer of the 4th Weather Group, United States Air Force, stationed in Alaska.[2]

He married Caroline Sisco Howard on October 15, 1949.[1]

On March 19, 1952, his team landed with a

C-47 aircraft, modified to have both wheels and skis, on a tabular iceberg in the Arctic Ocean and established a weather station there, which remained staffed for 22 years before the iceberg broke up.[3] The station was initially known just as "T-3" but soon was renamed "Fletcher's Ice Island
".

On May 3, 1952, pilot

William P. Benedict and Fletcher as co-pilot[4] flew that plane to the North Pole, along with scientist Albert P. Crary, to become the first Americans to land and set foot on the exact geographic North Pole. Unknown to Fletcher and his team, a Soviet expedition had previously landed three Lisunov Li-2s at the pole on April 23, 1948.[5][6]

Fletcher left the Air Force in 1963. In later years, he held various management positions in meteorological institutions, including a post as director of the

NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
(OAR).

He received a doctorate from

University of Alaska in 1979.[1]

He retired in 1993. In 2005, he was awarded the honorary membership of the American Meteorological Society. The Fletcher Ice Rise in Antarctica was named for him.

He died on July 6, 2008, in Sequim, Washington at age 88.[1] He was buried in Resthaven Memorial Park in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Joseph Otis Fletcher". Archived from the original on November 28, 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-24. Joseph Fletcher was born outside of Ryegate, Montana, on May 16, 1920 the son of Clarence Bert Fletcher and Margaret Mary Mathers. ...
  2. Baltimore Sun
    . September 18, 1952. Retrieved 2012-11-24. Joseph O. Fletcher, deputy commanding officer of the 4th Weather Group, United States Air Force, will address the first meeting of the Baltimore chapter of the ...
  3. ISBN 9781579584368
    . The history of US drifting stations began with the T3 station, set up on an ice island in March 1952 by Joseph O. Fletcher of ...
  4. Polar Times
    , following a personal communication from Mr. Fletcher, a correction appeared stating that Benedict had been in charge of that flight. This is also confirmed by the interview Brian Shoemaker conducted with Fletcher in 1997 (link below).
  5. ^ Concise chronology of approach to the poles, Scott Polar Research Institute
  6. ISBN 9780595214549
    .

External links
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