ATLAS

VariantOMEGA-11-4-2Sheet 2 of 8 of the dossier Ice wall

Secret military bases beyond the wall

Highjump, Admiral Byrd and the 1959 Treaty read as proof of a guarded wall and forbidden access.

Black-and-white aerial photo: rows of dark pyramid-shaped tents on a flat snowfield, with stores and aircraft in the distance.
Aerial view of the tents of Little America IV, the base set up on the Ross Ice Shelf during Operation Highjump, around 1947 (US Navy, National Museum of Naval Aviation). U.S. Navy · public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Summary

This sheet gathers the stories that turn Antarctica into a guarded frontier. In the most widespread version of today's flat-Earth belief, NASA watches over the ice wall and government agencies fabricate the evidence of a round Earth. Operation Highjump is the favourite exhibit: a February 2024 Facebook video presented it as a military mission to find out what lay beyond the "ice wall", and other tales claim that Admiral Richard E. Byrd was driven away by saucers from the Hollow Earth, or sent to attack a secret Nazi base. Many believers also read the 1959 Antarctic Treaty as a ban on civilians, meant to stop anyone from seeing the other side.

The record tells a plainer story. Highjump, Byrd's fourth Antarctic expedition, ran from August 1946 to late February 1947 with 4,700 men, 13 ships and 33 aircraft; its tasks were to set up the Little America IV base on the Ross Ice Shelf and to train the US Navy in polar conditions. It stopped because winter was coming and the weather was getting worse. In an interview published in the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio on 5 March 1947, Byrd warned that the United States could be attacked by aircraft flying over the poles, a strategic lesson rather than a discovery. No evidence ties the operation to an ice wall, and neither a study in Polar Record nor Byrd's own papers support the Nazi-base and Hollow Earth versions.

What the thesis says

The sources show where these claims circulate, not that they are true.

  1. Thesis

    In the most widespread version of current flat-Earth theory, NASA guards the Antarctic ice wall that surrounds the Earth, and government agencies fabricate the evidence that it is round.

    • Modern flat Earth beliefs, Wikipedia
      According to the most widely spread version of current flat-Earth theory, NASA is guarding the Antarctic ice wall that surrounds Earth.
  2. Thesis

    A February 2024 Facebook video claims that Operation Highjump (1946–1947) was a military mission to find out what lay beyond the "ice wall" of Antarctica.

  3. Thesis

    Many flat-Earthers claim the 1959 Antarctic Treaty bars civilians from going there, so that no one can discover what lies on the other side.

  4. Thesis

    Related stories turn Highjump into a battle: Admiral Byrd was supposedly driven out of Antarctica by saucers from the Hollow Earth, or sent to attack a secret Nazi base.

Colour photo: a submarine with its conning tower makes its way through broken sea ice under a pale, hazy sky.
The US Navy submarine USS Sennet in Antarctic pack ice during Operation Highjump, 1947 (US Navy, National Museum of Naval Aviation). U.S. Navy · public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Verified facts

  1. Verified fact

    Operation Highjump, organised by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd as his fourth Antarctic expedition, ran from 26 August 1946 to late February 1947 with 4,700 men, 13 ships and 33 aircraft; its job was to set up Little America IV on the Ross Ice Shelf and train the Navy in cold conditions.

    • Operation Highjump, Wikipedia
      Operation HIGHJUMP commenced 26 August 1946 and ended in late February 1947.
    • Richard E. Byrd, Wikipedia
      Byrd's fourth Antarctic expedition was code-named Operation Highjump.
    • Opération Highjump, Wikipedia
      Elle fut lancée le 26 août 1946 et dura jusqu'en 1947.
  2. Verified fact

    In an interview with Lee van Atta published on 5 March 1947 in the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, Byrd drew lessons from the operation: the United States could be attacked by planes flying over one or both poles.

    • Operation Highjump, Wikipedia
      The interview appeared in the Wednesday, March 5, 1947, edition of the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio
  3. Verified fact

    There is no evidence Highjump was sent to investigate an "ice wall"; the expedition ended in late February 1947 because of the early approach of winter and worsening weather.

Play on YouTube (third-party content)
Unissued British Pathé footage of Admiral Byrd's 1946–1947 Antarctic expedition, Operation Highjump: task-force ships, an officer transferred by breeches buoy, an aircraft taking off from USS Philippine Sea and a flag raised over the ice (record dated 1947).
British Pathé