The Dufek Coast is that portion of the coast along the southwest margin of the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between hi ...

between

Airdrop Peak Airdrop Peak is a twin- peaked mountain high at the north end of Commonwealth Range, Antarctica. It is the first prominent feature in Ebony Ridge when approached from the northwest. When New Zealand surveyors were making observations from the h ...

on the east side of the

Beardmore Glacier The Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest valley glaciers in the world, being long and having a width of . It descends about from the Antarctic Plateau to the Ross Ice Shelf and is bordered by the Commonwealth Range of the Queen ...

and Morris Peak on the east side of

Liv Glacier Liv Glacier is a steep valley glacier, long, emerging from the Antarctic Plateau just southeast of Barnum Peak and draining north through the Queen Maud Mountains to enter Ross Ice Shelf between Mayer Crags and Duncan Mountains. It was discovere ...

. It was named by the

New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee (NZ-APC) is an adjudicating committee established to authorize the naming of features in the Ross Dependency on the Antarctic continent. It is composed of the members of the New Zealand Geographic Board pl ...

in 1961 after Rear Admiral

George J. Dufek George John Dufek (10 February 1903, Rockford, Illinois – 10 February 1977, Bethesda, Maryland) was an American naval officer, naval aviator, and polar expert. He served in World War II and the Korean War and in the 1940s and 1950s spent much ...

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, who served under Rear Admiral

Richard E. Byrd Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, p ...

with the

United States Antarctic Service The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the A ...

, 1939–41, and as commander of the Eastern Task Force of U.S. Navy

Operation Highjump Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947, (also called Task Force 68), was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV. The opera ...

, 1946–47. He was Commander of U.S. Naval Support Force Antarctica, 1954–59, a period in which the following American science stations were established:

McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Unit ...

Little America V Little America was a series of Antarctic exploration bases from 1929 to 1958, located on the Ross Ice Shelf, south of the Bay of Whales. The coordinates are approximate. Little America I The first base in the series was established in January 1 ...

Byrd Station The Byrd Station is a former research station established by the United States during the International Geophysical Year by U.S. Navy Seabees during Operation Deep Freeze II in West Antarctica. History A joint Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marin ...

South Pole Station South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

Wilkes Station Wilkes Station was an Antarctic research station established 29 January 1957 by the United States as one of seven U.S. stations established for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) program in Antarctica. It was taken over by Australia on ...

Hallett Station Cape Hallett is a snow-free area (Antarctic oasis) on the northern tip of the Hallett Peninsula on the Ross Sea coast of Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Cape Adare lies to the north. History In 1956, during Operation Deep Freeze II, was dam ...

and

Ellsworth Station Ellsworth Scientific Station ( es, Estación Científica Ellsworth, or simply ''Estación Ellsworth'' or ''Base Ellsworth'') was a permanent, all year-round originally American, then Argentine Antarctic scientific research station named after Amer ...

. United States Navy ships, aircraft, and personnel under his command provided broad logistical support to research and survey operations, including aerial photographic missions to virtually all sectors of Antarctica. On October 31, 1956, Dufek in the ski-equipped

R4D Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

aircraft ''Que Sera Sera'' (pilot Lieutenant Commander

Conrad Shinn Conrad may refer to: People * Conrad (name) Places United States * Conrad, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Conrad, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Conrad, Iowa, a city * Conrad, Montana, a city * Conrad Glacier, Washingt ...

), flew from

McMurdo Sound McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica. It is the southernmost navigable body of water in the world, and is about from the South Pole. Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841, and named it after Lt. Archibald McMurdo o ...

via Beardmore Glacier to make the first airplane landing at the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

Dufek Head Dufek Head () is an ice-covered headland northeast of Tyree Head in southern Ross Island. The headland rises to at the east side of the terminus of Aurora Glacier. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (2000) in association wi ...

Dufek Massif Dufek Massif, Augusto Pinochet Massif or Santa Teresita Massif is a rugged, largely snow-covered massif long, standing west of the Forrestal Range in the northern part of the Pensacola Mountains. It was discovered and photographed on January 13, 1 ...

, and

Dufek Mountain Dufek may refer to: * 3781 Dufek, a minor planet named after George Dufek * Dufek Coast in Antarctica, named after U.S. Rear Admiral George J. Dufek * Dufek Head, a headland in Antarctica * Dufek Massif Dufek Massif, Augusto Pinochet Massif or Sa ...

are also named for Dufek.

References

Coasts of the Ross Dependency {{DufekCoast-geo-stub