Lieutenant Commander James Florian Brandau, US Navy, retired, served multiple tours in Antarctica as a helicopter pilot as part of the U.S. Navy squadron

VX-6 Air Development Squadron Six (VX-6 or AIRDEVRON SIX, commonly referred to by its nickname, "puckered penguins") was a United States Navy Air Development Squadron based at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Established at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, ...

. Several geological features in Antarctica are named in his honor, and he is featured in the literature and lore from there.

Rescue of Guy Warren

On November 23, 1964, Guy Warren, a New Zealand researcher and leader of Project Two out of

Scott Base Scott Base is a New Zealand Antarctica, Antarctic research station at Pram Point on Ross Island near Mount Erebus in New Zealand's Ross Dependency territorial claim. It was named in honour of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Royal Navy, RN, leader ...

fell and badly broke his lower leg and was stranded on the northeast side of Allan Nunatak, just below the peak, at the head of

Mackay Glacier Mackay Glacier () is a large glacier in Victoria Land, descending eastward from the Antarctic polar plateau, between the Convoy Range and Clare Range, into the southern part of Granite Harbour. It was discovered by the South Magnetic Pole party o ...

. The injured man was in a tent about 10 yards from a small flat big enough to allow a helicopter to settle. Jack Twiss of the U.S. Antarctic Research Programme at

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 ...

responded with "our best pilot Lieut. James Brandau." Hayter, Adrian. The Year of the Quiet Sun: One year at Scott Base, Antarctica: a personal impression. Hadder and Stoughton, 1968, London, p. 76 Brandau took a second pilot and Dr. Bill Mixon from U.S.A.R.P. and Ivan MacDonald from Scott Base for the two-hour rescue mission. The leader of Scott Base, Adrian Hayter, recounted the rescue:

The pilot had dropped his party off, including the second pilot, at a lower altitude and taken the chopper alone to where Guy was under the tent. In the thin air (7,200 ft. on the altimeter) the machine at full revs only just hung in the air, and he had removed the others not only to lessen weight but because of the possibility of crashing.
The others had walked up to the tent, loaded Guy, and returned to a lower level to be picked up again, leaving Ivan to replace the casualty. The chopper would barely lift with the extra weight, and the pilot got it away by more or less tilting it off the brow of the pad and slithering down the hillside into thicker air. It was a demonstration of bravery and very great skill.

Naming Brandau Rocks

Project Two, as part of the

New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme The New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme (NZARP) was a research program that operated a permanent research facility in Antarctica from 1959 to 1996. It was created by the Geophysics Division of New Zealand's Department of Scientific and Indust ...

, was researching the geology and paleontology of the Allan and Carapace Nunataks. In honor of this rescue of Guy Warren, their Project Lead, the Allan Hills Expedition reconnoitered 1km west of

Carapace Nunatak Carapace Nunatak () is a prominent isolated nunatak, the most westerly near the head of Mackay Glacier in Victoria Land, standing southwest of Mount Brooke where it is visible for a considerable distance from many directions. It was so named by ...

and named

Brandau Rocks The Brandau Rocks are rock exposures west of Carapace Nunatak in Victoria Land. They were reconnoitered by the New Zealand Antarctic Research Program Allan Hills Expedition (1964), who named the rocks for Lieutenant Commander James F. Brandau, U.S ...

there in honor of Lt. Cmdr. Brandau, effective January 1, 1965.

Brandau Glacier

Effective 1 January 1966, the

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

named

Brandau Glacier Brandau Glacier () is a wide tributary glacier, long, flowing westward from an ice divide between Haynes Table and Husky Heights to enter Keltie Glacier just west of Ford Spur. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Lieute ...

for Lieutenant Commander Brandau, in honor of his service as a pilot with Squadron

Operation Deepfreeze Operation Deep Freeze (OpDFrz or ODF) is codename for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There w ...

1964 and 1965.

Brandau Vent

One of the volcanic vents in Mount Erebus is named the Brandau Vent. This was the subject of a 1970 study.

Brandau Crater

Brandau Crater () is an ice-free volcanic crater lying to the south of the snout of

Howchin Glacier Koettlitz Glacier is a large Antarctic glacier lying west of Mount Morning and Mount Discovery in the Royal Society Range, flowing from the vicinity of Mount Cocks northeastward between Brown Peninsula and the mainland into the ice shelf of McMurdo ...

on Chancellor Ridge,

Royal Society Range The Royal Society Range () is a mountain range in Victoria Land, Antarctica. With its summit at , the massive Mount Lister forms the highest point in this range. Mount Lister is located along the western shore of McMurdo Sound between the Koett ...

. It was named in 1994 by the

New Zealand Geographic Board The New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) was established by the New Zealand Geographic Board Act 1946, which has since been replaced by the New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Act 2008. Althoug ...

(1994) after Lieutenant Commander Brandau in recognition of this service in 1964 and 1965. It is part of the

McMurdo Volcanic Group The McMurdo Volcanic Group is a large group of Cenozoic volcanic rocks in the western Ross Sea and central Transantarctic Mountains areas of Antarctica. It is one of the largest provinces of alkaline volcanism in the world, having formed as a res ...

in the Erebus Volcanic Province.

Reports of his activities

Included below are newspaper reports of Brandau's activities, not clearly dated, found in the Facebook memorial group. Further details are welcome! * 1958: ''Mason City Pilot Escapes 'Copter Crash'': incident delivering food relief in Ceylon. He flew off the

USS Princeton (CV-37) USS ''Princeton'' (CV/CVA/CVS-37, LPH-5) was one of 24 s built during and shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the Revolutionary War Battle of Princeton. ...

under orders from President Eisenhower. The New York Times places this operation on January 2, 1958. * c. 1964-66: ''Lt. Comdr. Brandau saves Antarctic crews'': rescue of New Zealand scientists researching the

Weddell seal The Weddell seal (''Leptonychotes weddellii'') is a relatively large and abundant true seal with a circumpolar distribution surrounding Antarctica. The Weddell seal was discovered and named in the 1820s during expeditions led by British sealing ...

in the

Erebus Bay Erebus Bay () is a bay about wide between Cape Evans and Hut Point Peninsula, on the west side of Ross Island. The bay was explored by the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, under Robert Falcon Scott. It was named by Scott's sec ...

region. * 1968: Adrian Hayter, in ''The Year of the Quiet Sun'', cited in this article, mentions Mr. Brandau and the rescue of Guy Warren. * 1/2/1970: Mr. Brandau wrote to his double cousin Phyllis Mangold from Pole Stattion, Antarctica: "I'm looking forward to 1970 as I don't thnk I could take much more of 1969. So far this year I have cracked my skull and driven a burning helo down a mountain side, waiting in shirtsleeves in 20° weather to be rescued for 9 hours." James Brandau letter, postmarked 1/2/1970, to Mr. & Mrs. Lester Mangold. In the collection of the editor. * 1974:

Charles Neider Charles Neider (January 18, 1915 in Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire - July 4, 2001, in Princeton, New Jersey) was an American writer, known for editing the ''Autobiography of Mark Twain'' and authoring literary impressions of Antarctica ...

's ''Edge of the World: Ross Island Antarctica'', is dedicated to James Brandau. * 2002: ''Bull Catches Albuquerque Man'': Jim was gored by a bull in Pamplona during the running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in 2002. * 2002: ''Hemingway knew: sometimes the bull wins'': same event in Pamplona, 2002. An Iowa newspaper picked up on Jim's resemblance to Ernest Hemingway.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brandau, James F. Glaciers of Dufek Coast Operation Deep Freeze McMurdo Station New Zealand and the Antarctic New Zealand writers Outposts of the Ross Dependency Pamplona Rock formations of Oates Land Scott Base United States and the Antarctic Explorers of Antarctica 1933 births 2012 deaths