As freezing winds whip through the open cockpit you can see the outline of that great mountain over your ill fitting oxygen mask. You try to concentrate on the peak but it is shrouded in a haze of snow flurries. The summit is barely visible but you aim for it, only to find that the plane won’t climb and you’re headed straight for the rocky face.

For Honor

Climbing and mapping the tallest mountains in the Himalayas was an achievement sought by several nations and empires. Of course the most sought after goal was reaching the top of Mount Everest, which was seen as the greatest achievement in mountaineering. Unfortunately for many this proved to be a much more difficult task than originally thought. Great Britain in particular showed much interest in reaching its summit. In the early to mid 1900s the British empire was aging and slowly crumbling, they needed to as many feats for their country as possible in order to boost national pride. Germany and its Nazi party also showed much interest in exploring and conquering the Himalayas in order to prove their superiority, but this only spurned the British on more and caused them to mount extensive expeditions to the trecherous region.

There was also much scientific interest in the Himalayas and the behemoth Everest itself. Britain's Royal Geographical Society worked tirelessly to map the region and to discover how the magnificent mountain range had formed. Many geologists of the time did their stint in this region due to its sheer size and importance.

Idea

The idea to mount the summit by way of aircraft was originally pitched by a physiologist in 1918. He believed it would be a novel way to study how man’s body is affected by the change in altitude in a quick and semi controlled way. However the idea received substantial pushback by the mountaineering community, in particular the Royal Geographical Society who did not see it as honorable. Many also did not think that aircraft technology would be able to reach the altitude necessary. Admiral Mark Kerr, one of the founders of the Royal Air Force, claimed that it would be another 100 years before airplanes would be able to achieve such a feat. This was a time when aircraft were still largely made of wood and canvas and had an open cockpit. Later aircraft with pressurized cabins would not face these same issues.

With expeditions in 1922 and 1924 to conquer the summit proving unsuccessful the idea of using aircraft to assist climbers slowly crept back. By 1933 another expedition was underway and a woman by the name of Lady Lucy Houston had a plan to assist the climbers. Lady Houston was an eccentric philanthropist with a particular interest in aviation. She funded the entire project (not the climbing expedition but the airplane expedition) and enlisted the help of retired Major L V Stewart Blacker who would plan the whole endeavor and help her overcome some hurdles in the process.