Everest from on High: British Imperial Aerial Expedition to the Himalayan Frontiers, 1932–1934

Abstract

The 1933 flight of the British Houston–Mount Everest Expedition over the summit of Everest was touted as a triumph of the Britannic imperium. This article explores the clamor for Everest in the interwar years in the political and diplomatic circles to better understand the rhetoric of staging an expedition to the frontiers of science. If the imperial investment in aerial expeditions was calculated to impress the colonial subjects of the authoritative might and reach of the British Empire, in the colonial records, the imperial agents appear as both hostages and instigators of the allure of Everest and the claim-making potential it harbored.