 Concerned about Soviet postwar activities in the Arctic, the U.S. Air Force initiated B-29 reconnaissance flights over the Arctic region beginning in 1946, and, by 1951, the reconnaissance trips to the North Pole were being implemented on daily basis.During the reconnaissance flights, several large icebergs were discovered, and the following year of 1952, the Alaska Air Command established a project in order to establish a weather station on one of the icebergs and conduct geophysical and oceanographic research.Joseph O. Fletcher, who was the Commanding Officer of a U.S. Air Force weather squadron stationed in the Arctic right after the World War II, was placed in charge of the entire project.