He married Caroline Sisco Howard on October 15, 1949.[1]
On March 19, 1952, his team landed with a C-47 aircraft, modified to have both wheels and skis, on a tabular iceberg in the Arctic Ocean and established a weather station there, which remained staffed for 22 years before the iceberg broke up.[3] The station was initially known just as "T-3" but soon was renamed "Fletcher's Ice Island".
On May 3, 1952, pilot William P. Benedict and Fletcher as co-pilot[4] flew that plane to the North Pole, along with scientist Albert P. Crary, to become the first Americans to land and set foot on the exact geographic North Pole. Unknown to Fletcher and his team, a Soviet expedition had previously landed three Lisunov Li-2s at the pole on April 23, 1948.[5][6]
Fletcher left the Air Force in 1963. In later years, he held various management positions in meteorological institutions, including a post as director of the NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR).
^ abcde"Joseph Otis Fletcher". Archived from the original on November 28, 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-24. Joseph Fletcher was born outside of Ryegate, Montana, on May 16, 1920 the son of Clarence Bert Fletcher and Margaret Mary Mathers. ...
^"Meteorologists To Hear Colonel". Baltimore Sun. September 18, 1952. Retrieved 2012-11-24. Joseph O. Fletcher, deputy commanding officer of the 4th Weather Group, United States Air Force, will address the first meeting of the Baltimore chapter of the ...
^The original article in The Polar Times stated that Fletcher was the pilot, but in the Fall/Winter 1997 issue of the Polar Times, following a personal communication from Mr. Fletcher, a correction appeared stating that Benedict had been in charge of that flight. This is also confirmed by the interview Brian Shoemaker conducted with Fletcher in 1997 (link below).
