Dufek Coast is that portion of the coast along the southwest margin of the Ross Ice Shelf

Ross Ice Shelf

The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...

 between Airdrop Peak

Airdrop Peak

Airdrop Peak is a twin-peaked mountain high at the north end of Commonwealth Range, Antarctica. It is the first prominent feature in Ebony Ridge when approached from the northwest. When New Zealand surveyors were making observations from the higher of the two peaks on December 11, 1959, an R4D...

 on the east side of the Beardmore Glacier

Beardmore Glacier

The Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest glaciers in the world, with a length exceeding 160 km . The glacier is one of the main passages from the Ross Ice Shelf through the Queen Alexandra and Commonwealth ranges of the Transantarctic Mountains to the Antarctic Plateau, and was one...

 and Morris Peak

Morris Peak

Morris Peak is a prominent peak marking the northwest end of the Duncan Mountains, at the east side of the mouth of Liv Glacier where the latter enters Ross Ice Shelf. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Lieutenant Commander H.C. Morris, U.S. Navy, commanding officer of the USS...

 on the east side of Liv Glacier

Liv Glacier

Liv Glacier is a steep valley glacier, long, emerging from the Antarctic Plateau just southeast of Barnum Peak and draining north through the Queen Maud Mountains to enter Ross Ice Shelf between Mayer Crags and Duncan Mountains. Discovered in 1911 by Roald Amundsen, who named it for the daughter...

. Named by New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee

New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee

New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee is an adjudicating committee established to authorize the naming of features in the Ross Dependency on the Antarctic continent. It is composed of the members of the New Zealand Geographic Board plus selected specialists on Antarctica...

 (NZ-APC) in 1961 after Rear Admiral George J. Dufek

George J. Dufek

George John Dufek was an American naval officer, naval aviator, and Arctic expert. He served in World War II and the Korean War and in the 1940s and 1950s spent much of his career in the Antarctic, first with Admiral Byrd and later as supervisor of U.S. programs in the South Polar regions...

 (1903–77), United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, who served under Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd

Richard Evelyn Byrd

Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr., USN was a naval officer who specialized in feats of exploration. He was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics...

 during United States Antarctic Service

United States Antarctic Program

United States Antarctic Program is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the continent of Antarctica. It co-ordinates research and the operational support for research in the region...

 (USAS), 1939–41, and as commander of the Eastern Task Force of U.S. Navy Operation Highjump

Operation Highjump

Operation Highjump , officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946-1947, was a United States Navy operation organized by RADM Richard E. Byrd Jr. USN, , Officer in Charge, Task Force 68, and led by RADM Richard H. Cruzen, USN, Commanding Officer, Task Force 68....

, 1946-47. He was Commander, U.S. Naval Support Force Antarctica (NSFA), 1954–59, a period in which the following American science stations were established: McMurdo Station

McMurdo Station

McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research center located on the southern 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 United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National...

, Little America V, Byrd Station

Byrd Station

Byrd Station refers to a research station established by the United States during the International Geophysical Year by the U.S. Navy during Operation Deep Freeze II in West Antarctica at 80°, 120°W...

, South Pole Station, Wilkes Station

Wilkes Station

Wilkes Station was an Antarctic research station established 29 January 1957 by the United States as one of seven U.S. stations established for the International Geophysical Year program in Antarctica...

, Hallett Station

Cape Hallett

Cape Hallett is a snow-free area on the northern tip of the Hallett Peninsula on the Ross Sea coast of Victoria Land, East Antarctica. A very large Adelie penguin rookery is located at Cape Hallett...

 and Ellsworth Station

Ellsworth Station

The Ellsworth Station was an Antarctic base established by the United States during the 1957 International Geophysical Year. The base was soon handed over to Argentina and subsequently abandoned and covered with ice in 1962.-History:...

. United States Navy ships, aircraft, and personnel under his command provided broad logistical support to research and survey operations, including aerial photographic missions to virtually all sectors of Antarctica. On October 31, 1956, Dufek in the ski-equipped R4D Skytrain aircraft Que Sera Sera (pilot Lieutenant Commander Conrad Shinn), flew from McMurdo Sound via Beardmore Glacier to make the first plane landing at the South Pole

South Pole

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...

. Dufek Head

Dufek Head

Dufek Head is an ice-covered headland northeast of Tyree Head in south Ross Island. The headland rises to at the east side of the terminus of Aurora Glacier. Named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names in association with Tyree Head, after Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, U.S. Navy ,...

, Dufek Massif

Dufek Massif

Dufek Massif is a range of peaks in the Pensacola Mountains of Antarctica, centered at . It covers and its highest point is England Peak . It is named for Rear Admiral George J. Dufek who participated in the exploration of the Antarctic in the mid-twentieth century. Dufek Coast, Dufek Head, and...

, and Dufek Mountain

Dufek Mountain

Dufek Mountain is a large mountain rising to , standing southwest of Mefjell Mountain in the Sør Rondane Mountains. Mapped by Norwegian cartographers in 1957 from aerial photographs taken by United States Navy during Operation Highjump, 1946–1947. The nmountain was named for RADM George J. Dufek,...

are also named for Dufek.