1926-2026 – Commemorating Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd and Pilot Floyd Bennett’s Centennial flight to the North Pole.
Photo: LARCH Collection: Floyd Bennett at Ticonderoga testing new skis on Lake Champlain for Cmdr. Byrd’s Antarctic Expedition.
Although in later years their flight became controversial and their competitor’s Norwegian team led by explorer Ronald Amundsen with his dirigible “Norge” are considered the actual first to fly to the North Pole and then continue their flight all the way across the Arctic to Alaska.
Floyd Bennett (1890-1928) was born in Warrensburg, NY and finished his education as an automobile mechanic. He worked in Ticonderoga at the People’s Garage in the same capacity. His military records show he enlisted in the USN in 1917 where he learned how to fly with a rating of Aviation Pilot. Bennett served with Richard Byrd on an aviation survey
of Greenland in 1925. It was at then that Cmdr. Byrd recognized his aviation abilities, later selecting him for his aviation venture to the North Pole the following year.
“Mercy Flight” Bennett and aviator friend Bert Belchen flew to Greenly Island, Canada to recuse “Bremen” German aviators who successfully flew the first east to west transatlantic flight that was damaged on its landing there. At the time a previous airplane crash was still recovering. He developed pneumonia and was rushed to a Canadian hospital where he died on April 25, 1928. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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