ADMIRAL BYRD:
The Truth Be Told

Richard E. Byrd (1888-1957)
American explorer, Adm. U.S.Navy

“Aviation will conquer the Arctic and the Antarctic…”, he said. Shortly after midnight on May 9, 1926, Richard E. Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennett lifted off a snow-packed runway on Spitsbergen Island and flew toward the North Pole. Nine hours and eight hundred miles later they reported reaching their destination. Recent evidence casts doubt on the claim that brought Byrd widespread fame.
Some journalists at the time questioned whether Byrd’s airplane could have made the trip in the flight time claimed by Byrd. After Byrd’s death his pilot confessed that he and Byrd merely circled the plane over the ice north of Spitzbergen until the appropriate time had elapsed, and then “returned from the Pole”.

A few days later an airship commanded by Nobile, Amundsen, and Ellsworh left Spitzbergen, flew over the North Pole and landed in Alaska.

In 1928-’30 he lead an expedition to the Antarctic. At that time he became the first person to fly over the South Pole. This achievement has never been contested.