Floyd Bennett

Floyd Bennett (October 25, 1890 – April 25, 1928) was an American aviator who piloted Richard E. Byrd on his failed attempt to reach the North Pole in 1926.

Biography
Bennett was born in Warrensburg, New York, in 1890. He was an automobile mechanic before he enlisted in the Navy in 1917, during World War I. Bennett was warranted as a machinist, then he attended flight school and learned to fly. Bennett served with Richard E. Byrd on an aviation survey of Greenland in 1925, on which Byrd came to respect his ability as a pilot.

Byrd named Bennett as his pilot for an attempt to reach the North Pole by air in 1926. Bennett was at the controls on May 9 as the two men made their attempt, in a Fokker Tri-motor called the Josephine Ford. They returned to their airfield in Spitsbergen on the same day. Although members of the European press were skeptical of their claim (because it seemed that the plane had been away from Spitsbergen too briefly to have reached the North Pole), Byrd and Bennett were lionized as heroes in America. Bennett received the Medal of Honor for this feat. The subsequent discovery of Byrd's diary of the flight, with erased (but still legible) sextant readings, has shown that they could not possibly have reached the North Pole (see Bernt Balchen). After returning to the United States, Bennett flew the Josephine Ford on a goodwill tour of America, with Balchen as his co-pilot.

Byrd and his team had been leading candidates to win the large Orteig Prize in 1927, to be awarded for the first nonstop flight between France and the United States. Once again, Byrd named Bennett as his pilot for the attempt. However, Bennett was seriously injured during a practice flight and the airplane (a Fokker F-VIIb-3m named America) was badly damaged when it crashed on take-off. Byrd and his fellow pilot George O. Noville were also slightly injured in the crash. Following this failure by Bennett and Byrd, Charles Lindbergh won the Orteig Prize, flying from Long Island, New York, nonstop to Paris, France.

Bremen Flyers
The crew of the Bremen were stranded in Greenly Island, Canada following a non-stop flight attempt from Europe. Floyd Bennett and Bernt Balchen flew a Ford Trimotor to provide relief to the downed pilots. Bennett had developed pneumonia following his previous crash. Bennett succumbed to his fever while in flight on April 25, 1928. Balchen flew the remaining eight hours, and he was paid $10,000 for the effort, an amount that was passed to Bennett's widow. Bennett's remains were buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Honors
Two airports in New York are named in honor of Floyd Bennett: Floyd Bennett Field, New York City's first municipal airport, and Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Queensbury, New York, near his birthplace. The destroyer USS Bennett (DD-473) is also named in his honor. On his flight to the South Pole in 1929, Byrd named his Ford Tri-motor airplane the Floyd Bennett in his honor. In his hometown of Warrensburg is the Floyd Bennett Park and Bandstand.

Medal of Honor citation
Rank and organization: Machinist, U.S. Navy. Born: October 25, 1890, Warrensburg, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. Other Navy award: Distinguished Service Medal.

Citation:

"For distinguishing himself conspicuously by courage and intrepidity at the risk of his life as a member of the Byrd Arctic Expedition and thus contributing largely to the success of the first heavier-than-air flight to the North Pole and return."