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ML_bennett_bkp.htm
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Portrait of Floyd Bennett, taken when he was a Navy chief petty officer. (National Archives)
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Warrant Officer Floyd Bennett
Byrd's Self-Effacing, Intrepid Friend Piloted 1926 North Pole Flight
By Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Military.com Columnist
As the Fokker monoplane flew north, the triple engine's growl grew so intense that the two occupants communicated through hurried scrawls in a diary. It was May 9, 1926. Lt. Cmdr. Richard Byrd and his pilot, Warrant Officer Floyd Bennett, were attempting to make the first flight over the North Pole.
While people today remember Byrd's name, many do not know Bennett, who was equally celebrated by his contemporaries. Both men were lauded as heroes and awarded rare peacetime Medals of Honor for their daring flight through powerful Arctic winds, blinding polar glare, and subzero temperatures. Bennett was described as steady and unspectacular -- adjectives meant as compliments to his demeanor and skill as an aviator. "I don't want to talk anymore about that north polar thing," Bennett reportedly said. Byrd, who met Bennett at flight school in Florida, regarded the self-effacing aviation mechanic as his confidante and closest friend.
Bennett's humility may have reflected a belief that, despite the accolades and Byrd's claims of success, the duo may have turned back short of the pole. When fellow aviator Bernt Balchen asked how they did it, Bennett replied, "We didn't." The controversy endures. Naysayers point to discrepancies in the handwritten diary, while defenders cite the logbook, records, and calculations by a panel of scientists at the National Geographic Society.
In 1928, Floyd Bennett died of pneumonia following injuries he sustained while helping to rescue the crew of a downed German plane in Canada. He and Byrd had been about to embark on a mission to fly over the South Pole. Devastated by the loss of his friend and colleague, Byrd christened the plane for that endeavor the Floyd Bennett. |
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