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The Fokker Trimotor Josephine Ford survived mishaps and beat fierce competition to be the first aircraft to fly over the top of the world, carrying Richard E. Byrd into history.

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By Kenneth P. Czech

Icy winds swept across Spitsbergen, an island group on the Arctic Circle north of Norway. In May of 1926, Spitsbergen’s barren, frozen landscape erupted with activity as two international expeditions struggled to become the first to fly over the North Pole. Famed Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, teaming with American adventurer Lincoln Ellsworth and a mixed Italian and Norwegian crew, planned on flying an Italian-built dirigible, Norge. At the same time, an American party commanded by Richard E. Byrd was about to attempt the flight in a trimotor skiplane.

Exploring the Arctic by air was not exactly a new idea in 1926. Thomas Jefferson, after seeing a hot-air balloon flight in the late 18th century, predicted that man could search the polar regions by air. In 1897, Swedish balloonist Saloman Andrée perished in an attempt to fly across the North Pole. Another abortive quest was made in 1909 by American Walter Wellman in a dirigible. A 1925 expedition by Amundsen and Ellsworth, using Dornier-Wal twin-engine flying boats, nearly ended in disaster barely 160 miles from their goal.

While Amundsen and Ellsworth prepared for a new polar journey in the spring of 1926, a 37-year-old retired American naval officer, Richard Evelyn Byrd, was convinced he would be the first man to fly over the North Pole. He had already gained some Arctic flight experience by being the first to fly over the great icecap that covered much of Greenland. Byrd understood that planning and preparation could somewhat offset the multitude of dangers at the top of the world. “The easiest way a man can make a monkey of himself,” he told a journalist, “is to take up Arctic explorational work by airplane.”

Among the dangers Byrd had to contend with were powerful Arctic winds that could easily throw a plane off course. Navigating from the air was also hazardous, since the dazzling white of ice and snow or the Arctic fog made the land seem horizonless against the sky. Landing to take bearings meant setting a craft down on unknown terrain–or no terrain at all, but treacherously deceptive sea ice. Standard compasses functioned erratically in the Arctic. Sub-zero temperatures played havoc with engines. Any expedition forced down faced a perilous trek across ice fields.

Born in 1888, Richard Byrd had already distinguished himself as an adventurer and flier. As a youth, he had journeyed around the world and had ridden out a typhoon in the China Sea. While in the Philippines, he came face to face with bandits armed “with bolos in their hands heavy enough to cut through a body twice as big as mine,” he later noted. Byrd galloped to safety, completely forgetting the pistol at his belt. A product of the Naval Academy, he was twice commended for saving drowning men while serving in the Caribbean.

By late 1925, Byrd had begun collecting gear for his proposed polar expedition. Since such a private endeavor was expensive, he sought help from financiers and business magnates Edsel Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Vincent Astor and Rodman Wanamaker, among others. The U.S. Shipping Board agreed to lease him the 3,800-ton steamer Chantier, a relic of World War I that had been scheduled for sale at auction. Byrd had to pay $1 per month for the vessel. He also assembled a crew of volunteers–expert mechanics, seamen, engineers, radio operators or aviators, plus nontechnical workingmen.

Byrd chose a Fokker Trimotor–an American-built version of the Dutch Fokker F.VIII-3M–as the plane for his polar flight. Christened Josephine Ford in honor of backer Edsel Ford’s daughter, the plane was 42 feet 2 inches long with a wing spread of 63 feet 4 inches. Three powerful Wright Whirlwind J4 air-cooled engines producing 200 horsepower each were capable of pulling the aircraft at a high speed of 122 miles per hour. Centered in each wing was a gasoline tank with 100-gallon capacity, while two other tanks in the cabin held 110 gallons each. At cruising speed, fuel consumption was about 28 gallons per hour.

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