Josephine Ford had already logged more than 15,000 miles before being purchased by Byrd, and had a virtually trouble-free track record. The air-cooled engines were relatively lightweight, an important factor when trying to take off with crew and gear from an icy landing strip. Since the engines were air-cooled, there was no danger of water freezing in the radiator. Specially constructed ski apparatus, fitted with shock absorbers, acted as the landing gear. The enclosed cockpit had dual controls, enabling either aviator to fly the plane.

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Byrd also chose a small Curtiss Oriole two-seater christened Richard the Third after his own son. The bright yellow-and-orange Curtiss would serve as a scout and photography plane, and could come to the aid of the Fokker if it was forced down.

Loaded with 52 men, two planes, survival gear, six-months’ worth of rations and 15,000-miles’ worth of coal, Chantier steamed out of New York Harbor on April 5, 1926. Richard Byrd had chosen King’s Bay in the Spitsbergen Islands as his takeoff point. Warmed by the Gulf Stream, Spitsbergen was only some 700 miles from the North Pole, nearly 500 miles closer than the northernmost point of Alaska. “We could reach it in the spring and take advantage of the best Arctic weather and the leveling and smoothing effect both on the land and the ice of the great snow sheet that covers everything,” Byrd noted.

At 4 p.m. on April 29, with the temperature hovering around zero degrees Fahrenheit, Chantier eased into the ice-choked harbor of King’s Bay. What surprised the Americans was that Amundsen and Ellsworth had arrived earlier and had nearly completed their own preparations for a polar flight, simply awaiting the arrival of the dirigible Norge from Italy. Although neither Amundsen nor Byrd would admit it, it appeared as if a race to the North Pole was about to start.

Byrd immediately ran into difficulties. Moored to the only wharf in King’s Bay was the Norwegian gunboat Heimdal, which was loading coal and was unable to move. With ice caking the harbor, Byrd had to act fast. Chantier was maneuvered to within 300 yards of shore and anchored. Whaleboats were quickly lowered and covered with heavy planks to form a large, cumbersome raft. Alarmed at what the Americans were attempting, Amundsen sent a brief note to Byrd: “You know nothing about ice or you would not attempt such a thing. The ice is almost certain to start moving before you can get ashore.”

As if on cue, snow squalls swept the harbor and a change in tide began to push ice blocks into the lane Chantier had opened. Undeterred, Byrd’s volunteers struggled to winch the airplanes to the makeshift raft. On one occasion, just as the wings were about to be lowered and fitted to the fuselage of Josephine Ford, a vicious wind sprang up and threatened to sweep the wings away. The crew wrestled the wings to the ship’s deck and secured them until calm returned.

The ferrying of supplies and airplanes to shore continued for two days. Byrd’s men, many of whom were inexperienced rowers, constantly fouled one another’s oars. Ice chunks that threatened to crush the raft were fended off with axes and boat hooks. When Josephine Flord was finally guided to safety, the Norwegians clustered on the wharf responded with a hearty cheer.

A waiting game now ensued as the Norwegians and Americans were both forced to wait for a clearing in the weather before continuing their missions. For Amundsen and Ellsworth, the dirigible Norge was socked in at Leningrad waiting for a break in the storm to fly the last leg to Spitsbergen. To underscore his feeling that there was no race to the Pole, Amundsen supplied the Americans with snowshoes and a sled to make their work easier. Byrd’s party, in the meantime, labored at clearing a skiway in the snow and ice, and in treating instruments with graphite rather than grease to keep them from freezing.

On May 2, the weather finally began to clear. Byrd’s men raced to prepare Josephine Ford for a trial flight. In the Land of the Midnight Sun, there was daylight for 24 hours, allowing around-the-clock work. On the morning of May 4, the Fokker Trimotor, with Navy aviation pilot-mechanic Floyd Bennett at the controls, gathered speed as it taxied down the skiway chiseled through snow and ice. At the last moment, the left ski stuck to the surface as Byrd tried to make a right turn, and the plane swerved off the path and into a snowbank. Though the engines were undamaged, the center propeller was out of line, one ski had been smashed and a landing strut broken. To strengthen the ski, oars from the whaleboats were cut apart and fitted to act as braces. Norwegian Bernt Balchen, who was later to gain fame piloting for Byrd, suggested to Byrd that the skis be waxed with a mixture of paraffin and resin to reduce friction.

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