Flying at 90 mph, the craft encountered almost perfect air conditions. The temperature was 8 degrees Fahrenheit, warmer than they had expected. Turbulence was virtually nonexistent. At 2,000 feet, visibility was estimated at 50 miles in all directions. ‘The feelings of an explorer had superseded the aviator’s now, and I had that extraordinary exhilaration that comes from looking into virgin territory,’ Byrd later recalled.

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About an hour’s distance from the Pole, Byrd noticed a leak in the oil tank of the starboard engine. Bennett quickly surveyed the problem and was sure the engine would stop. He suggested an emergency landing to repair the leak, but Byrd preferred going on with two engines, if necessary, rather than risk an icy landing. They continued to empty the five-gallon cans of fuel into the tanks, then tossed the empty containers out to rid themselves of all excess weight. With the goal so close at hand, there was no consideration of turning back to Spitsbergen.

After eight hours and 25 minutes in the air, at 9:02 a.m., Josephine Ford passed over the North Pole. Bennett swung the plane to the right to confirm their position on the sextant, then circled and confirmed it twice more. Of his impressions of that historic moment, Byrd wrote: ‘We felt no larger than a pinpoint and as lonely as a tomb; as remote and detached as a star.’

Below them stretched ice fields bordered by pressure ridges built into near impassable tangles of overlapping ice cakes. Separations of ice fields left watery leads ‘which had been recently frozen over and showing green and greenish-blue against white.’

Bennett continued to circle the North Pole, allowing Byrd to reverify their location and to take photos. At 9:15 a.m., Josephine Ford turned back toward Spitsbergen. To the aviators’ surprise, the oil leak stopped and the engine did not seize up and quit. Later they found out that a rivet had pulled loose on the oil tank causing the fluid to dribble out until it went below the rivet’s level. Since there had been plenty of oil in the tank, the loss had not damaged the engine.

Aided by a brisk tailwind, the Fokker reached ground speeds of more than lOO mph. After going for nearly two days without sleep, the steady drone of the engines coupled with the white expanse below caused Bennett and Byrd to doze. When one became too tired, the other took over at the controls. Their return voyage was right on course as Spitsbergen’s mountains loomed in the distance.

At 4:30 p.m., nearly 16 hours after takeoff, Josephine Ford roared over King’s Bay. Americans and Norwegians alike tumbled from their quarters as the plane circled. The whistle on Chantier screamed its welcome. Among the first to reach the Fokker as she skidded to a stop was Roald Amundsen, who tearfully embraced Byrd. The Norwegian band aboard Heimdal struck up ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ as cheering men hoisted the two American aviators to their shoulders and paraded them around camp.

After a well-earned sleep, Byrd and Bennett returned to the air. On May 11, Amundsen and Ellsworth embarked aboard Norge to carry out the second flight over the North Pole. Their goal was to continue on to Alaska in the world’s first attempt at transpolar flying. Byrd, who had given the Norwegian one of his sun compasses and Ellsworth his sealskin clothing, flew Josephine Ford several miles as an escort to the dirigible. He then returned to King’s Bay to serve as a rescue team should Norge need one.

The Amundsen-Ellsworth expedition faced a much tougher time in the air than had Byrd and Bennett. After an uneventful flight to the Pole, which they reached at 1 a.m. on May 12, the explorers pushed on toward Alaska. Radio messages, which had been sent at regular intervals, suddenly stopped. Fog and snow squalls enveloped Norge as it neared the northern extremities of North America. Ice caked the radio transmitter antenna and began to form on the propellers. As crewman Umberto Nobile changed altitudes to break free of the fog, chunks of ice flew free from the props and slit holes in the dirigible’s fabric skin. The 14-man crew was kept busy repairing the holes to protect the gas bags. Finally, after a flight of more than 59 hours, Norge successfully reached the little village of Teller, Alaska.

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