Floyd Bennett
October 25, 1890(1890-10-25) – April 25, 1928 (aged 37)
Place of birth	Warrensburg, New York
Place of death	Quebec, Canada
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Rank	Warrant Officer
Awards	Medal of Honor

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

Biography

Bennett was born in Warrensburg, New York in 1890. He was an automobile mechanic before enlisting in the Navy in 1917. Bennett was warranted a Machinist and learned to fly. He served with Richard E. Byrd on an aviation survey of Greenland in 1925, where Byrd came to respect Bennett's abilities 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 Josephine Ford, returning to their base at Spitsbergen the same day. Although the European press was skeptical of the claim, because it seemed that the plane had been away from Spitsbergen too briefly to have reached the Pole, Byrd and Bennett were lionized in America. Bennett received a 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 have actually reached the Pole. (see Bernt Balchen)

Byrd was a leading candidate for the 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, alone in the heavily laden airplane, a Ford Tri-motor called America, during a practice takeoff, was seriously injured and the airplane badly damaged when it ground looped. Consequently, Charles Lindbergh claimed the prize as Bennett recuperated and the plane was being repaired.

Aviation Machinist Bennett died at Quebec, Canada, 25 April, 1928 from pneumonia that developed following extensive injuries from that crash. Byrd was devastated by the loss of Bennett, blaming himself for Bennett's death. On his flight to the South Pole in 1929, Byrd named his Ford Tri-motor airplane the Floyd Bennett in honor of his beloved pilot.

Floyd Bennett died April 25, 1928 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Virginia. His grave can be found in section 3, grave 1852-B.

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 near his birthplace, in Queensbury, New York. The destroyer, USS Bennett (DD-473), is also named in his honor.

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Machinist, U.S. Navy. Born: 25 October 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.

See also

• List of Medal of Honor recipients
• List of Medal of Honor recipients during Peacetime

Notes

References

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

• Floyd Bennett at Find A Grave Retrieved on 2007-11-15
• Floyd Bennett, Warrant Officer, United States Navy, Arlington National Cemetery.

Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey

Amelia Earhart (1973) • Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1973) • Floyd Bennett (1973) • Clarence Duncan Chamberlin (1973) • Clyde Pangborn (1973) • Wittemann brothers (1973) • Anthony Fokker (1974) • Juan Terry Trippe (1975) • Bert Blanchard Acosta (1976) • Arthur Godfrey (1976) • Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr. (1980) • Boland brothers (1980) • Charles Emery Rosendahl (1980) • Gill Robb Wilson (1980) • Robert Nietzel Buck (1981) • Walter M. Schirra (1982) • Robert J. Collier (1984) • Malcolm S. Forbes (1985) • Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan (1987) • Oliver George Simmons (1987) • William Halsey, Jr. (1988) • Frederick Walker Castle (1988) • Charles J. Fletcher (1989) • Jean-Pierre Blanchard (1993) • Vincent Justus Burnelli (1996) • Kenneth A. Walsh (1996) • Richard Evelyn Byrd (1998) • Terry Jonathan Hart (1999) • Oliver Colin LeBoutillier (2002) •

---

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Floyd Bennett". Image Credit.

bookmark   email   print   tweet   facebook