WEBVTT - A Scandal at the North Pole: The Legend of Richard Byrd 0:00:17.140 --> 0:00:24.461 Pushkin. Hey everyone, it is Jared Martinez. Before we get 0:00:24.500 --> 0:00:26.701 into this episode, I wanted to let you know that 0:00:26.741 --> 0:00:29.341 you can listen to the entire season of Medal of 0:00:29.381 --> 0:00:33.581 Honor right now ad free with Pushkin Plus. Get all 0:00:33.620 --> 0:00:36.941 our incredible stories of courage with a Pushkin Plus subscription. 0:00:37.501 --> 0:00:39.701 Sign up and save on the Medal of Honor show 0:00:39.741 --> 0:00:43.981 page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin dot fm slash Plus. 0:00:44.461 --> 0:00:48.341 Use the code twenty five for twenty five percent off 0:00:48.381 --> 0:00:56.741 an annual subscription. Okay, now to the episode. Two men 0:00:56.781 --> 0:01:00.140 were jammed into the tiny cockpit of an airplane. They 0:01:00.141 --> 0:01:03.621 wore leather flying helmets and goggles and parkas made of 0:01:03.661 --> 0:01:08.140 reindeer hides. Their faces peeked out from giant fur hoods. 0:01:08.861 --> 0:01:11.741 It was below freezing outside, and they were about to 0:01:11.781 --> 0:01:17.140 get much much colder. It was half past midnight on 0:01:17.220 --> 0:01:21.340 May ninth, nineteen twenty six, and neither of them had 0:01:21.381 --> 0:01:25.901 slept for thirty six hours. A pale moon was visible 0:01:25.901 --> 0:01:28.340 on one side of the horizon, but the sun was 0:01:28.340 --> 0:01:33.060 shining too, and never set, not this time of the year, 0:01:33.581 --> 0:01:37.660 not this far north. Because these two aviators and their 0:01:37.741 --> 0:01:43.181 small three engine propeller plane were in Norway, roughly six 0:01:43.340 --> 0:01:46.541 hundred miles from the top of the world, the North Pole, 0:01:47.541 --> 0:01:51.101 and they were determined to fly over it. They would 0:01:51.101 --> 0:01:55.181 make their way across the frozen Polar Sea to what exactly. 0:01:55.501 --> 0:01:59.621 They weren't sure because nobody had flown over the North 0:01:59.661 --> 0:02:03.701 Pole before. The two men hunched over the dials in 0:02:03.741 --> 0:02:07.221 the cockpit. The plane had been roped down because the 0:02:07.301 --> 0:02:10.781 runway was icy and short. They were going to let 0:02:10.781 --> 0:02:13.581 the engines rev up to full power and then the 0:02:13.581 --> 0:02:17.381 plane would be cut loose. One of the pilots opened 0:02:17.381 --> 0:02:21.381 the throttles. The airplane strained forward. As the engines wore, 0:02:22.181 --> 0:02:27.061 everything shook. The noise was deafening. The pilots couldn't hear 0:02:27.101 --> 0:02:29.541 each other over it, but they didn't need to talk. 0:02:30.261 --> 0:02:33.741 They were both thinking the same thing. They had to 0:02:33.781 --> 0:02:37.221 get off the ground. They had to go. It was 0:02:37.341 --> 0:02:42.061 do or die. The engine propeller spun so fast that 0:02:42.101 --> 0:02:44.541 they were just a blurt and at the side of 0:02:44.581 --> 0:02:47.621 the runway, one of their friends raised an axe and 0:02:47.661 --> 0:02:49.501 cut the rope that was keeping the plane on the 0:02:49.541 --> 0:02:56.941 ground and they were off. I'm Jr. Martinez, and this 0:02:57.181 --> 0:03:00.781 is Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage, The Medal of 0:03:00.821 --> 0:03:04.061 Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. 0:03:04.381 --> 0:03:07.301 It's a warded for gallantry and bravery and combat at 0:03:07.301 --> 0:03:10.781 the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty. 0:03:11.101 --> 0:03:13.661 Each candidate must be approved all the way up the 0:03:13.741 --> 0:03:16.861 chain of command, from the supervisory officer in the field 0:03:17.181 --> 0:03:20.221 to the White House. This show is about those heroes, 0:03:20.701 --> 0:03:23.861 what they did, what it meant, and what their stories 0:03:23.861 --> 0:03:28.101 tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. This 0:03:28.141 --> 0:03:31.541 episode is about Richard evel and Byrd, and it's pretty 0:03:31.541 --> 0:03:33.821 different from what we usually talk about in this series 0:03:34.541 --> 0:03:36.701 because he didn't receive his Medal of Honor for something 0:03:36.741 --> 0:03:39.381 he did on the battlefield or even during a war. 0:03:40.301 --> 0:03:45.461 It's a story without a single bullet. Instead, this episode 0:03:45.541 --> 0:03:49.301 is about exploration. It takes place during a time when 0:03:49.341 --> 0:03:54.221 America was obsessed with discovering and claiming the farthest reaches 0:03:54.261 --> 0:03:59.541 of our planet, and exploration takes bravery, facing the unknown, 0:04:00.301 --> 0:04:04.701 knowing you're risking death, but still stepping forward, which is 0:04:04.821 --> 0:04:18.181 exactly what Richard Byrd did. Dick Bird started exploring the 0:04:18.181 --> 0:04:21.261 world when he was just a kid. You might be like, oh, sure, 0:04:21.541 --> 0:04:24.781 all kids explore, but I'm not talking about that kind 0:04:24.820 --> 0:04:29.661 of exploration. In nineteen oh two, when he was just thirteen, 0:04:30.181 --> 0:04:33.021 Dick left his home in Virginia and made his way 0:04:33.061 --> 0:04:38.021 across the United States by himself. Danny got on a 0:04:38.021 --> 0:04:41.581 boat to Japan and then another went to the Philippines, 0:04:42.181 --> 0:04:46.501 traveling alone for weeks. Would I let my thirteen year 0:04:46.501 --> 0:04:49.261 old travel around the world by herself. She can't even 0:04:49.261 --> 0:04:51.541 make it down the block and she has a phone, 0:04:52.221 --> 0:04:55.981 So yeah, the answer is no. But Dick's parents were different. 0:04:56.021 --> 0:04:59.221 I guess they came from a long line of explorers. 0:05:01.421 --> 0:05:04.501 His dad's ancestors had left England and arrived in Virginia 0:05:04.821 --> 0:05:10.021 in sixteen seventy. His moms arrived in sixteen oh nine. 0:05:10.261 --> 0:05:14.181 Plus Dick was determined. He wore them down. That's the 0:05:14.261 --> 0:05:17.421 kind of person he was, even back then. He didn't 0:05:17.461 --> 0:05:21.301 come home for a year. By the age of fourteen, 0:05:21.821 --> 0:05:26.101 he made a solo trip around the world. You might 0:05:26.141 --> 0:05:28.661 want to rewind about thirty seconds and hear this whole 0:05:28.701 --> 0:05:33.421 section over again because it's ridiculous. Keep in mind this 0:05:33.541 --> 0:05:36.701 was a time when exploration was booming. There were still 0:05:36.781 --> 0:05:40.741 parts of the world that were totally undiscovered, well at 0:05:40.821 --> 0:05:44.181 least by white people. So in Europe and America. There 0:05:44.221 --> 0:05:47.501 was a race to get there first, and Dick couldn't 0:05:47.501 --> 0:05:52.221 wait to join those teams of explorers. He graduated from 0:05:52.221 --> 0:05:55.301 the Naval Academy. He had grown into a handsome guy 0:05:55.461 --> 0:05:59.581 with wavy, dark hair and blue eyes. He was modest, kind. 0:06:00.181 --> 0:06:03.461 People loved him, but his career in the Navy wasn't 0:06:03.621 --> 0:06:07.461 going well. Back in his school days, he'd been captain 0:06:07.501 --> 0:06:11.541 of the gymnastics team. One classmate described him as a 0:06:11.701 --> 0:06:16.061 carefree elf with the grace of a cat. But he 0:06:16.141 --> 0:06:18.621 fractured his ankle doing a trick on the rings and 0:06:18.701 --> 0:06:22.221 it never fully healed well. In the Navy, this was 0:06:22.261 --> 0:06:25.181 a major liability. He would never be on the front 0:06:25.181 --> 0:06:29.141 lines of combat, so Dick changed things up, because having 0:06:29.181 --> 0:06:31.861 a bad foot didn't really matter if you were sitting 0:06:31.901 --> 0:06:35.501 in a plane. He became an expert in night flying 0:06:35.581 --> 0:06:39.181 and navigation. During World War One, he helped with the 0:06:39.181 --> 0:06:42.581 first fleet of military aircraft, and after the war he 0:06:42.661 --> 0:06:47.221 developed tools for transatlantic flight. In the Navy, Dick was 0:06:47.261 --> 0:06:50.581 famous for his navigational skills, and he was excited to 0:06:50.621 --> 0:06:54.581 put them to use. At the time, people weren't just 0:06:54.661 --> 0:07:00.581 flying planes. There were also flying dirigibles aka blimps. In 0:07:00.661 --> 0:07:03.261 nineteen twenty one, Dick was supposed to be on one 0:07:03.301 --> 0:07:06.421 of the first dirigible flights across the Atlantic, but he 0:07:06.501 --> 0:07:11.461 missed his train and lost his spot. That blimp apart 0:07:11.541 --> 0:07:16.501 in mid air, killing almost everyone on board. Dick helped 0:07:16.501 --> 0:07:19.301 to find the bodies. There was a near miss that 0:07:19.421 --> 0:07:23.661 haunted him, but it didn't slow him down because soon 0:07:24.141 --> 0:07:27.981 he was headed for the North Pole. People have been 0:07:28.021 --> 0:07:30.301 trying to reach the top of the world for decades 0:07:30.341 --> 0:07:33.781 by then, by dogs, sled and even hot air balloon. 0:07:34.421 --> 0:07:36.701 They weren't sure if there was land up there, but 0:07:36.781 --> 0:07:40.861 if there was, every country wanted to claim it. Here's 0:07:40.901 --> 0:07:43.981 Dick talking about why he wanted to go years later. 0:07:45.141 --> 0:07:49.221 As long as it remains anything unknown on the face 0:07:49.301 --> 0:07:52.541 of this earth we live on, man is going to 0:07:52.621 --> 0:07:55.741 go after it, to try to find out what it is, 0:07:56.261 --> 0:07:59.341 to attempt to conquer it, and to learn how to 0:07:59.381 --> 0:07:59.781 live in it. 0:08:01.301 --> 0:08:02.981 And the way to get to the North Pole was 0:08:03.021 --> 0:08:07.341 by air. But flying was insanely dangerous. No one had 0:08:07.381 --> 0:08:11.581 ever flown in high latitudes without serious problems. Let's not 0:08:11.661 --> 0:08:15.701 forget planes were only invented back in nineteen o three. 0:08:16.301 --> 0:08:20.301 That's a little over twenty years, but that didn't stop Dick, 0:08:20.461 --> 0:08:24.781 of course not. In nineteen twenty five, he joined an 0:08:24.821 --> 0:08:27.741 expedition with some other explorers to fly over the North Pole. 0:08:28.461 --> 0:08:32.420 That attempt failed, but it had one giant upside. It 0:08:32.461 --> 0:08:36.180 introduced Dick to a guy named Floyd Bennett. Bennett was 0:08:36.221 --> 0:08:38.780 two years younger than Dick and looked like an old 0:08:38.780 --> 0:08:43.181 fashioned movie star with blonde hair parted on the side. 0:08:43.420 --> 0:08:45.901 He had grown up in terrible poverty, but he was 0:08:45.940 --> 0:08:48.941 a mechanical genius and one of the best pilots in 0:08:48.981 --> 0:08:52.261 the air. On that nineteen twenty five trip, Dick and 0:08:52.261 --> 0:08:55.261 Bennett had been flying partners when one of their oil 0:08:55.341 --> 0:09:00.381 tanks broke. Bennett actually climbed onto a wing mid flight 0:09:00.981 --> 0:09:05.141 and fixed it, saving them from falling to an icy death. 0:09:06.180 --> 0:09:08.741 So as soon as Dick got home, he started planning 0:09:08.780 --> 0:09:11.261 to go back to the Pole, and he knew he 0:09:11.261 --> 0:09:14.621 would bring Bennett with him. He had to act fast 0:09:15.021 --> 0:09:17.261 because there were other groups on their way there too. 0:09:18.021 --> 0:09:22.341 Expeditions were being planned from Paris to Detroit. It was 0:09:22.381 --> 0:09:24.700 a crazy race to the top of the world, and 0:09:24.820 --> 0:09:28.381 Dick wanted to cross the finish line first, but he 0:09:28.420 --> 0:09:31.901 had one big rival in Norwegian by the name of 0:09:32.021 --> 0:09:36.141 Roald Amundsen. In nineteen eleven, he had been the first 0:09:36.221 --> 0:09:39.261 man to reach the South Pole by dog sled, and 0:09:39.381 --> 0:09:43.461 now he was gunning for the North Alminsen had already 0:09:43.460 --> 0:09:45.941 tried to get there once by plane. He made it 0:09:45.940 --> 0:09:48.540 within one hundred and thirty six miles, and then he 0:09:48.580 --> 0:09:51.780 had to land and got stuck. He spent a month 0:09:51.820 --> 0:09:55.340 on the ice and he barely survived. So this time 0:09:55.540 --> 0:09:58.901 he wasn't going to go by plane. Instead, he bought 0:09:58.901 --> 0:10:04.141 a dirigible from the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. So maybe 0:10:04.180 --> 0:10:07.381 not a great partner, but Mussolini was excited about the 0:10:07.420 --> 0:10:10.540 North Pole too, so he sold him the blimp at 0:10:10.540 --> 0:10:14.341 a disc count and guess what he got it blessed 0:10:14.621 --> 0:10:20.021 by the Pope. Dick didn't want to go by blip. Instead, 0:10:20.420 --> 0:10:23.221 he found a fixed wing three engine plane for a 0:10:23.261 --> 0:10:27.420 good price. He figured that three engines were safer than one. 0:10:27.940 --> 0:10:30.340 If one went out, the plane could get pretty far 0:10:30.460 --> 0:10:33.580 on just two. As he put it, quote, the multi 0:10:33.660 --> 0:10:38.221 motored plane is the answer, the stages said. Confidence is 0:10:38.300 --> 0:10:44.300 all that is needed. Well, confidence and money. Explorers had 0:10:44.300 --> 0:10:47.021 to raise cash for everything. A boat to get up 0:10:47.060 --> 0:10:50.861 north supplies to feed the crew, and on and on. 0:10:52.060 --> 0:10:54.821 So Dick went to Edsel Ford, son of the famous 0:10:54.901 --> 0:10:58.940 Henry Ford. Ford gave him twenty thousand dollars, which is 0:10:58.981 --> 0:11:02.701 worth around three hundred and seventy thousand dollars today. Dick 0:11:02.780 --> 0:11:06.940 named his plane the Josephine after Ford's three year old daughter. 0:11:07.621 --> 0:11:11.141 Smart move. So now that Dick and Almonson both had 0:11:11.141 --> 0:11:14.861 their airships, the sprint to the Pole was on and 0:11:14.901 --> 0:11:17.381 the press covered every minute of it. 0:11:18.420 --> 0:11:21.141 And Navy Commander Richard Eveln Byrd is about to join 0:11:21.221 --> 0:11:24.860 pilot Voyd Bennett on an historic journey. They had the 0:11:25.021 --> 0:11:27.780 first flight over top of the world. Might have take 0:11:27.861 --> 0:11:32.460 off icy wastes of Arctic destination North Pole and return. 0:11:34.700 --> 0:11:38.540 On April fifth, Dick's boat left New York Harbor. It 0:11:38.621 --> 0:11:42.460 carried his plane supplies the last six months and fifty 0:11:42.580 --> 0:11:46.820 North Pole obsessed volunteers, including Bennett. Oh and can't forget 0:11:47.180 --> 0:11:52.581 a little white terrier named Igloo their destination with Spitzbergen, Norway. 0:11:53.141 --> 0:11:54.861 It was close enough to the Pole that they could 0:11:54.861 --> 0:11:58.060 fly to Josephine there without having to refuel, and it 0:11:58.141 --> 0:12:02.141 had a harbor where Dick's boat could dock. Thousands of 0:12:02.141 --> 0:12:05.860 people were screaming and waving as Dick st sell, cheering 0:12:05.861 --> 0:12:10.100 for him and Bennett and Igloo too. They were major celebrities, 0:12:10.300 --> 0:12:14.981 and hey, America wanted to win this race. Dick wrote 0:12:14.981 --> 0:12:17.821 in his diary, quote, I think of the expedition not 0:12:17.901 --> 0:12:22.420 as mine, but as ours, the boys with me and America's. 0:12:23.221 --> 0:12:25.780 This day has proved that there is a lot of 0:12:25.901 --> 0:12:30.461 romance in spirit of adventure in this great country. But 0:12:30.540 --> 0:12:33.340 he also noted that quote, the hardest part of an 0:12:33.341 --> 0:12:37.581 expedition is the worry one causes those nearest and dearest, 0:12:39.261 --> 0:12:42.141 and Dick had people at home that were worried. His 0:12:42.261 --> 0:12:46.420 three little kids and his wife, Marie, Maria Dick had 0:12:46.460 --> 0:12:51.021 met when there were children. Dick absolutely adored her. He 0:12:51.060 --> 0:12:52.780 wrote a letter to his six year old son to 0:12:52.820 --> 0:12:56.421 be read if he didn't make it back. It said, quote, 0:12:56.861 --> 0:12:59.221 my last words to you, my boy, are to beg 0:12:59.261 --> 0:13:03.021 you to understand, cherish, and protect your mother, and to 0:13:03.141 --> 0:13:05.981 model yourself as much as you can after her, for 0:13:06.101 --> 0:13:09.820 she is the finest person in the world. Dick was 0:13:09.940 --> 0:13:14.021 risking his life, but that didn't stop him exploring. Was 0:13:14.060 --> 0:13:15.060 in his bones. 0:13:16.420 --> 0:13:19.861 You find the mountain range, say twenty thousand feet high 0:13:20.940 --> 0:13:23.540 thousand miles long. Well that's quite a kick, you know, 0:13:24.221 --> 0:13:28.221 and you do find such things every time you explore. 0:13:31.060 --> 0:13:34.860 On April twenty ninth, Dick's team arrived in Spitzberg and Norway. 0:13:35.540 --> 0:13:38.141 His boat slowly made its way through the frozen bay, 0:13:38.700 --> 0:13:42.060 pass ice floes bobbing in the water towards the dock 0:13:42.141 --> 0:13:45.021 that they had been counting on. But then they got 0:13:45.021 --> 0:13:48.420 the news their ship would not be allowed to land. 0:13:49.381 --> 0:14:08.421 Rold Aminsen was already there. Richard Bird had spent years 0:14:08.501 --> 0:14:12.740 dreaming of reaching the North Pole, raising money and supplies, 0:14:13.341 --> 0:14:17.461 weeks sailing north, and then he was told by the 0:14:17.501 --> 0:14:22.861 local officials, Yeah, you're just gonna have to wait. But 0:14:22.941 --> 0:14:26.181 here's the thing. He was starting his trip in Norway, 0:14:26.621 --> 0:14:31.901 and who was his rival? Rolled Almondson and Norwegian. As 0:14:31.941 --> 0:14:35.261 one guy on Alminson's team wrote quote, we resent this 0:14:35.341 --> 0:14:38.181 foreign ship coming here to our own country to snatch 0:14:38.221 --> 0:14:41.941 the prize, which we feel belongs to Captain Amundson alone. 0:14:43.261 --> 0:14:46.541 The man who wrote that was named Burnt Balkan. We're 0:14:46.541 --> 0:14:50.421 gonna hear a lot more from him. Okay, so fine. 0:14:50.741 --> 0:14:53.821 Maybe Dick shouldn't have been surprised by the icy welcome 0:14:54.781 --> 0:14:58.941 Almondson was super anxious, still waiting for his dirigible to 0:14:59.101 --> 0:15:02.501 arrive from Italy. It was called the norj and it 0:15:02.541 --> 0:15:06.381 was delayed, so the Norwegians wanted to slow Dick down 0:15:06.381 --> 0:15:09.860 to now just so you know the rules for this race, 0:15:10.421 --> 0:15:14.661 all the explorers were supposed to be gentlemen, no tricky stuff. 0:15:15.421 --> 0:15:18.901 Almonson and Dick had elegant lunches together on their ships, 0:15:19.221 --> 0:15:21.661 but that didn't mean the Norwegians weren't trying to give 0:15:21.701 --> 0:15:26.061 their guy the edge. It made Dick crazy, as he wrote, 0:15:26.141 --> 0:15:30.581 quote great sportsmanship. In spite of anything the Norwegians do. 0:15:31.181 --> 0:15:34.340 I intend to be a good sport and be dignified 0:15:34.501 --> 0:15:37.941 and calm. They have made it very difficult for us, 0:15:39.101 --> 0:15:41.581 So Dick and his team decided to work around them. 0:15:42.261 --> 0:15:45.500 Dick's men hoisted two lifeboats over the side of the boat. 0:15:45.701 --> 0:15:48.181 They lowered them into the water and tied them together 0:15:48.301 --> 0:15:50.981 side by side. They did the same thing with two 0:15:51.021 --> 0:15:54.021 warm boats. Then long planks of wood were put on 0:15:54.061 --> 0:15:56.941 top of them. The crew worked deep into the night 0:15:57.261 --> 0:16:01.941 hammering everything together. Almondson and his team were watching from 0:16:01.941 --> 0:16:05.580 across the bay and they were like the hell And 0:16:05.621 --> 0:16:09.621 then they saw Dick's crew had built a giant raft. 0:16:10.901 --> 0:16:13.741 The men lowered the Josephine onto the raft and paddled 0:16:13.741 --> 0:16:16.221 it to shore, and it looked like Dick had a 0:16:16.261 --> 0:16:19.021 head start on the race, but then he hit a snack. 0:16:20.141 --> 0:16:22.741 They needed to do some test flights, but the ground 0:16:22.941 --> 0:16:27.541 was totally frozen, so the plane had to land on skis, 0:16:28.460 --> 0:16:31.821 and the ski that they brought were too small. On 0:16:31.901 --> 0:16:35.860 their first test flight, they broke, sending the plane straight 0:16:35.981 --> 0:16:41.381 into a snowbank. Dick's crew was working overtime in sub 0:16:41.460 --> 0:16:48.301 zero conditions, getting frostbite, but trying to figure it out fast. Meantime, 0:16:48.701 --> 0:16:53.021 the Norge was getting closer to Spitzbergen, slowly but surely 0:16:53.061 --> 0:16:57.341 heading for the starting block. But remember Burnt Balkan from 0:16:57.381 --> 0:17:02.141 Allminson's team. He decided to help the Americans. He made 0:17:02.221 --> 0:17:05.221 new skis for the Josephine and gave the crew tips 0:17:05.301 --> 0:17:08.461 about how to build a runway on the ice. As 0:17:08.461 --> 0:17:12.100 you can imagine, Allminsen was pissed. Dick wrote in his 0:17:12.141 --> 0:17:16.501 diary quote Almondson gave Balkan, who is a peach, orders 0:17:16.581 --> 0:17:21.461 to not come near us again. Finally, the Josephine had 0:17:21.461 --> 0:17:25.901 a successful test flight and then on May seventh, the 0:17:26.021 --> 0:17:30.701 Norridge arrived. It just needed some small repairs. It felt 0:17:30.741 --> 0:17:33.781 like the starting gun had been fired. The race was 0:17:33.941 --> 0:17:38.261 really on. The very next day, Dick's team loaded up 0:17:38.261 --> 0:17:41.941 the Josephine. No more test flights, they would head to 0:17:42.021 --> 0:17:47.181 the pole. Packing the plane was tricky. Dick and Bennett 0:17:47.221 --> 0:17:49.501 needed enough supplies to be able to survive on the 0:17:49.541 --> 0:17:52.981 ice if they crashed, but every pound that they packed 0:17:53.381 --> 0:17:57.021 would also slow them down. They had dug a runway 0:17:57.021 --> 0:17:59.301 out of the snow, then sprayed it with water so 0:17:59.341 --> 0:18:02.341 it would turn into a slick of ice and guarantee 0:18:02.381 --> 0:18:06.021 a fast start. Dick and Bennett were totally geared up, 0:18:06.581 --> 0:18:09.941 parkas and pants made of animal skin and sheep skin, 0:18:10.101 --> 0:18:13.501 boots and leather gloves. It was frigid cold on the ground, 0:18:13.581 --> 0:18:15.821 but it was going to be even colder in the air. 0:18:16.541 --> 0:18:23.061 The Josephine wasn't pressurized or climate controlled. The engines went on, 0:18:23.661 --> 0:18:27.941 the propellers were spinning, and the Josephine shot forward, but 0:18:28.061 --> 0:18:31.781 it didn't get off the runway. The plane was too heavy. 0:18:32.501 --> 0:18:37.621 You gotta imagine the Norwegians were psyched about that. Dick 0:18:37.661 --> 0:18:40.741 and Bennett got out and the crew raced to reposition 0:18:40.821 --> 0:18:46.021 the plane. They unloaded everything they didn't really need. By 0:18:46.061 --> 0:18:48.181 the time they were done, it was late at night. 0:18:48.621 --> 0:18:52.701 Dick and Bennett were exhausted. And here's another thing. The 0:18:52.781 --> 0:18:56.181 flight was going to take at least fifteen hours and 0:18:56.221 --> 0:18:58.661 they wouldn't be able to sleep in the air. So 0:18:58.701 --> 0:19:02.541 they headed back to the boat for some rest. But 0:19:02.661 --> 0:19:06.261 then the two men looked at each other. The conditions 0:19:06.261 --> 0:19:11.261 were perfect for takeoff. They couldn't risk waiting. Had to 0:19:11.301 --> 0:19:17.860 try now, exhausted or not, so in the first minutes 0:19:17.901 --> 0:19:21.221 after midnight on May night, the two aviators walked back 0:19:21.301 --> 0:19:25.261 to the Josephine, their boots crunching in the snow. They 0:19:25.341 --> 0:19:29.741 checked their instruments. Bennett opened the throttles. The cockpit shook 0:19:29.861 --> 0:19:33.661 like crazy, the engines roared, and then the rope that 0:19:33.741 --> 0:19:37.021 bound them to Earth was cut and the plane bolted 0:19:37.061 --> 0:19:44.981 down the icy runway the Josephine. Ford lifted off. As 0:19:44.981 --> 0:19:48.461 soon as they felt the airplane rise, Bennett smiled at Dick. 0:19:49.261 --> 0:19:51.901 They couldn't actually talk because they couldn't hear each other 0:19:51.941 --> 0:19:55.860 over the engines, so they communicated through hand signals and notes. 0:19:57.141 --> 0:19:59.340 Bennett was flying so that Dick could focus on what 0:19:59.421 --> 0:20:04.541 he was famous for navigating because this was decades before GPS, 0:20:04.781 --> 0:20:07.221 and they were at the North Pole, so their compasses 0:20:07.261 --> 0:20:10.861 didn't work. There was nothing but endless water and ice 0:20:11.101 --> 0:20:15.781 for miles, no landmarks, which meant they couldn't guide by sight, 0:20:16.581 --> 0:20:19.621 so the navigator had to operate several instruments in order 0:20:19.661 --> 0:20:23.461 to verify their position. One was a sextont, which was 0:20:23.541 --> 0:20:26.380 used to measure the angle between the horizon and the 0:20:26.421 --> 0:20:29.781 sun or the moon. Then there was an instrument to 0:20:29.861 --> 0:20:33.381 measure wind drift. To use it, Dick had to poke 0:20:33.461 --> 0:20:37.580 his head out of the plane and get frostbitten. I 0:20:37.741 --> 0:20:41.741 know this all sounds insanely low tech, but at the 0:20:41.821 --> 0:20:44.821 time it was all cutting edge and it had been 0:20:44.941 --> 0:20:48.461 proven to work as long as the navigator was good enough, 0:20:49.061 --> 0:20:52.701 and Dick was one of the best. Dick kept notes 0:20:52.701 --> 0:20:56.541 in his journal, writing in pencil, fixing his calculations, and 0:20:56.541 --> 0:20:59.741 writing instructions to Bennett. When they were about seven and 0:20:59.741 --> 0:21:02.461 a half hours into the trip and about an hour 0:21:02.541 --> 0:21:05.821 away from the pole, Dick saw something that made his 0:21:05.941 --> 0:21:10.901 stomach drop. Oil was spraying from the tank of wine 0:21:10.901 --> 0:21:14.181 one of the motors. He sent Bennett back to look 0:21:14.781 --> 0:21:17.581 in his notebook, he wrote, is it a bad leak? 0:21:18.341 --> 0:21:21.701 Bennett replied, it is a bad leak, and we may 0:21:21.821 --> 0:21:25.661 lose the motor at any time. So they had to 0:21:25.661 --> 0:21:29.141 make a decision continue on to the poll and risk 0:21:29.261 --> 0:21:33.861 losing an engine, or head back to safety. For the 0:21:33.901 --> 0:21:37.421 two men, it wasn't a choice. They were Navy flyers. 0:21:37.941 --> 0:21:41.981 This was their mission. They had faced death together once 0:21:42.061 --> 0:22:04.261 before and survived, so they kept going. Dick Bird and 0:22:04.341 --> 0:22:07.621 Floyd Bennett were flying towards the North Pole, praying that 0:22:07.701 --> 0:22:12.181 their third engine would hold. Below them, the frozen sea 0:22:12.341 --> 0:22:16.781 seemed to stretch into infinity. As Dick later said, quote, 0:22:17.021 --> 0:22:20.541 we felt no larger than a pinpoint, and as lonely 0:22:20.581 --> 0:22:23.861 as the tune, as remote and detached as a star. 0:22:25.581 --> 0:22:29.181 Dick checked and rechecked his instruments, and, as he later wrote, 0:22:29.261 --> 0:22:33.021 quote at nine o two am granted civil time. Our 0:22:33.101 --> 0:22:36.901 calculation showed us to be at the pole. The dream 0:22:37.101 --> 0:22:42.021 of a lifetime had had last been realized. The two 0:22:42.141 --> 0:22:45.261 men filmed what they saw, and what did they see, 0:22:45.461 --> 0:22:49.541 well kind of nothing, just water and snow and chunks 0:22:49.541 --> 0:22:54.100 of frozen ice. Nothing to even plant a flagon. So 0:22:54.261 --> 0:22:58.981 instead they circled the pole once and then again, covering 0:22:59.021 --> 0:23:03.621 their bases in case they were slightly off. They quickly 0:23:03.661 --> 0:23:06.621 headed back. I mean, who knew how long that busted 0:23:06.661 --> 0:23:11.541 engine would hold. During the return flight, the ex fell 0:23:11.661 --> 0:23:15.101 and broke. This meant Dick had to navigate purely by 0:23:15.101 --> 0:23:20.101 what they call dead reckoning, calculating distance and speed and time. 0:23:21.061 --> 0:23:24.021 Dick got them all the way to Spitzbergen using only that. 0:23:25.021 --> 0:23:29.621 After a total flight time of nearly sixteen hours, the 0:23:29.741 --> 0:23:33.380 Josephine Ford returned. The rest of the crew had been 0:23:33.421 --> 0:23:38.061 waiting half thrilled, half terrified, but as soon as they 0:23:38.101 --> 0:23:40.741 saw the plane on the horizon, they were throwing their 0:23:40.781 --> 0:23:44.861 hats in the air. Racing to the Josephine, they hoisted 0:23:44.901 --> 0:23:46.941 Dick and Bennett on their shoulders. 0:23:47.501 --> 0:23:50.701 Second half of flight as successful as Bird and Bennett 0:23:50.741 --> 0:23:52.381 get warm welcome back to base. 0:23:54.901 --> 0:23:57.781 Even Almondsen was excited. I mean, you got to give 0:23:57.821 --> 0:24:00.981 him credit in the end. He was a good sport, 0:24:02.061 --> 0:24:04.661 even though his dirigible was still not in the air. 0:24:05.101 --> 0:24:08.580 He came running to congratulate Dick, and of course Balkan 0:24:08.621 --> 0:24:13.501 did too. Dick's expedition had conquered the North Pole. They 0:24:13.541 --> 0:24:18.781 were first. Almondson eventually got there He left Spitzbergen on 0:24:18.821 --> 0:24:22.301 May eleventh and reached the pole on the twelfth. There 0:24:22.301 --> 0:24:27.101 were sixteen men in the norg. Burnt Balkin was not included. 0:24:28.781 --> 0:24:31.381 When Dick's team got back to the States, they had 0:24:31.421 --> 0:24:34.901 a hero's welcome with a ticker tape parade through Manhattan. 0:24:35.701 --> 0:24:38.221 Millions of New Yorkers turned out in a thrilling tribute 0:24:38.261 --> 0:24:41.580 to the daring explorer whose achievements had won the admiration 0:24:41.741 --> 0:24:43.461 and a claim of the entire world. 0:24:45.261 --> 0:24:47.861 Dick submitted the records of his flight to the US Navy, 0:24:48.381 --> 0:24:51.301 and they were scrutinized by a panel of experts at 0:24:51.341 --> 0:24:56.421 the National Geographic Society. This group confirmed his calculations. The 0:24:56.461 --> 0:24:59.061 fact that he was able to return without a sextant 0:24:59.141 --> 0:25:03.181 proved quote that he was equally successful in his flight northward. 0:25:03.741 --> 0:25:06.301 The feet of flying a plane six hundred miles from 0:25:06.381 --> 0:25:10.261 land and returning directly to the point aimed for shows 0:25:10.301 --> 0:25:13.301 beyond a re reasonable doubt that he knew where he 0:25:13.461 --> 0:25:18.581 was at all times during the flight. Both Dick and 0:25:18.581 --> 0:25:21.341 Bennett received promotions from the Navy, and at a White 0:25:21.341 --> 0:25:25.301 House ceremony on February twenty fifth, both men received the 0:25:25.341 --> 0:25:30.181 Medal of honor Igloo the Dog. He became a celebrity too, 0:25:30.901 --> 0:25:33.901 and he even had a book written about him. But 0:25:34.021 --> 0:25:39.061 almost immediately there were doubts. The Italian press was stunned, 0:25:39.541 --> 0:25:41.981 how could their blimp not have made it there first 0:25:42.261 --> 0:25:46.381 it had been blessed by the Pope, and more skepticism followed, 0:25:46.741 --> 0:25:49.301 but Dick seemed convinced he had made it. He had 0:25:49.301 --> 0:25:52.021 given Almundson a chart of his North Pole readings so 0:25:52.061 --> 0:25:54.341 that he could use it on the Norge. It would 0:25:54.341 --> 0:25:56.021 have been a crazy thing to do if he didn't 0:25:56.021 --> 0:26:00.100 believe they were correct. Anyway, Dick didn't pay much attention 0:26:00.141 --> 0:26:03.781 to the controversy. He was too busy planning his next adventure. 0:26:05.741 --> 0:26:09.661 He flew across the Atlantic after Charles Limberg, but still 0:26:09.701 --> 0:26:12.461 early days, and then he was the first man to 0:26:12.501 --> 0:26:16.380 fly across the South Pole in nineteen twenty nine, proving 0:26:16.461 --> 0:26:20.381 his navigational skills again. Who was by his side for 0:26:20.461 --> 0:26:24.221 both of those flights not Floyd Bennett. Sadly, he had 0:26:24.261 --> 0:26:27.741 been injured in a crash and later caught pneumonia. He 0:26:27.781 --> 0:26:31.141 died in nineteen twenty eight at the age of thirty seven. 0:26:32.141 --> 0:26:36.141 Alminsen was gone that year too. He disappeared while flying 0:26:36.181 --> 0:26:41.141 in the Arctic. His body was never found. The person 0:26:41.141 --> 0:26:45.341 who came with Dick, was you ready for this? Burnt Balkan. 0:26:46.021 --> 0:26:49.501 He'd been shunned by his fellow Norwegians for helping Dick 0:26:49.541 --> 0:26:52.981 at the North Pole, but Dick still thought Balkan was 0:26:53.501 --> 0:26:58.301 a peach. Dick went back to the South Pole five 0:26:58.381 --> 0:27:02.941