Skyward
Chicago, Il: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company [THe Lakeside Press], 1981. First edition thus, including new material added for this ed. Hardcover. xliii, 388 p. : ill., col. map; 18 cm. The Lakeside classics; 79. Originally published: New York: Putnam, 1928. Includes index. From Wikipedia: "Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr., USN (25 October 1888 11 March 1957) was an American naval officer who specialized in feats of exploration. He was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights, in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a segment of the Arctic Ocean, and a segment of the Antarctic Plateau. Byrd claimed that his expeditions had been the first to reach the North Pole and the South Pole by air. However, majority of polar experts are now of the opinion that Roald Amundsen has the first verifiable claim to each pole. Byrd was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for heroism given by the United States. He was the brother of Virginia Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, a dominant figure in Virginia Democratic Party between the 1920s and 1960s. Byrd attended the Virginia Military Institute for two years and spent one year at the University of Virginia before financial circumstances inspired his transfer to the United States Naval Academy, where he was appointed Midshipman on May 28, 1908. While at the Academy, he severely injured his right ankle while performing a gymnastics routine. While he was able to graduate from the Academy, the injured ankle was the reason for his medical retirement from the Navy in 1916. On June 8, 1912, he graduated from Academy and was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy. On July 14, 1912 he was assigned to the battleship USS Missouri and later assigned to the gunboat USS Dolphin. On March 15, 1916 he was medically retired, promoted to the rank of lieutenant (junior grade) and assigned as the Inspector and Instructor for the Rhode Island Naval Militia in Providence, Rhode Island. Although technically retired, Byrd was able to serve as a retired officer on active duty during the First World War. He took flying lessons and earned his pilot wings in August 1917. He developed a passion for flight, and pioneered many techniques for navigating airplanes over the open ocean including drift indicators and bubble sextants. During the First World War, Byrd was assigned to the Office of Naval Operations and commanded the United States Air Forces of Canada from July 1918 until the armistice in November. After the war, Byrd's expertise in aerial navigation resulted in his appointment to plan the flight path for the U.S. Navy's 1919 transatlantic crossing. Of the three flying boats that attempted it, only Albert Read's NC-4 aircraft completed the trip, becoming the first ever transatlantic flight. He commanded the aviation unit of the polar expedition led by Donald B. MacMillan from June to October 1925. On 9 May 1926, Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennett attempted a flight over the North Pole in a Fokker F-VII Tri-motor monoplane named Josephine Ford, after the daughter of Ford Motor Company president Edsel Ford, who helped finance the expedition. This flight went from Spitsbergen (Svalbard) and back to its take-off airfield. The distance covered was 1, 360 miles in 15 and a half hours. Byrd claimed to have reached the Pole. This trip earned Byrd widespread acclaim, including being awarded the Medal of Honor and enabled him to secure funding for subsequent attempts to fly over the South Pole. From 1926 until 1996, there were doubts, defenses, and heated controversy about whether or not Byrd actually reached the North Pole. In 1958 Norwegian-American aviator and explorer Bernt Balchen cast doubt on Byrd's claim on the basis of his extensive personal knowledge of the airplane's speed. In 1971 Balchen speculated that Byrd had simply circled aimlessly while out of sight of land. During his lifetime, Floyd Bennett, the pilot on the trip, never contested that they hadn't reached the pole. (Bennett died on April 25, 1928 during a heroic flight to rescue downed aviators in Greenland. ) Bennett would not have. Condition: Very good. No dust jacket.
Keywords: Bernt Balchen, Floyd Bennett, Emory Coil, Edsel Ford, William Moffat, Robert Peary, Noville, John Henry Towers, Explorers, Rodman Wanamaker
[Book #68824]
Price: $25.00