Floyd Bennett
USABiography of Floyd Bennett
Floyd Bennett was an American aviator who was born on October 25, 1890, near Warrensburg, New York. He attended high school in Warrensburg and the mechanics school in Schenectady, New York. After completing his education, Bennett worked in the garage business.
In 1917, Bennett enlisted in the United States Navy and underwent pilot and aircrew training in Pensacola, Florida, and Hampton Roads, Virginia. From 1920 to 1925, he served on the ship "Richmond" before being invited by Admiral R. Byrd to participate in an expedition to Greenland.
On May 9, 1926, Bennett and Byrd flew from their base in Spitsbergen to the North Pole, successfully completing the first flight to this point on Earth. Upon their return, both were awarded the Congressional Medal and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society of the United States.
In 1925, Bennett flew over the territory of the United States for a distance of 12,875 km to demonstrate the possibility of organizing long-distance air routes. However, on April 16, 1927, he suffered a serious injury during the testing of the "America" aircraft, on which he and Byrd planned to make a transatlantic flight from New York to Paris.
After recovering from his injuries, Bennett and Byrd planned a flight to the South Pole. However, during a rescue operation for two German aviators who had made an emergency landing on the island of Greenland in the Gulf of St. Lawrence after their transatlantic flight, Bennett contracted pneumonia and died in Quebec on April 25, 1928.
