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Why did Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett receive the Congressional Medal of Honor?
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Richard E. Byrd
Richard E. Byrd.
Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett were awarded the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor for their 1926 flight from King’s Bay, Spitsbergen, Norway, to the North Pole and back, a feat for which they were acclaimed as national heroes.12
While they were credited at the time with making the first airplane journey over the North Pole, the historical accuracy of this achievement has been subject to debate. Subsequent analysis of Richard E. Byrd's diary, discovered in 1996, suggests that their aircraft may have turned back approximately 150 miles short of the Pole due to concerns regarding an oil leak in the engine.1