Bennett, Floyd

Bennett, Floyd (1890–1928) aviator; born near Warrensburg, N.Y. He quit school at age 17 and ran an automobile garage before enlisting in the U.S. Navy (1917), where he learned to fly. In 1925 he flew with Richard Byrd on an expedition to Greenland, and on May 9, 1926, he was at the controls as the two men made the first flight to the North Pole. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor for this feat and became a national hero, but on the early stage of a long-distance flight he died prematurely of pneumonia.