The Explorers' Club, № MCLIV

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
11-14 May 1926: Conqueror of the South Pole Roald Amundsen, airship designer & pilot Umberto Nobile, explorer & benefactor Lincoln Ellsworth, & a crew of twelve flew the semi-rigid dirigible Norge over the North Pole from Spitsbergen, Svalbard to Teller, Alaska; the Norge originally aimed for Nome, but diverted to Teller due to weather; she was damaged during the landing & never flew again.

Commentary: There are legitimate disputes about the claims of expeditions led by Frederick Cook (1908) & Robert Peary (1909) to have reached the North Pole by foot & sledge, & less credible disputes about Richard Byrd's & Floyd Bennett's North Pole flight just days earlier (9 May 1926), but there is no dispute about the Amundsen-Ellsworth Transpolar Flight having overflown the North Pole.

The Wayback Machine Tour of Amundsen & the Arctic
"The Explorer's Club," № CXXXIX: The Amundsen-Ellsworth 1926 Transpolar Flight (2009)
"The Explorer's Club," № MLXXXIX: "Farthest North" by Flying Boats (2025)

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № MCLIII

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
9 May 1926: Lieutenant Richard E. Byrd & Chief Aviation Pilot Floyd Bennett of the U.S. Navy were the first to overfly the North Pole in the Fokker F.VII Trimotor Josephine Ford, a flight of 15:57:00 from & back to Spitsbergen, Svalbard; Byrd & Bennett were awarded the Tiffany Cross Medal of Honor & both were promoted in naval rank; the Josephine Ford was flown in a cross-country celebration tour.

Commentary: The Josephine Ford remains on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan down to the present day.

The Wayback Machine Tour of Byrd & the Arctic
"The Explorer's Club," № CXXXVIII: The Byrd Arctic Expedition (2009)

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № MLXXXIX

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
21 May-16 June 1925: An expedition of Roald Amundson, Lincoln Ellsworth, & four others attemped a North Polar flight in two Dornier Do J Wal flying boats, N24 & N25, reaching an aerial "Farthest North" of 87º 44'; the N24 was damaged & they spent over three weeks preparing an ice runway for the N25; given up for dead by the world, all six men squeezed into the N25 & flew to the safety of Spitsbergen.

Semper exploro.