Fokker F.VII - Dearborn, MI
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N 42° 18.218 W 083° 14.020
17T E 315890 N 4685906
The Fokker F.VII, also known as the Fokker Trimotor, was an airliner produced in the 1920s by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker, Fokker's American subsidiary Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, and other companies under licence.
Waymark Code: WMT60T
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 10/01/2016
Views: 2
Richard Byrd flew this plane toward the North Pole in 1926. Though Byrd generally is credited with reaching the Pole, controversy remains. Edsel Ford financed the expedition, and Byrd acknowledged his patron by naming the airplane after Ford's daughter Josephine.
Tri-motor monoplane named Josephine Ford, after the daughter of Ford Motor Company president Edsel Ford, who helped finance the expedition. The flight went from Spitsbergen (Svalbard) and back to its take-off airfield, lasting fifteen hours and fifty-seven minutes (including 13 minutes of circling the pole). Byrd and Bennett claimed to have reached the pole, a distance of 1,535 miles (1,335 nautical miles).
When he returned to the United States from the Arctic, Byrd became a national hero. Congress passed a special act on December 21, 1926, promoting him to the rank of commander and awarding both him and Floyd Bennett the Medal of Honor. Bennett was promoted to the warrant officer rank of Machinist. Byrd and Bennett were presented with Tiffany Cross versions of the Medal of Honor on March 5, 1927, at the White House by President Calvin Coolidge. The widespread acclaim from the flight enabled Byrd to secure funding for the subsequent attempt to fly over the South Pole.
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