August 22, 2025 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1926, two men set their sights on the same prize: the North Pole. Roald Amundsen took to the air in the Norge, a giant hydrogen airship, while Richard Byrd climbed into a Fokker trimotor and gambled on speed. Both faced bitter cold, unreliable machines, and a wilderness with no safe landing. What happened over those icebound miles changed the future of exploration and cemented the North Pole as one of the last great frontiers. The History Guy shares the story.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is our American Stories, and our next story comes
to us from a man who's simply known as the
History Guy.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people
of all ages on YouTube. The History Guy has also
heard here at Our American Stories, where he's a regular contributor.
Here's the History Guy with the fascinating story about the
Medal of Honor recipient Rear Admiral Richard Byrd, The Age
of polar exploration and the future of aviation.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
We live in an era where air travel is common.
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, three point five
billion passengers were carried by scheduled air service in twenty fifteen.
But if you've flown, the odds are that you flew
in a heavier than air aircraft and the general alternative
lighter than air. Air traffl was largely relegated to a
leisure activity, but that was not always a case. There
(01:05):
was a time when great airships challenged the airplane for
dominion of the skdes and the pinnacle of that era
was arguably in nineteen twenty six, with a competition between
two of the world's greatest explores. As history that deserves
to be remembered. In general, aircraft come into categories Lighter
than air aircraft or aerostat works by principles of buoyancy.
(01:26):
The average density of the craft is lower than the
density of atmospheric air, and so rises was essentially a
bag filled with gas that is less dense than air,
produces lyft. The alternative aero dines fly to the aerodynamic lift,
which requires movement of a wing surface through an airman's
In the nineteen twenties, so the competition between aerostat and
(01:47):
aerodyne took on a particular importance. In terms of polar exploration.
The period of the end of the nineteenth century in
the first years of the twentieth century included what was
the so called Chroic Age of polar exploration. Explorers from
a number of nations went to explore the most hostile
at least understood environments on Earth, in both the Arctic
and the Antarctic. This was called the Heroic age because
(02:09):
technology was limited, conditions were primitive, and the exploration was
extremely dangerous and very often deadly. These explorers risked their
lives in scientific pursuits, putting their lives on the line
for the betterment of the world. These explorations made huge
contributions to science, but national prestige was also on the line.
Scientific discoveries and first represented national honor, and nations saw
(02:33):
it as a way to prove themselves on the international stage.
One of the most significance of these contests was the
race to get to the Poles. Despite little real scientific
value in reaching the North and South Poles, they represented
the pinnacle of remote exploration at the time and for
the first time, seemed to be within reach. Being the
first to reach one of the poles would gained an
(02:54):
explorer international fame. Norwegian rolled Amtsen was one of the
legend explorers of the Heroic Age. Born into a family
of Norwegian shipbuilders in eighteen seventy two, he had been
inspired by explorers of the eighteen eighties. Between nineteen ten
and nineteen twelve, Ammonson led the first expedition to reach
the South Pole using sled dogs, and arrived at the
(03:15):
South Pole onto Sover fourteenth nineteen eleven, five weeks ahead
of a rival team led by British explorer Robert Falcon Scott,
who died on his return trip. But sometime in the
early nineteen twenties, Most historians cite the nineteen twenty twenty
one Quest expedition, in which legendary explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton died.
The heroic Age of Polar Expiation gave way to the
(03:36):
mechanical Age of Polar expiration. The mechanical Age of Expiation
represented a time when the mechanical advancements of the age,
notably aircraft and motor cars, changed the nature and method
of polar exploration. Now the exploration was not only a
test of humans but of machines. Discovery not only meant
national prestige, but it represented the reliability of modern technology,
(04:00):
fortune for the companies who built those technologies, and the
pinnacle achievement of the mechanical age. The race to be
the first to overfly the North Pole represented two of
the greatest explorers of the era. Born in Virginia in
eighteen eighty eight, Richard E. Byrd was the quintessential example
of the mechanical Age of expiation. A pilot with the
US Navy during the First World War, he had planned
(04:21):
the flight path for the first Atlantic crossing by air
done by the US Navy in Curtis Frined boats in
nineteen twenty five, he commanded the aviation unit of an
expedition to northern Greenland and to become convinced of the
value of aircraft in Arctic exploration. In nineteen twenty five,
Aminton had tried to fly to the North Pole using
flying boats, but when one was damaged during a landing,
(04:42):
he and his crew barely made it out with their lives.
He became convinced that the best possibility that crossed the
Pole by air was to use an airship, and planned
an expedition in nineteen twenty six. The same year, Richard Byrd,
then a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy, become
determined to fly to the Pole in an airplane. It
was now a race between Rold Aminson and Richard Byrd.
(05:04):
Was also a race between Aerostat and aerow Don. While
an airplane was faster, as Adminson had learned his attempt
in nineteen twenty five, if anything went wrong, they had
to set down right away. It's not always possible in
the Arctic, and taking off again might be impossible. An airship,
while slower, could repair its engines in flight if need be.
Airships also carry more weight. Amerson signed a contract with
(05:28):
the Italian airship designer Umberto Nobli to use his semi
rigid airship than called the N one. The N one
was three hundred and forty seven feet nine inches long
and eighty five foot four inches in diameter, powered by
three six cylinder engines. The N one was officially sold
to the Aero Club of Norway, which was financing the expedition,
was modified for cold conditions and renamed the NORG, meaning
(05:50):
the Norway. A wealthy American explorer named Lincoln Elsworth also
helped to finance the expedition and accompanied Amonson and NOBLEI
on the trip. After several weathers and a wait to
build a docking tower there jumping off point at the
Norwegian island of Spitzbergen, they finally arrived in April of
nineteen twenty six. For his flight, Bird decided to use
a three engine monoplane built by the Dutch airplane manufacturer Fokker.
(06:15):
The Fowkker F seven, commonly called the Fokker Trimotor, was
one of the most popular passenger aircraft of the nineteen twenties.
Bert needed financing, so he had named the plane Josephine
four after automobile manufacturer Edsel Ford's daughter in order to
procure a donation from Ford to fund the trip. When
Bird's ship, carrying the Josephine Ford, steamed into King's Bay
(06:36):
on Spitzbergen, he found Abinson ship already taking the only
space at the dock. Bird was forced to last the
ship's light boats together to carry his airplane to shore.
Bird made his attempt, accompanied by pilot Floyd Bennett, on
May ninth. No one had ever taken off using a
Fokker tri motor on skis before, and it took three
attempts to take off. Eight hours in, one of the
(06:58):
engines started leaking oil. Benet wanted to set down to
try to fix the problem, but the ice below was broken.
With no place to land, Berg decided to press on
as there were only an hour from the pole. At
just over nine hours in, they reached the north Pole,
winning the race. The return was dicey given the oil beak,
but the plane was lighter as that it burned so
much fuel and made it back to Spitzbergen. Bird returned
(07:20):
to international acclaim and the United States awarded him the
Medal of Honor. The Nord made it strip two days later,
leaving May eleventh, and reaching the pole on the twelve,
three days after Bird. As they crossed the pole, Amonson,
Ellsworth and Nobly each throughout their nation's flag to land
on the pole while Bird had beaten them to the pole.
(07:41):
The nord was the first to fly over the ice
cap between Europe and North America, making the voyage important
to the understanding of the nature of the ice cap
and its geography. But of course there was a twist.
Almost immediately, there were questions whether Bird's calculations were correct,
arguing that given the plane's airspeed, it must have come
short of the pole. Vers He became even more heated
in nineteen ninety six when Bird's diary was released and
(08:04):
showed erased but still legible sextant recorders that differ from
the official report. The controversy rages on today. Bird went
on to become the first person to fly over the
South Pole in nineteen twenty nine, became an admiral when
in World War II, was a special advisor to Chief
of Naval Operations Ernest King, who was present for the
Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on September second, nineteen forty five,
(08:24):
and helped to establish permanent Antarctic bases in the nineteen
forties and fifties. He died of a heart ailment in
nineteen fifty seven, the age of sixty eight. For a while,
airships competed against airplanes and ocean liners for passenger service,
but they lost their appeal after the spectacular explosion of
the Zeppelin Hindenburg in nineteen thirty seven, and fate played
a strange trick on rolled Immansen and in Berto Noble.
(08:47):
In nineteen twenty eight, Nobly built another airship, named it
the Italia or the Italy, and attempted to make an
all Italian flight over the North Pole. They reached the
pole on May twenty fourth, but the following day caught
it the gale the Italian craft into jagged eyes, destroying
the airship. In all eight of the crew lost their lives,
and it took nearly two months to rescue the survivors,
(09:07):
and in that another tragedy. Gold Amondson, being one of
the most experienced Arctic explorers in the world, was called
to assist in the rescue. On June eighteenth, nineteen twenty eight,
flying in dense fog, the plane in which he was flying,
along with five other crew members searching for survivors of
the Italia disappeared. The plane and the remains of the
crew were never found. Amondson was fifty five umberto noble,
(09:32):
survived the wreck of the Italia and passed away in
nineteen seventy eight at the age of ninety three, the
last survivor of the nineteen twenty six race to the
Pole that represented the golden age of the competition between
Aristat and Aradine, an age that deserves to.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Be remembered, indeed, and it's why we bring you these stories.
A great story, the nineteen twenty six treacherous Race to
the Pole's gear on our American Stories
This is our American Stories, and our next story comes
to us from a man who's simply known as the
History Guy.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people
of all ages on YouTube. The History Guy has also
heard here at Our American Stories, where he's a regular contributor.
Here's the History Guy with the fascinating story about the
Medal of Honor recipient Rear Admiral Richard Byrd, The Age
of polar exploration and the future of aviation.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
We live in an era where air travel is common.
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, three point five
billion passengers were carried by scheduled air service in twenty fifteen.
But if you've flown, the odds are that you flew
in a heavier than air aircraft and the general alternative
lighter than air. Air traffl was largely relegated to a
leisure activity, but that was not always a case. There
(01:05):
was a time when great airships challenged the airplane for
dominion of the skdes and the pinnacle of that era
was arguably in nineteen twenty six, with a competition between
two of the world's greatest explores. As history that deserves
to be remembered. In general, aircraft come into categories Lighter
than air aircraft or aerostat works by principles of buoyancy.
(01:26):
The average density of the craft is lower than the
density of atmospheric air, and so rises was essentially a
bag filled with gas that is less dense than air,
produces lyft. The alternative aero dines fly to the aerodynamic lift,
which requires movement of a wing surface through an airman's
In the nineteen twenties, so the competition between aerostat and
(01:47):
aerodyne took on a particular importance. In terms of polar exploration.
The period of the end of the nineteenth century in
the first years of the twentieth century included what was
the so called Chroic Age of polar exploration. Explorers from
a number of nations went to explore the most hostile
at least understood environments on Earth, in both the Arctic
and the Antarctic. This was called the Heroic age because
(02:09):
technology was limited, conditions were primitive, and the exploration was
extremely dangerous and very often deadly. These explorers risked their
lives in scientific pursuits, putting their lives on the line
for the betterment of the world. These explorations made huge
contributions to science, but national prestige was also on the line.
Scientific discoveries and first represented national honor, and nations saw
(02:33):
it as a way to prove themselves on the international stage.
One of the most significance of these contests was the
race to get to the Poles. Despite little real scientific
value in reaching the North and South Poles, they represented
the pinnacle of remote exploration at the time and for
the first time, seemed to be within reach. Being the
first to reach one of the poles would gained an
(02:54):
explorer international fame. Norwegian rolled Amtsen was one of the
legend explorers of the Heroic Age. Born into a family
of Norwegian shipbuilders in eighteen seventy two, he had been
inspired by explorers of the eighteen eighties. Between nineteen ten
and nineteen twelve, Ammonson led the first expedition to reach
the South Pole using sled dogs, and arrived at the
(03:15):
South Pole onto Sover fourteenth nineteen eleven, five weeks ahead
of a rival team led by British explorer Robert Falcon Scott,
who died on his return trip. But sometime in the
early nineteen twenties, Most historians cite the nineteen twenty twenty
one Quest expedition, in which legendary explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton died.
The heroic Age of Polar Expiation gave way to the
(03:36):
mechanical Age of Polar expiration. The mechanical Age of Expiation
represented a time when the mechanical advancements of the age,
notably aircraft and motor cars, changed the nature and method
of polar exploration. Now the exploration was not only a
test of humans but of machines. Discovery not only meant
national prestige, but it represented the reliability of modern technology,
(04:00):
fortune for the companies who built those technologies, and the
pinnacle achievement of the mechanical age. The race to be
the first to overfly the North Pole represented two of
the greatest explorers of the era. Born in Virginia in
eighteen eighty eight, Richard E. Byrd was the quintessential example
of the mechanical Age of expiation. A pilot with the
US Navy during the First World War, he had planned
(04:21):
the flight path for the first Atlantic crossing by air
done by the US Navy in Curtis Frined boats in
nineteen twenty five, he commanded the aviation unit of an
expedition to northern Greenland and to become convinced of the
value of aircraft in Arctic exploration. In nineteen twenty five,
Aminton had tried to fly to the North Pole using
flying boats, but when one was damaged during a landing,
(04:42):
he and his crew barely made it out with their lives.
He became convinced that the best possibility that crossed the
Pole by air was to use an airship, and planned
an expedition in nineteen twenty six. The same year, Richard Byrd,
then a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy, become
determined to fly to the Pole in an airplane. It
was now a race between Rold Aminson and Richard Byrd.
(05:04):
Was also a race between Aerostat and aerow Don. While
an airplane was faster, as Adminson had learned his attempt
in nineteen twenty five, if anything went wrong, they had
to set down right away. It's not always possible in
the Arctic, and taking off again might be impossible. An airship,
while slower, could repair its engines in flight if need be.
Airships also carry more weight. Amerson signed a contract with
(05:28):
the Italian airship designer Umberto Nobli to use his semi
rigid airship than called the N one. The N one
was three hundred and forty seven feet nine inches long
and eighty five foot four inches in diameter, powered by
three six cylinder engines. The N one was officially sold
to the Aero Club of Norway, which was financing the expedition,
was modified for cold conditions and renamed the NORG, meaning
(05:50):
the Norway. A wealthy American explorer named Lincoln Elsworth also
helped to finance the expedition and accompanied Amonson and NOBLEI
on the trip. After several weathers and a wait to
build a docking tower there jumping off point at the
Norwegian island of Spitzbergen, they finally arrived in April of
nineteen twenty six. For his flight, Bird decided to use
a three engine monoplane built by the Dutch airplane manufacturer Fokker.
(06:15):
The Fowkker F seven, commonly called the Fokker Trimotor, was
one of the most popular passenger aircraft of the nineteen twenties.
Bert needed financing, so he had named the plane Josephine
four after automobile manufacturer Edsel Ford's daughter in order to
procure a donation from Ford to fund the trip. When
Bird's ship, carrying the Josephine Ford, steamed into King's Bay
(06:36):
on Spitzbergen, he found Abinson ship already taking the only
space at the dock. Bird was forced to last the
ship's light boats together to carry his airplane to shore.
Bird made his attempt, accompanied by pilot Floyd Bennett, on
May ninth. No one had ever taken off using a
Fokker tri motor on skis before, and it took three
attempts to take off. Eight hours in, one of the
(06:58):
engines started leaking oil. Benet wanted to set down to
try to fix the problem, but the ice below was broken.
With no place to land, Berg decided to press on
as there were only an hour from the pole. At
just over nine hours in, they reached the north Pole,
winning the race. The return was dicey given the oil beak,
but the plane was lighter as that it burned so
much fuel and made it back to Spitzbergen. Bird returned
(07:20):
to international acclaim and the United States awarded him the
Medal of Honor. The Nord made it strip two days later,
leaving May eleventh, and reaching the pole on the twelve,
three days after Bird. As they crossed the pole, Amonson,
Ellsworth and Nobly each throughout their nation's flag to land
on the pole while Bird had beaten them to the pole.
(07:41):
The nord was the first to fly over the ice
cap between Europe and North America, making the voyage important
to the understanding of the nature of the ice cap
and its geography. But of course there was a twist.
Almost immediately, there were questions whether Bird's calculations were correct,
arguing that given the plane's airspeed, it must have come
short of the pole. Vers He became even more heated
in nineteen ninety six when Bird's diary was released and
(08:04):
showed erased but still legible sextant recorders that differ from
the official report. The controversy rages on today. Bird went
on to become the first person to fly over the
South Pole in nineteen twenty nine, became an admiral when
in World War II, was a special advisor to Chief
of Naval Operations Ernest King, who was present for the
Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on September second, nineteen forty five,
(08:24):
and helped to establish permanent Antarctic bases in the nineteen
forties and fifties. He died of a heart ailment in
nineteen fifty seven, the age of sixty eight. For a while,
airships competed against airplanes and ocean liners for passenger service,
but they lost their appeal after the spectacular explosion of
the Zeppelin Hindenburg in nineteen thirty seven, and fate played
a strange trick on rolled Immansen and in Berto Noble.
(08:47):
In nineteen twenty eight, Nobly built another airship, named it
the Italia or the Italy, and attempted to make an
all Italian flight over the North Pole. They reached the
pole on May twenty fourth, but the following day caught
it the gale the Italian craft into jagged eyes, destroying
the airship. In all eight of the crew lost their lives,
and it took nearly two months to rescue the survivors,
(09:07):
and in that another tragedy. Gold Amondson, being one of
the most experienced Arctic explorers in the world, was called
to assist in the rescue. On June eighteenth, nineteen twenty eight,
flying in dense fog, the plane in which he was flying,
along with five other crew members searching for survivors of
the Italia disappeared. The plane and the remains of the
crew were never found. Amondson was fifty five umberto noble,
(09:32):
survived the wreck of the Italia and passed away in
nineteen seventy eight at the age of ninety three, the
last survivor of the nineteen twenty six race to the
Pole that represented the golden age of the competition between
Aristat and Aradine, an age that deserves to.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Be remembered, indeed, and it's why we bring you these stories.
A great story, the nineteen twenty six treacherous Race to
the Pole's gear on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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