Richard Evelyn Byrd

Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a segment of the Arctic Ocean, and a segment of the Antarctic Plateau. Byrd said that his expeditions had been the first to reach both the North Pole and the South Pole by air. His belief to have reached the North Pole is disputed. He is also known for discovering Mount Sidley, the largest dormant volcano in Antarctica.

Family

Ancestry

Byrd was born in Winchester, Virginia, the son of Esther Bolling (Flood) and Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr. He was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia. His ancestors include planter John Rolfe and his wife Pocahontas, William Byrd II of Westover Plantation, who established Richmond, as well as William Byrd I and Robert "King" Carter, a colonial governor. He was also descended from George Yeardley, Francis Wyatt and Samuel Argall. He was the brother of Virginia Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, a dominant figure in the Virginia Democratic Party from the 1920s until the 1960s; their father served as Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates for a time.

Marriage

On January 20, 1915, Richard married Marie Donaldson Ames (d. 1974). He would later name a region of Antarctic land he discovered "Marie Byrd Land" after her, and a mountain range, the Ames Range, after her father. They had four children – Richard Evelyn Byrd III, Evelyn Bolling Byrd Clarke, Katharine Agnes Byrd Breyer, and Helen Byrd Stabler. By late 1924, the Byrd family moved into a large brownstone house at 9 Brimmer Street in Boston's fashionable Beacon Hill neighborhood that had been purchased by Marie's father, a wealthy industrialist.

Personal life

Byrd was friends with Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, whose admiration of his polar exploits helped to gain Byrd sponsorship and financing for his various polar expeditions from the Ford Motor Company.

Education and early naval career

Byrd attended the Virginia Military Institute for two years and transferred to the University of Virginia, before financial circumstances inspired his starting over and taking an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, where he was appointed as a midshipman on May 28, 1908. While at the Naval Academy, he suffered two injuries to his right ankle (one was by playing football and the other was while dismounting gymnastic rings during a competition). Although he was allowed to remain at the academy, his injuries eventually led to his forced retirement from the Navy in 1916.

On June 8, 1912, Byrd graduated from the Naval Academy and was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy. On July 14, 1912, he was assigned to the battleship USS ''Wyoming''. During service in the Caribbean Sea, Byrd received his first letter of commendation, and later a Silver Lifesaving Medal, for twice plunging fully clothed to the rescue of a sailor who had fallen overboard. In April 1914, he transferred to the armored cruiser USS ''Washington'' and served in Mexican waters in June following the American intervention in April.

His next assignment was to the gunboat USS ''Dolphin'', which also served as the yacht of the Secretary of the Navy. This assignment brought Byrd into contact with high-ranking officials and dignitaries, including then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant (junior grade) on June 8, 1915. During Byrd's assignment to ''Dolphin'', she was commanded by future Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, who served as chief of staff to President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. Byrd's last assignment before forced retirement was to the presidential yacht USS ''Mayflower''.

On March 15, 1916, Byrd, much to his frustration, was medically retired on three-quarters pay for an ankle injury he suffered on board ''Mayflower''. Shortly thereafter, on December 14, 1916, he was assigned as the inspector and instructor for the Rhode Island Naval Militia in Providence, Rhode Island. While serving in this position, he was commended by Brigadier General Charles W. Abbot, the adjutant general of Rhode Island, for making great strides in improving the efficiency of the militia, and on April 25, 1928, was promoted to captain by act of the Rhode Island General Assembly in recognition of his flight to the North Pole in 1926.

First World War

Shortly after the entry of the United States into the First World War in April 1917, Byrd oversaw the mobilization of the Rhode Island Naval Militia. He was then recalled to active duty and was assigned to the Office of Naval Operations and served in a desk job as secretary and organizer of the Navy Department Commission on Training Camps. In the autumn of 1917, he was sent to naval aviation school at Pensacola, Florida. He qualified as a naval aviator (number 608) in June 1918. He then commanded naval air forces at Naval Air Station Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada, from July 1918 until the armistice in November. In that assignment, he was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant and the temporary rank of lieutenant commander.

For his services during the war, he received a letter of commendation from Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, which was after World War II converted to a Navy Commendation Medal.

After the war

After the war, Byrd volunteered to be a crew member in the U.S. Navy's 1919 aerial transatlantic crossing. This mission was historic, as it was the first time the Atlantic Ocean was crossed by an aircraft. It was decided that only men who had not served overseas would be allowed on the mission. Unfortunately for Byrd, his tour of duty in Newfoundland was considered overseas service. Byrd was, however, able to make a valuable contribution, as his expertise in aerial navigation resulted in his appointment to plan the flight path of the mission. Of the three flying boats (NC-1, NC-3, and NC-4) that started from Newfoundland, only Lieutenant Commander Albert Read's NC-4 completed the trip on May 18, 1919, achieving the first transatlantic flight.

In 1921, Byrd volunteered to attempt a solo nonstop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, prefiguring Charles Lindbergh's historic flight by six years. Byrd's ambition was dashed by then acting Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., who felt the risks outweighed the potential rewards. Byrd was then assigned to the ill-fated dirigible ''ZR-2'' (formerly known by the British designation of ''R-38''). As fate would have it, Byrd missed his train to take him to the airship on August 24, 1921. The airship broke apart in midair, killing 44 of 49 crew members on board. Byrd lost several friends in the accident, and was involved in the subsequent recovery operations and investigation. The accident affected him deeply and inspired him to make safety a top priority in all of his future expeditions.

Due to reductions in the Navy after the First World War, Byrd reverted to the rank of lieutenant at the end of 1921. During the summer of 1923, then-Lieutenant Byrd and a group of volunteer Navy veterans of the First World War helped found the Naval Reserve Air Station (NRAS) at Squantum Point near Boston, using an unused First World War seaplane hangar which had remained more-or-less intact after the Victory Destroyer Plant shipyard was built on the site. NRAS Squantum was commissioned on August 15, 1923, and is considered to have been the first air base in the Naval Reserve program.

Byrd commanded the aviation unit of the arctic expedition to North Greenland led by Donald B. MacMillan from June to October 1925. During this expedition, Byrd made the acquaintance of Navy Chief Aviation Pilot Floyd Bennett and Norwegian pilot Bernt Balchen. Bennett served as his pilot in his flight to the North Pole the next year. Balchen, whose knowledge of Arctic flight operations proved invaluable, was the primary pilot on Byrd's flight to the South Pole in 1929.

1926 North Pole flight

On May 9, 1926, Byrd and Navy Chief Aviation Pilot Floyd Bennett attempted a flight over the North Pole in a Fokker F.VIIa/3m tri-motor monoplane named ''Josephine Ford'' after the daughter of Ford Motor Company president Edsel Ford, who helped finance the expedition. The flight left from Spitsbergen (Svalbard) and returned to its takeoff airfield, lasting 15 hours and 57 minutes, including 13 minutes spent circling at their Farthest North. Byrd and Bennett said they reached the North 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 Floyd Bennett and him 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.

Controversy

Since 1926, doubts have been raised, defenses made, and heated controversy arose over whether or not Byrd actually reached the North Pole. In 1958, Norwegian-American aviator and explorer Bernt Balchen cast doubt on Byrd's statement on the basis of his knowledge of the airplane's speed. Balchen said that Bennett had confessed to him months after the flight that Byrd and he had not reached the pole. Bennett died on April 25, 1928, during a flight to rescue downed aviators in Greenland. Bennett, though, had started a memoir, given numerous interviews, and wrote an article for an aviation magazine about the flight before his death that all confirmed Byrd's version of the flight.

The 1996 release of Byrd's diary of the May 9, 1926, flight revealed erased (but still legible) sextant sights that sharply differ from Byrd's later June 22 typewritten official report to the National Geographic Society. Byrd took a sextant reading of the Sun at 7:07:10 GCT. His erased diary record shows the apparent (observed) solar altitude to have been 19°25'30", while his later official typescript reports the same 7:07:10 apparent solar altitude to have been 18°18'18". On the basis of this and other data in the diary, Dennis Rawlins concluded that Byrd steered accurately, and flew about 80% of the distance to the pole before turning back because of an engine oil leak, but later falsified his official report to support his statement of reaching the pole.

Accepting that the conflicting data in the typed report's flight times indeed require both northward and southward ground speeds greater than the flight's 85-mph airspeed, a Byrd defender posits a westerly-moving anticyclone that tailwind-boosted Byrd's ground speed on both outward and inward legs, allowing the distance said to be covered in the time stated (the theory is based on rejecting handwritten sextant data in favor of typewritten alleged dead-reckoning data). This suggestion has been challenged by Dennis Rawlins, who adds that the sextant data in the long-unavailable original official typewritten report are all expressed to 1 second, a precision not possible on Navy sextants of 1926 and not the precision of the sextant data in Byrd's diary for 1925 or the 1926 flight, which was normal (half or quarter of a minute of arc).

If Byrd and Bennett did not reach the North Pole, then the first flight over the pole occurred a few days later, on May 12, 1926, with the flight of the airship ''Norge'' that flew from Spitsbergen (Svalbard) to Alaska nonstop with a crew including Roald Amundsen, Umberto Nobile, Oscar Wisting, and Lincoln Ellsworth.

1927 Trans-Atlantic flight

In 1927, Byrd announced he had the backing of the American Trans-Oceanic Company, which had been established in 1914 by department-store magnate Rodman Wanamaker for the purpose of building aircraft to complete nonstop flights across the Atlantic Ocean. Byrd was one of several aviators who attempted to win the Orteig Prize in 1927 for making the first nonstop flight between the United States and France.

Once again, Byrd named Floyd Bennett as his chief pilot, with Norwegian Bernt Balchen, Bert Acosta, and Lieutenant George Noville as other crewmembers. During a practice takeoff with Anthony Fokker at the controls and Bennett in the co-pilot seat, the Fokker Trimotor airplane, ''America'', crashed, severely injuring Bennett and slightly injuring Byrd. As the plane was being repaired, Charles Lindbergh won the prize by completing his historic flight on May 21, 1927. (Coincidentally, in 1925, then Army Air Service Reserve Corps Lieutenant Charles Lindbergh had applied to serve as a pilot on Byrd's North Pole expedition, but apparently, his bid came too late.)

Byrd continued with his quest to cross the Atlantic nonstop, naming Balchen to replace Bennett, who had not yet fully recovered from his injuries, as chief pilot. Byrd, Balchen, Acosta, and Noville flew from Roosevelt Field, East Garden City, New York, in the ''America'' on June 29, 1927. On board was mail from the US Postal Service to demonstrate the practicality of aircraft. Arriving over France the next day, they were prevented from landing in Paris by cloud cover; they returned to the coast of Normandy and crash-landed near the beach at Ver-sur-Mer (known as Gold Beach during the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944) without fatalities on July 1, 1927. In France, Byrd and his crew were received as heroes and Byrd was invested as an Officer of the French Legion of Honor by Prime Minister Raymond Poincare on July 6.

After their return to the United States, an elaborate dinner in their honor was held in New York City on July 19. Byrd and Noville were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by Secretary of the Navy Curtis D. Wilbur at the dinner. Acosta and Balchen did not receive the Distinguished Flying Cross because, at that time, it could only be awarded to members of the armed services and not to civilians.

Byrd wrote an article for the August 1927 edition of ''Popular Science Monthly'' in which he accurately predicted that while specially modified aircraft with one to three crewmen would fly the Atlantic nonstop, another 20 years were needed before it would be realized on a commercial scale.

Early Antarctic expeditions

First Antarctic expedition (1928–1930)

In 1928, Byrd began his first expedition to the Antarctic involving two ships and three airplanes: Byrd's flagship was the ''City of New York'' (a Norwegian sealing ship previously named ''Samson'' that had come into fame as a ship some said was in the vicinity of the ''Titanic'' when the latter was sinking) and the ''Eleanor Bolling'' (named after Byrd's mother); a Ford Trimotor airplane called the '' Floyd Bennett'' (named after the recently deceased pilot of Byrd's previous expeditions) flown by Dean Smith; a Fairchild FC-2W2, NX8006, built 1928, named ''Stars And Stripes'' (now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center); and a Fokker Super Universal monoplane called the ''Virginia'' (Byrd's birth state). A base camp named " Little America (exploration base), Little America" was constructed on the Ross Ice Shelf, and scientific expeditions by snowshoe, dog sled, snowmobile, and airplane began. To increase the interest of youth in arctic exploration, a 19-year-old American Boy Scout, Paul Allman Siple, was chosen to accompany the expedition. Siple went on to earn an doctorate and was probably the only person, other than Byrd himself, to participate in all five of Byrd's Antarctic expeditions.

Photographic expeditions and geological surveys were undertaken for the duration of that summer, and constant radio communications were maintained with the outside world. After their first winter, their expeditions were resumed, and on November 28, 1929, the first flight to the South Pole and back was launched. Byrd, along with pilot Bernt Balchen, co-pilot/radioman Harold June, and photographer Ashley McKinley, flew the ''Floyd Bennett'' to the South Pole and back in 18 hours, 41 minutes. They had difficulty gaining enough altitude, and they had to dump empty gas tanks, as well as their emergency supplies, to achieve the altitude of the Polar Plateau, but they were ultimately successful.

As a result of his achievement, Byrd was promoted to the rank of rear admiral by a special act of Congress on December 21, 1929. As he was only 41 years old at the time, this promotion made Byrd the youngest admiral in the history of the United States Navy. By way of comparison, none of his Annapolis classmates became admirals until 1942, after 30 years of commissioned service. He is one of only three persons, one being Admiral David Dixon Porter and the other being Arctic explorer Donald Baxter MacMillan, to have been promoted to the rank of rear admiral in the United States Navy without having first held the rank of captain.

After a further summer of exploration, the expedition returned to North America on June 18, 1930. Unlike the 1926 flight, this expedition was honored with the gold medal of the American Geographical Society. This was also seen in the film ''With Byrd at the South Pole'' (1930), which covered his trip there.

Byrd, by then an internationally recognized, pioneering American polar explorer and aviator, served for a time as Honorary National President (1931–1935) of Pi Gamma Mu, the international honor society in the social sciences. He carried the society's flag during his first Antarctic expedition to dramatize the spirit of adventure into the unknown, characterizing both the natural and social sciences.

To finance and gain both political and public support for his expeditions, Byrd actively cultivated relationships with many powerful individuals, including President Franklin Roosevelt, Henry Ford, Edsel Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and Vincent Astor. As a token of his gratitude, Byrd named geographic features in the Antarctic after his supporters.

Second Antarctic expedition (1934)

On his second expedition in 1934, Byrd spent five winter months alone operating a meteorological station, Advance Base, from which he narrowly escaped with his life after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning from a poorly ventilated stove. Unusual radio transmissions from Byrd finally began to alarm the men at the base camp, who then attempted to go to Advance Base. The first two trips were failures due to darkness, snow, and mechanical troubles. Finally, Thomas Poulter, E. J. Demas, and Amory Waite arrived at Advance Base, where they found Byrd in poor physical health. The men remained at Advance Base until October 12. when an airplane from the base camp picked up Dr. Poulter and Byrd. The rest of the men returned to base camp with the tractor. This expedition is described by Byrd in his autobiography ''Alone''. It is also commemorated in a U.S. postage stamp issued at the time, and a considerable amount of mail using it was sent from Byrd's base at Little America (exploration base), Little America.

A CBS radio station, KFZ, was set up on the base camp ship, the ''Bear of Oakland'' and ''The Adventures of Admiral Byrd'' program was short-waved to Buenos Aires, then relayed to New York.

In late 1938, Byrd visited Hamburg, and was invited to participate in the 1938/1939 German " Neuschwabenland" Antarctic Expedition, but declined. (Although Germany was not at war with the United States at this time, Adolf Hitler had been serving as Führer of the German Reich since 1934, and invaded Poland the next year.)

Antarctic Service Expedition (1939–1940)

Byrd's third expedition was the first one financed and conducted by the United States government. The project included extensive studies of geology, biology, meteorology, and exploration. The innovative Antarctic Snow Cruiser was brought with the expedition, but broke down shortly after arriving.

Within a few months, in March 1940, Byrd was recalled to active duty in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. The expedition continued in Antarctica without him until the last of its participants left Antarctica on March 22, 1941.

World War II

As a senior officer in the United States Navy, Byrd was recalled on active duty on March 26, 1942, and served as the confidential advisor to Admiral Ernest J. King. From 1942 to 1945 he served on the South Pacific Island Base Inspection Board, which toured bases in the South Pacific in May and June 1942. The report submitted by the Board describes conditions found at each base and analyses, lessons learned in planning and equipping these bases. The report contains recommendations applicable to the individual bases and others designed to be helpful in the planning of future advanced bases. On 1 September 1943, in compliance with a series of letters from the President to the Secretary of the Navy, the Commander-in-Chief United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations ordered Byrd to assume direction of a survey and "investigation of certain islands in the East and South Pacific in connection with national defense and commercial air bases and routes." The members of the Special Navy Mission sailed from Balboa, Canal Zone, on USS Concord (CL-10), Captain Irving Reynold Chambers, commanding, in September 1943. A large explosion at sea on October 7, 1943 took the lives of 24 Concord crewmen, including the executive officer, Commander Rogers Elliott. Caused by ignition of gasoline fumes at the stern of the ship, the explosion threw some men overboard, while others were killed from concussion, burns, fractured skulls and broken necks. Several sailors died while trying to save their shipmates. The dead were buried at sea on October 8. On October 23, 1943, Byrd wrote a letter from Nuku Hiva (the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia) to Chambers, the ship's commanding officer, commending him and his crew "for the courage and efficiency" displayed following the explosion that made Byrd "feel proud to be an American. Great heroism was displayed, especially by the men who lost their lives rescuing the wounded." Byrd completed the Special Mission in December and participated in the United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS) in 1944-1945.

On February 10, 1945, Byrd received the Order of Christopher Columbus from the government of the Dominican Republic. Byrd was present at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. He was released from active duty on October 1, 1945. In recognition of his service during World War II, Byrd received two awards of the Legion of Merit.

Later Antarctic expeditions

Operation Highjump (1946–1947)

In 1946, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal appointed Byrd as officer in charge of Antarctic Developments Project. Byrd's fourth Antarctic expedition was code-named Operation Highjump. It was the largest Antarctic expedition to date and was expected to last 6–8 months.

The expedition was supported by a large naval force (designated Task Force 68), commanded by Rear Admiral Richard H. Cruzen. Thirteen US Navy support ships (besides the flagship and the aircraft carrier ), six helicopters, six flying boats, two seaplane tenders, and 15 other aircraft were used. The total number of personnel involved was over 4,000.

The armada arrived in the Ross Sea on December 31, 1946, and made aerial explorations of an area half the size of the United States, recording 10 new mountain ranges. The major area covered was the eastern coastline of Antarctica from 150°E to the Greenwich meridian.

Admiral Byrd was interviewed by Lee van Atta of International News Service aboard the expedition's command ship USS ''Mount Olympus'', in which he discussed the lessons learned from the operation. The interview appeared in the Wednesday, March 5, 1947, edition of the Chilean newspaper ''El Mercurio'', and read in part:

Admiral Richard E. Byrd warned today that the United States should adopt measures of protection against the possibility of an invasion of the country by hostile planes coming from the polar regions. The admiral explained that he was not trying to scare anyone, but the cruel reality is that in case of a new war, the United States could be attacked by planes flying over one or both poles. This statement was made as part of a recapitulation of his own polar experience, in an exclusive interview with International News Service. Talking about the recently completed expedition, Byrd said that the most important result of his observations and discoveries is the potential effect that they have in relation to the security of the United States. The fantastic speed with which the world is shrinking – recalled the admiral – is one of the most important lessons learned during his recent Antarctic exploration. I have to warn my compatriots that the time has ended when we were able to take refuge in our isolation and rely on the certainty that the distances, the oceans, and the poles were a guarantee of safety.

In 1948, the U.S. Navy produced a documentary about Operation Highjump named '' The Secret Land''. The film shows live-action footage of the operation, along with a few re-enacted scenes. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

On December 8, 1954, Byrd appeared on the television show ''Longines Chronoscope''. He was interviewed by Larry LeSueur and Kenneth Crawford about his Antarctic voyages, and said that Antarctica, in the future, would become the most important place in the world for science.

Operation Deep Freeze I (1955–1956)

As part of the multinational collaboration for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) 1957–58, Byrd was appointed as officer in charge of the U.S. Navy Operation Deep Freeze I in 1955–56, which established permanent Antarctic bases at McMurdo Sound, the Bay of Whales, and the South Pole. This was Byrd's last trip to Antarctica, and marked the beginning of a permanent U.S. military presence in Antarctica. Byrd spent only one week in the Antarctic, and started his return to the United States on February 3, 1956.

Death

Admiral Byrd died in his sleep of a heart ailment at the age of 68 on March 11, 1957, at his home at 7 Brimmer Street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood in Boston. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Memberships

Byrd was an active Freemason. He was raised (became a Master Mason) in Federal Lodge No. 1, Washington, DC, on March 19, 1921, and affiliated with Kane Lodge No. 454, New York City, September 18, 1928. He was a member of National Sojourners Chapter No. 3 at Washington. In 1930, Byrd was awarded a gold medal by Kane Lodge.

In 1931, Byrd became a compatriot of the Tennessee Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. He was assigned state membership number 605 and national membership number 50430. He received the society's War Service Medal for his service during the First World War.

He was also a member of numerous other patriotic, scientific, and charitable organizations, including the Explorers Club, the American Legion, and the National Geographic Society.

Honors

By the time he died, Byrd had amassed 22 citations and special commendations, nine of which were for bravery and two for extraordinary heroism in saving the lives of others. In addition, he received the Medal of Honor, the Silver Lifesaving Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Navy Cross.

Admiral Byrd is the only person to have three ticker-tape parades in New York City (in 1926, 1927, and 1930) given in his honor.

Byrd was one of only four American military officers in history entitled to wear a medal with his own image on it. The others were Admiral George Dewey, General John J. Pershing, and Admiral William T. Sampson. As Byrd's image is on both the first and second Byrd Antarctic Expedition Medals, he was the only American entitled to wear two medals with his own image on them.

He was one of the recipients of the Langley Gold Medal, which is awarded by the Smithsonian Institution for outstanding achievement in aviation.

He was the seventh recipient of the prestigious Hubbard Medal awarded by the National Geographic Society for his flight to the North Pole. Other recipients include Robert Peary, Roald Amundsen, and Charles Lindbergh.

Byrd received numerous medals from nongovernmental organizations in honor of his achievements. These included the David Livingstone Centenary Medal of the American Geographical Society, the Loczy Medal of the Hungarian Geographical Society, the Vega Medal of the Swedish Geographical Society, and the Elisha Kent Kane Medal of the Philadelphia Geographical Society.

In 1927, the Boy Scouts of America made Byrd an Honorary Scout, a new category of scout created that same year. This distinction was given to "American citizens whose achievements in outdoor activity, exploration, and worthwhile adventure are of such an exceptional character as to capture the imagination of boys ...".

Also in 1927 the City of Richmond dedicated the Richard Evelyn Byrd Flying Field, now Richmond International Airport, in Henrico County, Virginia. Byrd's Fairchild FC-2W2, NX8006, ''Stars And Stripes'', is on display at the Virginia Aviation Museum located on the north side of the airport, on loan from the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

In 1929, Byrd received the Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America. Also in 1929, he received the Langley Gold Medal from the Smithsonian Institution.

Lunar crater Byrd is named after him, as was the United States Navy dry cargo ship and the now decommissioned ''Charles F. Adams''-class guided missile destroyer .

In Glen Rock, New Jersey

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