Interesting thing about Byrd's "flights": although he was trained as
a naval aviator, he never did any of the flying on any of his
expeditionary flights, choosing to "navigate". Unfortunately, he
never did any of that either, leaving finding the destination to the
pilot.

Rick, I think you've gone overboard there. Byrd obviously navigated
pretty damn well for about 16 hours, IIRC, in a most difficult part of
the globe where a magnetic compass is almost worthless. If he had
not, he would never have got the airplane close enough to Spitzbergen
for the pilot to be able to see the airport, even in CAVU conditions.

I, too, was trained as a Naval Aviator, and when I went back to
college, the University of Illinois decided I had "earned" 30
college-level credits in celestial navigation. That's a normal
full-year's worth of credits--the equivalent of a "major." But I
could not possibly navigate an airplane for 16 hours in the polar
regions and find my destination airport.

Byrd had invented a new kind of compass, a "Sun Compass," to make the
navigation possible.

It's pretty well accepted that he faked his North Pole flight...

He didn't fake "the flight"; he and Floyd Bennett flew for about 16
hours. It does seem clear, now, that he didn't reach the pole;
whether he "faked" that part, or simply screwed up, I don't think
either you or I can know for certain.

On his flight over the Atlantic, he screwed around so long in
preparation that Lindbergh beat him.

His airplane nosed over on landing, on a test flight, damaging the a/c
(and seriously injuring Floyd Bennett), which delayed his flight.

Byrd got hammered on brandy he'd snuck aboard, and passed out.
He revived by the time they got back to Little America. He provided no navigational
assistance to the crew on the flight. The books by Balchen and others
on the crew are fascinating.

I haven't read those books, but I've read others that were very
critical of Byrd; however, I don't recall any of them mentioning his
getting "hammered." I'm sure you know that not everything we read is
true. He certainly was a prickly character, probably a "spoiled rich
brat," and perhaps a grand-stander, but he demonstrated his personal
courage on several occasions.

vince norris