The Heroic Journey of Commander Richard E Byrd and the Crew of the America

This plane was a monoplane fokker trimotor named the "Josaphine Ford."

A Journey Across the Atlantic

From Roosevelt Field, L.L. to Ver-sur-Mer, France…

Distance: 3,477 miles

Flying time: 43 hours 21 minutes.

This plane (pictured) is the same type of plane that Commander Byrd flew across the Atlantic

Date: June 29-30, 1927

Can you imagine being in a plane for over 43 hours, straining to see through thick fog? That was the reality for Commander Richard E. Byrd and his crew aboard the “America.” They were pushing their limits, flying blind for nearly two thousand miles with newly discovered instruments. But the fog was relentless, and they had lost track of their exact location.

The Struggle in the Fog

As they flew, gas was running low. The crew thought they spotted lights ahead. Byrd, ever the optimist, announced over the radio that they were over Paris. But alas, the lights they saw were merely reflections off the water, not the City of Lights. The crew's hopes were dashed, but they had no choice; they needed to land.

With no gas left for any other option, Byrd passed the note, “brace for landing.” The crew braced themselves for what could be a disastrous crash landing in the water. Byrd’s mind raced back to his training in Pensacola, Florida, where he had witnessed the dangers of tail spins in water. He knew that landing in water was like hitting cement.

The Crash Landing

The landing was catastrophic. The tail and landing gear sheared off, and chaos ensued. One crew member was catapulted out of a window, while another broke a collarbone. The rest of the crew, shaken but alive, crawled out onto the wing, which was still floating.

Norville, one of the crewmen, was tasked with retrieving the lifeboat from a special door in the hull. Despite being injured, he climbed onto the wing to get the boat. Talk about determination! They managed to get the lifeboat out and headed for the beach.

A Miraculous Rescue

Upon reaching the shore, they encountered a lighthouse. Byrd had to convince the lighthouse keeper that they were four Americans who had just crossed the Atlantic. While they didn’t make it to Paris, they had a story to tell. They spread the word about the new instruments that allowed them to travel 2,000 miles in dense fog.

The Wright Whirlwind engines had performed flawlessly over the 3,400 miles, proving their reliability for long-distance passenger travel. It was a testament to the advancements in aviation