Background
Bennett was born in Warrensburg, New York, on October 25, 1890.
Bennett was born in Warrensburg, New York, on October 25, 1890.
He attended grammar school at Warrensburg and a mechanics school at Schenectady, New York, and then managed garages at Lake George, Plattsburg, and Ticonderoga, New York. In 1917 he enlisted in the United States Navy and was stationed at Pensacola where he received training as an airplane pilot and mechanic.
fter serving on the U. S. S. Richmond from 1920 to 1925, he was selected by Admiral Richard Byrd to participate in the MacMillan Expedition to Greenland. On May 9, 1926, he piloted Byrd in a flight over the North Pole from a base at Spitzbergen; it was the first successful flight over either of the poles. For this achievement Bennett was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and a gold medal by the National Geographic Society. In 1926 he made an 8, 000-mile (12, 875-km) flight around the United States to demonstrate the feasibility of scheduled airline operations. On April 16, 1927, Bennett was severely injured while testing the airplane America, in which he had hoped to accompany Byrd on a transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. After his recovery he was planning a flight to the South Pole with Byrd when he volunteered to fly to the rescue of two German airmen, forced down on Greenly Island, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, after a transatlantic flight from Ireland. Bennett contracted pneumonia during the rescue flight and died in Quebec, April 25, 1928. Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn's first airport, was named for him in 1931.
For his achievements Bennett was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, Good Conduct Medal, World War I Victory Medal and a gold medal by the National Geographic Society.