The obverse bears a globe in center with north pole visible. Cyclone engine with emanating rays superimposed. Along top edge in two lines, COMMEMORATING THE FIRST NORTH POLE FLIGHT / BY LT. COMM. RICHARD E. BYRD MAY 9, 1926; along bottom edge, WRIGHT AERONAUTICAL CORPORATION
The reverse shows Byrd's airplane in flight over exaggerated north pole of globe, dog sled with two men laboring beneath, clouds swirling from bottom and left. Signed KILENYI at left bottom.
Rear Admiral Byrd (1888-1957) was an American naval officer who specialized in feats of exploration. He 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. He might well have become the first human to cross the Atlantic by plane in a non-stop flight but a crash during a practice takeoff delayed his flight and Charles Lindbergh managed the feat before he could try again.
Byrd's attempt to reach the North Pole by plane was undertaken on May 9th, 1926. His plane, named "Josephine Ford" after the daughter of expedition sponsor and Ford Motor company president Edsel Ford, was a German Fokker F-VII Tri-motor monoplane. Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennett took off from and landed at Spitsbergen after covering 1,360 miles in 15 and a half hours. Byrd claimed to have reached the North Pole though this is very much doubted today. Regardless of the ultimate veracity of his claim, he and Bennett were celebrated as heros upon their return and awarded the Medal of Honor.
The medal measures 100mm (3 15/16in) in diameter and was struck by the Whitehead-Hoag Company.
