United States Navy Lieutenant Commander, Richard Evelyn Byrd's arctic expedition to fly an airplane over the North Pole. U.S. Freighter Chantier docked in New York harbor. A Tug boat pushes the SS Chantier away from her pier in New York Harbor. Lt.Cmdr. Byrd, pilot Floyd Bennett, and two other members of the expedition, consult charts to plan their flight, during the cruise from New York to Norway. View from the ship's deck as they traverse sea covered with floating ice floes. closeups of the ice floes. View from the deck, as the SS Chantier approaches land, in King's Bay, Spitsbergen, Norway. A Norwegian gunboat is docked at the only pier. Snow and ice-covered mountains rise in the background. Several buildings, including a hangar, for the airship, Norge, are seen at the Norwegian camp. The Harbor master comes out to the Chantier, with three other men, in a dingy. They struggle through the ice floes, using long poles to help them maneuver.
The 1926 Byrd expedition to fly over the North Pole. The expedition's ski-equipped Curtiss Oriole (Curtiss Model 17) airplane is seen parked in front of their Fokker F-VII Tri-motor airplane, the "Josephine Ford," on the snow at Spitsbergen, Norway. Engines start on both aircraft. The Oriole takes off with its photographer waving to the camera as they depart. They gather speed on a downhill slope and break ground to proceed over open water in Kings bay. Next, the Fokker (piloted by Floyd Bennett and navigated by LCDR Richard Byrd) is seen high above on its flight towards the North Pole. Views of dramatic Ice formations as seen from a boat in waters nearby. Aerial views of arctic terrain.
While United States Navy Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd's North Pole expedition prepares for its flight to the pole and back, the Dirigible, "Norge," positioning for the Amundsen-Ellsworth 1926 Transpolar Flight, is seen in flight over Kings Bay Spitsbergen. She passes over the Byrd Polar Expedition camp and proceeds to land and be moved into her protective hangar at her own expedition camp, nearby.
United States Navy Lieutenant Commander Richard Evelyn Byrd's 1926 arctic expedition. Cameraman sets up motion picture camera on tripod atop a floating ice floe. Expedition workers float the Fokker trimotor aircraft, named, "Josephine Ford," ashore. Only its nose engine and wing are installed. Later, after being fully assembled, the engines are started. Floyd Bennett and Richard Byrd, conversing, over the roar of the engines. Team members having a meal near the airplane.
Norwegian explorer, Ronald Amundsen steps from the Byrd expedition aircraft (Fokker F-VII Tri-motor airplane, the "Josephine Ford") with navigation instruments in his hands. These are gifts from Lieutenant Commander Richard Byrd, to assist Amundsen and Ellsworth on their imminent arctic flight aboard the airship Norge. Byrd in Navy uniform, and Michael J. Brennan, U.S. Merchant Marine, Captain of the SS Chantier, follow Amundsen out of the airplane. Byrd joins Amundsen and they converse briefly. Then Captain Brennan examines some charts with Amundsen. Byrd holds a special sun compass invented by Albert H. Bumstead, chief cartographer of the National Geographic Society, and explains it to Lincoln Ellsworth, who then takes it in hand and manipulates it. Next event shown is on morning of May 11, 1926, as Byrd and Bennett take off, in the "Josephine Ford," in front of the parked airship, Norge, to provide a courtesy escort for the airship as it gets underway. Their plane is seen flying overhead as ground crews prepare the Norge for departure. Next, the Norge is seen rising vertically from the ground. Viewed from the Kings Bay dock the Norge is seen aloft in the distance. Aerial view, fairly close, of the Norge underway (presumably taken by Byrd, from his airplane).
Pictures taken by military and news cameramen during World War II. Operation Claymore, March 1941: British Commandos raid Lofoten Islands in assault boats. They destroy a fish oil refinery off the coast of Norway. Soldiers and civilians on the docks. Burning refineries and buildings. Clouds of black smoke. 1941: British and Canadian troops on Spitsbergen Island. They destroy Soviet coal mines to prevent the Germans from occupying them. Black smoke clouds due to the explosions. Operation Archery on Vaagso Island, 1941: British Commandos raid the Island. Soldiers walk in the snow. Nazi prisoners surrender and marched by British soldiers. Battle ensues on the Island. Soldiers walk past a fence. Burning buildings in the background.