William P. Benedict

Lieutenant Colonel William Pershing Benedict was an American Pilot from California . He wanted to join the U.S. Air Force for pilot training, but was rejected due to his modest education. Instead, he joined the Canadian Air Training Program and was licensed as a pilot in 1941. Subsequently, he was transferred to Great Britain , where he flew Spitfire s and Hurricane s. During World War II , he fought from July 8 , 1942 on in Northern Africa and over Italy . On December 15 , 1942 , he succeeded to transfer to the USAAF, where he flew Curtiss P-40 s and later P-47 Thunderbolt s. He returned to the U.S. on December 16 , 1944 .

Benedict is best known for having flown together with Lt. Col. Joseph O. Fletcher a U.S. Air Force C-47 modified to have skis and wheels to the North Pole , where they became the first humans to land a plane on May 3 , 1952 and (together with scientist Albert P. Crary ) the first persons to set foot on the exact geographical North Pole.

Benedict left the USAAF in 1962 and later worker as a Firefighting pilot in California. He was killed while dropping fire retardant in the Ukiah area of California on August 31 , 1974 .

LITERATURE

Compton, Charles B.: ''Born to Fly: Some Life Sketches of Lieutenant Colonel William P. Benedict'', Polar Times, 1997 (expanded into a book with the same title, self-published, 2002.)

EXTERNAL LINKS

Firefighters' Memorial Wall listing William P. Benedict.

Review of Compton's book. (In Italian)

Transscript of a 1997 interview with Fletcher, mentioning Benedict and the flight to the North Pole.

Information About

William P. Benedict