COLUMBUS, Ohio () -- Richard Byrd, who was hailed as an American hero as the first person to fly over the North Pole exactly 70 years ago, actually flew short of his goal and knew it at the time, says a researcher of his recently discovered flight diary.


The diary, found in January among papers at Ohio State University's Byrd Polar Research Center, indicates Byrd and his pilot were concerned about an engine leak and turned around about 240 kilometers from the top of the world, said Rawlins, a Baltimore astronomer and independent publisher who specializes in navigation.





Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen should be the one recognized as the man who first flew over the North Pole, he said.








Amundsen's dirigible flight with American Lincoln Ellsworth and Italian Umberto Nobile came three days after Byrd.


"It's quite clear to me he exaggerated and knew it,'' navigation scholar Dennis Rawlins, who was commissioned by the university to study the diary, said of Byrd. "I would say Byrd saw virtually to the pole from the height he was at, but this diary disproves his claim that he reached the pole.''





The French deployed at least two light tanks, eight armored personnel carriers and 50 soldiers Saturday morning to seal off an area around an apartment block on the Moslem side of the confrontation line.





Flight operations in the biggest Anglo-American exercises since World War II were suspended, although surface operations would continue, Camp Lejeune spokesman Major Steve Little said.


Ssemogerere rejected the election results on Friday, accusing Museveni's supporters of rigging the poll.