Pole of inaccessibility to reach this false northern pole of inaccessibility was made by Sir Hubert Wilkins, who flew by aircraft in 1927. In 1941, the first Soviet expedition using an airplane landed 350 kilometers north of the false northern pole, thus actually becoming the first expedition to reach the real pole. Ignoring Soviet results, Sir Wally Herbert claimed to be the first to reach what was then considered to be the northern pole of inaccessibility on foot, arriving by dogsled in 1968. Explorer Jim McNeill claimed in 2006 that Herbert did not quite make the pole, and launched his own unsuccessful attempt
North Pole 17 March 1959 "USS Skate" (SSN-578) surfaced at the Pole, breaking through the ice above it, becoming the first naval vessel to do so. Setting aside Peary's claim, the first confirmed surface conquest of the North Pole was that of Ralph Plaisted, Walt Pederson, Gerry Pitzl and Jean Luc Bombardier, who traveled over the ice by snowmobile and arrived on 19 April 1968. The United States Air Force independently confirmed their position. On 6 April 1969 Wally Herbert and companions Allan Gill, Roy Koerner and Kenneth Hedges of the British Trans-Arctic Expedition became the first men to reach the North