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 Pole on foot (albeit with the aid of dog teams and airdrops). They continued on to complete the first surface crossing of the Arctic Ocean – and by its longest axis, Utqiagvik, Alaska to Svalbard – a feat that has never been repeated. Because of suggestions (later proven false) of Plaisted's use of air transport, some sources classify Herbert's expedition as the first confirmed to reach the North Pole over the ice surface by any means. In the 1980s Plaisted's pilots Weldy Phipps and Ken Lee signed affidavits asserting that no such airlift was provided. It is also said that