Bernt Balchen, Polar Aviator

Glines, Carroll V.

Published by Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington - London, 1999

About this Item

First Edition - - Norwegian aviator Bernt Balchen was the first pilot to fly both over the South Pole and the North Pole. He also piloted Richard Bird's "America" across the Atlantic in 1927. He built Sondrestromfjord Air Force Base in Greenland and made SAS "first over the Pole". - - He set polar flight records, organized a series of daring wartime air operations, and became a leader in Arctic aviation. But despite these achievements, Norwegian American aviator Bernt Balchen saw his public image and military career repeatedly undermined by his onetime mentor, the famous and influential Admiral Richard Byrd. - In 1929 Baichen piloted Byrd's historic flight over the South Pole. During World War II Baichen masterminded a series of supply missions that parachuted intelligence agents and supplies to resistance fighters in occupied Norway. In 1952 he flew over the North Pole, becoming the first person to pilot a plane over both poles. Early in the Cold War he took the lead in establishing the U.S. Air Force's northernmost base, which prevented Soviet domination of the Arctic. - In Bernt Baichen, Carroll V. Glines describes how Byrd's respect for Balchen's talents gradually eroded even as Balchen steadily gained a wider reputation for courage and technical skill. Glines contends that Byrd derailed Balchen's postwar promotion to brigadier general, forcing his retirement from the military in 1956. He also documents how Balchen's publisher bowed to pressure from Byrd's supporters to remove material from a 1958 autobiography. Balchen had argued that Byrd's claim to have been the first to fly across the North Pole in 1926 could not be supported by speed and distance calculations. - Glines provides a full and compelling portrait of a pilot overshadowed in his lifetime by Byrd but whose expertise and vision continue to guide trans-Arctic aviation. 310 p. many pictures. Seller Inventory # 1997

Bibliographic Details

Title: Bernt Balchen, Polar Aviator

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington - London

Publication Date: 1999

Binding: hardcover with dust jacket

Condition: good condition

Edition: 1st Edition