Bernt Balchen was one of America’s foremost Arctic experts. Besides being a pioneer in polar aviation, a competent navigator, a skilled aeronautical engineer and a respected military leader, he was highly knowledgeable about survival in the frozen wastes of the North and South Poles. Born on October 23, 1899, in Tveit, near Kristiansand, Norway, he later became a US citizen. He always strove for excellence, and fought for freedom in the armed forces of three nations—Norway, Britain and finally the United States.

As a youngster Balchen excelled in sports. His long list of interests included athletics, boxing, marksmanship and skiing. He would have represented Norway in the 1920 Olympics but was selected for flight training and in 1921, became a pilot in the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service. In 1925, while stationed in Spitsbergen, Norway, he gained his first experience in polar flying. He was soon recognised as a gifted pilot and selected to participate in a critical rescue mission for the missing explorer Roald Amundsen. The mission was a success.

The South Pole also lured him and on November 29, 1929, as part of the first expedition of Richard Byrd to Antarctica, Balchen became the first to pilot an aircraft over the South Pole. With him in the modified Ford 4-AT Trimotor were Harold June (co-pilot and radio operator) Ashley McKinley (photographer) and Byrd (navigator and expedition organiser). Later Balchen contributed immensely to the success of various American expeditions in Antarctica under the leadership of explorers Richard Byrd and Lincoln Ellsworth. He also became the first pilot to fly over both Poles, for which he was awarded the Harmon Trophy. His contemporaries regarded him highly as an aviator. Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, wrote after her successful feat: “Please tell Bernt Balchen how deeply I appreciate all that he did to make this flight possible. Of course he is about the finest flyer and technical expert in the world but beyond that it was his confidence in my ability which helped so much.”

When World War II broke out in 1939, Balchen did whatever he could to contribute to the Allied war effort. Following the Nazi conquest of his homeland Norway, he initially served with the British and then entered the US Army Air Force. He persuaded the Canadian Government to permit the use of the airport at Toronto Island on Lake Ontario to train young Norwegians to fly. In the course of the War, over 2,500 Norwegian pilots, navigators and mechanics were trained at the various departments of this facility known as “Little Norway”.

While commanding an airfield in Greenland, Balchen engaged in some spectacular rescue missions, saving the lives of numerous American flyers whose planes had gone down on the icecap. He was also responsible for the most remarkable Arctic rescue mission of World War II. On November 9, 1942, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress four-engine bomber was reported lost in South-Eastern Greenland. An air search was launched but the missing plane was spotted only on November 24 by Balchen. Finding it was just the first step since the area was not approachable by land and an aircraft couldn’t land there. Supplies were airdropped to the survivors whenever a break in blizzards occurred, but their physical condition rapidly deteriorated in the intense cold. Balchen finally decided to use an amphibious aircraft and landed it on its belly in the short space available. While the co-pilot flew the sick survivors to safety, Balchen and others from the rescue party wended their way back on foot. The rescue operation ultimately lasted nearly five months and took five lives. Balchen was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for leading this theoretically impossible rescue mission.

In 1943 Balchen became Chief of the regional Allied Transport Command with a secret base in Scotland. Using 10 Douglas C-47s, his daring crews flew 4,399 people from neutral Sweden to the UK, always at risk of being intercepted by the Luftwaffe. He also led secret aerial missions to resupply the Norwegian resistance forces. Another important mission was on May 7, 1943, when he led a bombing raid that destroyed the sole German post in Greenland, a weather station and an anti-aircraft battery, on the East Coast of Greenland.

Bernt Balchen was a modest man who had fame thrust on him. Many a downed aviator owed his survival either directly to Balchen or to the personnel he trained in cold weather search and rescue techniques. Some of his methods are followed to this day. Apart from flying, he excelled at sketching and painting in watercolors. Through his art he introduced many people to the awesome beauty of the Arctic landscape that he deeply loved. He died in New York on October 17, 1973, of bone cancer. His tombstone read: “Today goes fast and tomorrow is almost here. Maybe I have helped a little in the change. So I go on to the next adventure looking to the future but always remembering my teammates and the lonely places I have seen that no other man saw before.”