Biography

After school, Balchen joined the military, where he completed his pilot training in 1921. He then served as a lieutenant in the Norwegian Air Force. In 1925 he took part in Roald Amundsen's polar missions as a flight commander in order to gain his first experience in polar research by aircraft. Balchen emigrated to the USA in 1926, where he was accepted as a pilot into Richard Evelyn Byrd's US Navy flight team, whom he advised on his polar expeditions. Balchen also served as a principal test pilot for the Fokker Aircraft Corporation. In 1927, Balchen took part as a pilot in Byrd's non-stop Atlantic crossing, during which he rescued the crew by making an emergency landing in the Atlantic. Balchen then took part in Byrd's first Antarctic expedition from 1928 to 1930 as chief pilot. On this expedition, Byrd and Balchen made the first overflight of the South Pole on November 28th and 29th, 1929 with their three-engine aircraft "Floyd Bennett".

After the German invasion of Norway in World War II, Balchen joined the British Royal Air Force. From 1941 he served in the US Army, for whose aviation corps he set up airports in Greenland that served as strategic supply stations for the Allied air war. During the Second World War, Balchen proved to be a recognized advisor for the establishment of air transport systems between England, Scandinavia and Russia, which made the evacuation of numerous people persecuted by the Nazis possible. After the end of the Second World War, Balchen played a key role in the further development of Scandinavian aviation. He returned to the military in 1948 to conduct rescue operations in Alaska for the US Air Force. In 1949, Balchen piloted the first flight from Alaska to Norway via the North Pole. He was the first pilot to fly over both poles.

Bernt Balchen died on October 17, 1973 in Mount Kisko, New York.
- IMDb mini biography by: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth