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Col. Bernt Balchen and Arctic Rescue
Bernt Balchen A brief biography of Balchen by Bess Balchen, who had been wife of the aviator. What is noteworthy on this site is Bess Balchen's article, Did Richard Byrd get to the North Pole in 1926? It chronicles Balchen's relationship with the admiral from the early days -- Balchen served as chief pilot for Byrd's 1929 flight over the South Pole -- to the later days of acrimony, with Byrd purportedly using influence and attempted intimidation to remove Balchen from the limelight. The article contains new information relating to Balchen's contention that Byrd faked his supposed 1926 flight to the North Pole.
Alone
on the Ice: Bernt Balchen
It was in 1973 that Balchen was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. The link is to a webpage on the NAHF website which provides a biography of the aviator and a list of non-web resources on him. Bernt Balchen Biographical sketch from the website of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. Balchen was inducted in 1973 -- the same year as his induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in the U.S., and the year of his death. The Canadian honor was explained in these words: "His extraordinary aeronautical ability directed towards the exploration of unmapped regions, the Fort Churchill airlift and the linking of this nation by air to Scandinavia, despite adversity, have been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."
Bernt Balchen Biography from the website of Aeronautics Learning Laboratory for Science Technology and Research (ALLSTAR), a NASA sponsored program for junior high school, high school and college students.
Tribute from Michael Patterson's Arlington National Cemetary website. Includes this inscription on Balchen's headstone: "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."
The Last of the Polar Aviation Firsts Brief discussion on B.G. Rhodes' PolarFlight website of Balchen's "polar first": being the first to pilot an aircraft to both poles.
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