Birger Hønningstad (17 September 1904 – 2 April 1976) was a Norwegian engineer and

aircraft designer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

Biography

Hønningstad was born in

Ås, Akershus Ås is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Follo, Norway, Follo Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ås. ...

, Norway. He was the son of Amund Bertelsen Hønningstad (1875-1944) and Grethe Olsen Sagesund (1874-1953).He attended the

Norwegian Institute of Technology The Norwegian Institute of Technology ( Norwegian: ''Norges tekniske høgskole'', NTH) was a science institute in Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1910, and existed as an independent technical university for 58 years, after which it was ...

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

with continued studies at the

University of Detroit The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catho ...

, graduating in 1931. In 1933, Hønningstad started his own engineering company in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. From 1937, he was also a theoretical teacher at Viggo Widerøe Airline School at

Bogstad Bogstad Manor (''Bogstad gård'') is a historic manor house and former estate located in the borough of Vestre Aker in Oslo, Norway. It is situated in the northwestern part of Oslo. Background Bogstad has its origin in a farm which was locat ...

. Hønningstad constructed several airplanes, first in his own engineering firm, Birger Hønningstad & Co, and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

at Norsk Flyindustri, where he was director and chairman. Hønningstad's initiative, together with shipowner Ole Bergesen, resulted in the establishment of an airport in the

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

area of Norway. It was opened in 1937 as Norway's first civil airport by King

Haakon VII Haakon VII (; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was King of Norway from 18 November 1905 until his death in 1957. The future Haakon VII was born in Copenhagen as Prince Carl of Denmark. He was the second son of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess ...

Aircraft constructed

* Hønningstad Norge A (1938) * Hønningstad C-5 Polar (1939) prototype * Hønningstad Norge B (1946) *

Widerøe Polar The Widerøe C.5 Polar, sometimes known as the Honningstad C.5 Polar, was a Norwegian general-purpose land or floatplane built by Widerøes Flyveselskap. Design and development The Norwegian airline Widerøe decided in the late 1940s to design ...

(1948) * Norsk Flyindustri Finnmark 5A (1949) * Hønningstad Norge C (1960)

References

External links

Stavanger, Sola
a
Norske flyplasser
(no) 1904 births 1976 deaths People from Akershus Norwegian Institute of Technology alumni 20th-century Norwegian engineers Businesspeople in aviation Aviation inventors Norwegian designers Aircraft designers {{Norway-engineer-stub