Bundesarchiv Bild 102-05997, Berlin, Empfang von Nordpolfliegern bei Hindenburg

Carl Benjamin "Ben" Eielson (July 20, 1897 – November 9, 1929) was an American

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, bush pilot and explorer. Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska is named in his honor. In 1997 Carl Ben Eielson was inducted into the North Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame.

Background

Carl Benjamin Eielson was born in Hatton, North Dakota to Norwegian immigrant parents. His interest in aviation went back to his childhood. Following the entry of the United States into World War I, Eielson found his chance to become an aviator. Eielson learned to fly in the

U.S. Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial warf ...

in 1917. In January 1918 he enlisted in the newly formed aviation section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. World War I ended while Eielson was in flight training. Eielson returned to North Dakota to help in his father's store and finish his degree at the University of North Dakota. During the winter of 1919–20, he and others founded the Hatton Aero Club, the first flying club in North Dakota. After graduating from the university in 1921, he enrolled at Georgetown Law School (now Georgetown University) in Washington, D.C. Working part-time as a police officer at the Capitol, he met the Alaska Territory's delegate to the Congress, Daniel Sutherland, who persuaded Ben to go to Alaska to teach secondary school.

Career

Eielson soon became the sole pilot for the Farthest North Aviation Company which was formed in 1923. In 1924, he flew the first

air mail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

in Alaska from

Fairbanks Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

McGrath, Alaska McGrath (''Tochak’'' in Upper Kuskokwim, ''Digenegh'' in Deg Xinag) is a city and village on the Kuskokwim River in Alaska, United States. The population was 301 at the 2020 census. Despite its small population, the village is an important ...

in under 3 hours, a distance

dog sled A dog sled or dog sleigh is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing. Traditionally in Greenland and the e ...

s took up to 30 days to cover. He also flew the first air mail from Atlanta to Jacksonville, Florida in 1926. In March 1927, Australian polar explorer George Hubert Wilkins and Eielson explored the drift ice north of Alaska. They touched down in Eielson's airplane in the first land-plane descent onto drift ice. In April 1928, Eielson and Wilkins flew across the Arctic Ocean in the first flight from

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

over the North Pole to Europe. The flight, from Point Barrow to

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

, covered and took 20 hours. When Eielson accompanied Wilkins on an Antarctic expedition later in 1928, they became the first men to fly over both polar regions of the world in the same year. During the Antarctic summer of 1928–1929, Eielson and Wilkins made air explorations of the

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

, charting several islands which were previously unknown. After his return from the Arctic flight, Eielson was asked to establish Alaskan Airways, a subsidiary of the

Aviation Corporation of America Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

. In 1929, Eielson died alongside his mechanic Earl Borland in an air crash in Siberia while attempting to evacuate furs and personnel from the ''Nanuk'', a cargo vessel trapped in the ice at North Cape (now

Mys Shmidta Mys Shmidta (russian: Мыс Шми́дта, lit. ''Cape Schmidt'') is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Iultinsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located about southeast of the cape of the same name on the shore of ...

). Their bodies were discovered on February 18, 1930.

Legacy

Carl Benjamin Eielson School and the Liberty ship SS ''Carl B. Eielson'' are named in his honor, as is

Mount Eielson Mount Eielson is a summit located in the Alaska Range, in Denali National Park and Preserve, in Alaska, United States. It is situated immediately east of the Muldrow Glacier terminus, south of Eielson Visitor Center, and north of Red Mountain, ...

and the new visitor center at Denali National Park and Preserve. The Carl Ben Eielson Memorial Building on the

University of Alaska The University of Alaska System is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Alaska. It was created in 1917 and comprises three separately accredited universities on 19 campuses. The system serves nearly 30,000 full- and part-time stud ...

Fairbanks campus is named in his honor. A peak in the West-Central Alaska Range is also named in his honor. An elementary school on Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota is named after him as well as Ben Eielson High School on Eielson Air Force Base outside of North Pole, Alaska, and Carl Ben Eielson Middle School in

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo ( /ˈfɑɹɡoʊ/) is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 125,990, making it the most populous city in the state and the 219th-most populous city in ...

. The

Carl Ben Eielson House The Carl Ben Eielson House, a Queen Anne style architecture in the United States, Queen Anne style house on 8th St. in Hatton, North Dakota, was built in 1900. It has also been known as Osking House. It was listed on the National Register of H ...

in Hatton, North Dakota is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. and In 1929, he was awarded the Harmon Trophy. In 1984, Carl Ben Eielson was inducted into th
Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame
held each year during Norsk Høstfest Scandinavian festival in Minot, N.D. In 1985, he was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. In 1997, Carl Ben Eielson was a recipient of the state of North Dakota's

Roughrider Award The Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award is an award presented by the Governor of North Dakota, governor of the state of North Dakota. It is bestowed upon prominent North Dakotans. Recipients ''Note: date in parentheses indicates date of award'' ...

References

Other sources

*Wambheim, H.G. (1930) ''Ben: The Life Story of Col. Carl Ben Eielson'' (Hatton) *Rolfsrud, Erling Nicolai (1952) ''Brother to the Eagle'' (Lantern Books, Alexandria, MN) *Chandler, Edna Walker (1959) ''Pioneer of Alaska skies;: The story of Ben Eielson'' (Ginn) *Herron, Edward Albert (1968) ''Wings Over Alaska: The Story of Carl Ben Eielson'' (Pocket Books) *Gleason, Robert J. (1977) ''Icebound in the Siberian Arctic'' (Alaska Northwest Pub. Co) * Page, Dorothy G. (1992) ''Polar Pilot: The Carl Ben Eielson Story''. (Vero Media, Moorhead, MN)

External links