Balchen, Bernt

Balchen, Bernt

(1899–1973) air force officer, aviator; born in Tveit, Norway. He came to the United States in 1926, becoming a citizen in 1931. He piloted Admiral Byrd's first flight over the South Pole in 1929. During World War II, flying from Sweden, he evacuated several thousand Norwegians and 1,000 American airmen. In 1944 he commanded a supply operation for the Norwegian underground.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.