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Col. Bernt Balchen
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"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 thinking back to the past, remembering my teammates and the lonely places I have seen that no man ever saw before..." Bernt Balchen

Bernt Balchen, my namesake, was my fathers first cousin. He was born on October 23, 1899 in Tviet, Norway. An aviation pioneer, he has been recognized as the world's foremost arctic rescue pilot, and America's greatest Arctic expert of modern times. He achieved the rank of Colonel in the USAF, 1941-1956, Commissioned First Lieutenant, Royal Norwegian Air Force, 1924, Member of ground crews for Arctic flights of Roald Amundsen and Richard Byrd, designing ski landing gear for the latter, 1926, Engineer for Fokker Aircraft Company and pioneer of bush pilot techniques in Arctic Canada, 1926-1927. He participated in Admiral Byrd's Antarctica Expedition, 1928-1930, as Chief Pilot of the America and as chief engineer and supply officer. Became United States citizen in 1930 (by special Act of Congress. Helped establish Royal Norwegian Air Force Training Center at Toronto, Canada, 19391940. Commissioned Captain, USAAF, 1941. Established and commanded Bluie West 8 rescue base in Greenland, 1941-1943; commanded bombing raids from Iceland on German Greenland bases, 1943; Chief, Allied Air Transport Command for Scandinavia, Eighth Air Force, 1943-1944; Commander, 10th Search and Rescue squadron,1948; Special Assistant on Arctic Affairs to Secretary of Air Force and project officer for construction of Thule AFB, 1951-1952; Special Assistant, Arctic Affairs, HQ Northeast Air Command, 1955-1956. Retired October 1956. Died 17 October 1973, Mt. Kisco, NY. Author of War Below Zero (1944), The Next Fifty Years of Fliqht (1954), and his biography, Come North With Me (1958).

Below are some links to sites with information about Bernt Balchen.

http://home.acadia.net/userpages/kikut/BBMainText.htm


http://www.homestead.com/berntbalchensociety/


http://www.uaf.edu/univrel/media/FY00/037.html


http://www.www.nationalaviation.org/archive/balchen/finstrom_images.htm


http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/rescue/res1.htm


http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/rescue/res2.htm


http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/rescue/res3.htm


http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/balchen.htm


http://www.tc.faa.gov/its/worldpac/ENG/r000003/r002705.htm


http://129.48.28.13/museum/history/rescue/res1.htm


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