Carl Eielson
Encyclopedia
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
, bush pilot and explorer.
Background
He was born in Hatton, North DakotaHatton, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 407 people, 289 households, and 186 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,184.2 people per square mile . There were 331 housing units at an average density of 554.4 per square mile...
to Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
immigrants. His interest in aviation went back to his childhood. Following America’s entry into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Eielson found his chance to become an aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
. Eielson learned to fly in the U.S. Army Air Service 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. This ended America’s immediate need for pilots and Eielson, not willing to give up flying, together with friends organized the Hatton Aero Club starting with barnstorming.
After the war, he enrolled at Georgetown Law School (now Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
) in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Working part time as a police officer at the Capitol, he met the Alaska Territory
Alaska Territory
The Territory of Alaska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 24, 1912, until January 3, 1959, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Alaska...
's delegate to the Congress
Alaska Territory's At-large congressional district
Alaska Territory's At-large congressional district is an obsolete congressional district created in 1906 to represent the District of Alaska, which was reorganized into the Alaska Territory in 1912...
, Daniel Sutherland
Daniel Sutherland
Daniel Alexander Sutherland , nicknamed "Fighting Dan", was an American businessperson and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives during the 1920s as the delegate from what was then the Alaska Territory.Sutherland was born in Pleasant Bay, Canada on Cape Breton Island...
, who persuaded Ben to go to Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
to teach secondary school.
Career
In 1921, he flew the first air mail in Alaska from FairbanksFairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in 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 second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
to McGrath
McGrath, Alaska
As of the census of 2000, there were 401 people, 145 households, and 99 families residing in the city. The population density was 8.2 people per square mile . There were 213 housing units at an average density of 4.4 per square mile...
in 4 hours, a distance dog sled
Dog sled
A dog sled 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.-History:...
s took 20 days to cover. He also flew the first air mail from Atlanta to Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
in 1926.
He is perhaps best known for flying the first airplane across the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
, with Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n explorer Hubert Wilkins
Hubert Wilkins
Sir Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar was an Australian polar explorer, ornithologist, pilot, soldier, geographer and photographer.-Early life:...
in April 1928. The flight, from Point Barrow
Point Barrow
Point Barrow or Nuvuk is a headland on the Arctic coast in the U.S. state of Alaska, northeast of Barrow. It is the northernmost point of all the territory of the United States, at...
to Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...
, covered 3540 km (2,199.7 mi) and took 20 hours. The main purpose of the flight was to establish whether or not any Island (Graham Land) did exist between Alaska and the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
. In the Antarctic summer of 1928 - 1929, Eielson and Wilkins were the first people to make air explorations of the Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
, 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. Eielson died alongside his mechanic Earl Borland in an air crash on November 9, 1929, in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
while attempting to evacuate furs and personnel from the Nanuk
Olaf Swenson
Olaf Swenson was a Seattle-based fur trader and adventurer active in Siberia and Alaska in the first third of the 20th century. His career intersected with activities of notable explorers of the period, and with the Russian civil war. He is credited with leading the rescue of the Karluk...
, a cargo vessel trapped in the ice at North Cape (shown as Mys Schmidt on today's maps).
Legacy
Eielson Air Force BaseEielson Air Force Base
Eielson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska and just southeast of Moose Creek, Alaska....
and the Liberty ship
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
SS Carl B. Eielson are named in his honour, as is the new visitor center at Denali National Park and Preserve
Denali National Park and Preserve
Denali National Park and Preserve is located in Interior Alaska and contains Denali , the highest mountain in North America. The park and preserve together cover 9,492 mi² .The longest glacier is the Kalhiltna glacier....
. The Carl Ben Eielson Memorial Building on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus is named in his honor. A peak in the West-Central Alaska Range is also named in his honour. Carl Ben Eielson is a recipient of the state of North Dakota's Roughrider Award
Roughrider Award
The Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award is an award presented by the governor of the state of North Dakota. It is bestowed upon prominent North Dakotans.-Recipients:Note: date in parentheses indicates date of award...
. In 1929 he was awarded the Harmon Trophy
Harmon Trophy
The Harmon Trophy is a set of three international trophies, to be awarded annually to the world's outstanding aviator, aviatrix , and aeronaut...
. In 1985 he was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame
National Aviation Hall of Fame
The American National Aviation Hall of Fame is located at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, east Dayton, Ohio...
in Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
. An elementary school on Grand Forks Air Force Base
Grand Forks Air Force Base
Grand Forks Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located north of Emerado, North Dakota and approximately west of Grand Forks, North Dakota...
in North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
is named after him, as well as the Junior/Senior High on Eielson AFB and a middle school in Fargo, North Dakota
Fargo, North Dakota
Fargo is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County. In 2010, its population was 105,549, and it had an estimated metropolitan population of 208,777...
.
See also
- 1925 serum run to Nome1925 serum run to NomeDuring the 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy," 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs relayed diphtheria antitoxin by dog sled across the U.S. territory of Alaska in a record-breaking five and a half days, saving the small city of Nome and the surrounding communities from...
- List of Alaskan Hall of Fame pilots