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 directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

bush pilot Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally ...

and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

Eielson Air Force Base Eielson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located approximately 26 miles (42 km) southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska and just southeast of Moose Creek, Alaska. It was established in 1943 as Mile 26 Satellite Field and rede ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

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 Hatton is a city in Traill County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 712 at the 2020 census. Hatton was founded in 1882, and was named for Frank Hatton, then Assistant Postmaster General. Hatton is the birthplace of 20th century ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

immigrant parents. His interest in aviation went back to his childhood. Following the entry of the United States into

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, 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 The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of M ...

. 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 The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of N ...

. 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 Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

) in Washington, D.C. Working part-time as a police officer at the Capitol, he met the

Alaska Territory The Territory of Alaska or Alaska Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from August 24, 1912, until Alaska was granted statehood on January 3, 1959. The territory was previously Russian America, 1784–1867; th ...

's delegate to the Congress,

Daniel Sutherland Daniel Alexander Sutherland (April 17, 1869 – March 24, 1955), 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 th ...

, 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 th ...

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 ...

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 t ...

s took up to 30 days to cover. He also flew the first air mail from

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

in 1926. In March 1927, Australian polar explorer

George Hubert Wilkins Sir George Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar (31 October 188830 November 1958), commonly referred to as Captain Wilkins, was an Australian polar explorer, ornithologist, pilot, soldier, geographer and photographer. He was awarded the Military Cross afte ...

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 The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

in the first flight from North America over the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. The flight, from

Point Barrow Point Barrow or Nuvuk is a headland on the Arctic coast in the U.S. state of Alaska, northeast of Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow). It is the northernmost point of all the territory of the United States, at , south of the North Pole. (The no ...

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 N ...

, 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 o ...

, 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 a ...

. In 1929, Eielson died alongside his mechanic Earl Borland in an air crash in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

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 Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost constr ...

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 Denali National Park and Preserve, formerly known as Mount McKinley National Park, is an American national park and preserve located in Interior Alaska, centered on Denali, the highest mountain in North America. The park and contiguous 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 stu ...

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 Grand Forks Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in northeastern North Dakota, located north of Emerado and west of Grand Forks. The host unit is the 319th Reconnaissance Wing (319 RW) assigned to the Air Combat Co ...

in North Dakota is named after him as well as Ben Eielson High School on Eielson Air Force Base outside of

North Pole, Alaska North Pole is a small city in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. Incorporated in 1953, it is part of the Fairbanks metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 2,243, up from 2,117 i ...

, 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 The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

. and In 1929, he was awarded the

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 (balloon or dirigible). A fourth trophy, the "National Trophy," was awarded from 1926 through 1938 to t ...

. In 1984, Carl Ben Eielson was inducted into th
Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame
held each year during

Norsk Høstfest Norsk Høstfest (Norwegian language: "''Norwegian Autumn Festival''") is an annual festival held each fall in Minot, North Dakota, US. It is North America's largest Scandinavian festival. History The event is held on the North Dakota State Fair g ...

Scandinavian festival in

Minot, N.D. Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 2 ...

In 1985, he was enshrined in the

National Aviation Hall of Fame The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with it ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater ...

. 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 the state of North Dakota. It is bestowed upon prominent North Dakotans. Recipients ''Note: date in parentheses indicates date of award'' *Lawrence Welk, entertaine ...

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