Carl Ben Eielson

2024-12-13T14:50:36Z

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{{Short description|American aviator (1897–1929)}}
[[File:Carl Eielson.jpg|thumb|250px|Carl Ben Eielson]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-05997, Berlin, Empfang von Nordpolfliegern bei Hindenburg.jpg|Carl Ben Eielson and [[George Hubert Wilkins]] visit [[Paul von Hindenburg]] in 1928|thumb|250px]]
[[File:CarlBenEielsongrave.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The tombstone of Eielson located in [[Hatton, North Dakota]]]]
'''Carl Benjamin "Ben" Eielson''' (July 20, 1897 – November 9, 1929) was an American [[aviator]], [[bush pilot]] and [[explorer]]. [[Eielson Air Force Base]] in [[Alaska]], Carl Ben Eielson Middle School [[Fargo, ND]] and Carl Ben Eielson Elementary School [[Grand Forks, ND]] as well as Ben Eielson Junior-Senior High School [[Eielson AFB, AK]] are named in his honor.<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://eielson.org/ben-eielson/
|title=Carl Ben Eielson, Alaska Aviation Pioneer
|publisher=explorenorth.com
|date=2012
|accessdate=August 11, 2015
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814030600/http://eielson.org/ben-eielson/
|archive-date=August 14, 2015
|url-status=dead
|df=mdy-all
}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url= https://www.alaska.edu/uajourney/notable-people/fairbanks/carl-ben-eielson/
|title=Carl "Ben" Eielsoni
|publisher= University of Alaska
|date=8 March 2011
|accessdate=August 29, 2015}}</ref>

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 [[Norway|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]] in 1917. In January 1918 he enlisted in the newly formed aviation poohead 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 [[Alaska Territory's At-large congressional district|delegate to the Congress]], [[Daniel Sutherland]], who persuaded Ben to go to Alaska to teach secondary school.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ndtrail2/biose.htm |title=Pilot Eielson a hero in Alaska as well as North Dakota |publisher=Fargo Forum |author=Curtis Eriksmoen |date=May 15, 2011 |accessdate=August 11, 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222230010/http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ndtrail2/biose.htm |archivedate=December 22, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.litsite.org/documents_litsite/Carl%20B%20Eielson.pdf |title=Carl Ben Eielson: The Father of Alaskan Aviation - 1897-1929 |publisher=LifeSite Alaska |accessdate=August 29, 2015}}{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

==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]] in Alaska from [[Fairbanks, Alaska|Fairbanks]] to [[McGrath, Alaska]] in under 3 hours, a distance [[dog sled]]s took up to 30 days to cover.<ref name="Jim">{{cite book |last1=Rearden |first1=Jim |title=Alaska's First Bush Pilots, 1923-30 |date=2009 |publisher=Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, Inc. |location=Missoula |isbn=9781575101477 |pages=7–26}}</ref>

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]] over the [[North Pole]] to [[Europe]]. The flight, from [[Point Barrow]] to [[Spitsbergen]], covered {{convert|3540|km|mi|abbr=on}} 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]], 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]]. In 1929, Eielson died alongside his mechanic Earl Borland in an air crash in [[Siberia]] while attempting to evacuate furs and personnel from the [[Olaf Swenson|''Nanuk'']], a cargo vessel trapped in the ice at North Cape (now [[Mys Shmidta]]).<ref>Althoff, William F. ''Drift Station: Arctic outposts of superpower science'' (Potomac Books Inc., Dulles, Virginia. 2007. p. 35)</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.eielson.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-061114-009.pdf
|title=Carl Ben Eielson
|publisher=University of Alaska Anchorage.
|accessdate=August 11, 2015
|url-status=dead
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225215922/https://www.eielson.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-061114-009.pdf
|archivedate=February 25, 2013
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.litsite.org/index.cfm?section=Digital-Archives&page=Land-Sea-Air&cat=Aviation&viewpost=2&ContentId=2665
|title=Carl Ben Eielson: The Father of Alaskan Aviation - 1897-1929
|publisher=USAF Fact Sheet
|date=May 2006
|accessdate=August 11, 2015}}</ref> 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]] and the new visitor center at [[Denali National Park and Preserve]]. 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 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]]. The [[Carl Ben Eielson House]] in Hatton, North Dakota is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=77001031}} |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Carl Ben Eielson House / Osking House |author=Dawn Maddox |date=October 26, 1976 |publisher=National Park Service}} and {{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=77001031|photos=y}} |title=accompanying photos |format=PDF |date= |accessdate=2012-08-06}}</ref>

In 1929, he was awarded the [[Harmon Trophy]]. In 1984, Carl Ben Eielson was inducted into the [http://hostfest.com/awards/hall-of-fame/ Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203080756/http://hostfest.com/awards/hall-of-fame/ |date=2013-12-03 }} held each year during [[Norsk Høstfest]] Scandinavian festival in [[Minot, N.D.]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hostfest.com/sahf/sahf-inductees/carl-ben-eielson/ |title= Carl Ben Eielson |publisher=Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame |accessdate=August 11, 2015}}</ref>
In 1985, he was enshrined in the [[National Aviation Hall of Fame]] in [[Dayton, Ohio]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/the-eielson-visitor-center.htm |title=The Eielson Visitor Center |publisher=National Park Service |accessdate=August 11, 2015}}</ref>
In 1997, Carl Ben Eielson was a recipient of the state of North Dakota's [[Roughrider Award]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://governor.nd.gov/theodore-roosevelt-rough-rider-award
|title=Carl Ben Eielson, Pioneer Aviator |publisher=Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award |date=August 26, 1997 |accessdate=August 11, 2015}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Aviation|Biography}}
* [[1925 serum run to Nome]]
* [[List of Alaskan Hall of Fame pilots]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==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) {{ISBN|978-0671297114}}
*Gleason, Robert J. (1977) ''Icebound in the Siberian Arctic'' (Alaska Northwest Pub. Co) {{ISBN|978-0882400679}}
*[[Dorothy G. Page|Page, Dorothy G.]] (1992) ''Polar Pilot: The Carl Ben Eielson Story''. (Vero Media, Moorhead, MN) {{ISBN|0-8134-2936-6}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20180809191011/http://eielson.org/ Hatton Eielson Museum website]
*[http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/the-eielson-visitor-center.htm Eielson Visitor Center website]
*[http://heritagerenewal.org/stone/eielson.htm Carl Ben Eielson Memorial Arch]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eielson, Carl Benjamin}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Army Air Service pilots of World War I]]
[[Category:American people of Norwegian descent]]
[[Category:American aviation pioneers]]
[[Category:Aviators from Alaska]]
[[Category:Aviators from North Dakota]]
[[Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents]]
[[Category:Bush pilots]]
[[Category:American explorers of the Arctic]]
[[Category:Military personnel from North Dakota]]
[[Category:National Aviation Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Fairbanks, Alaska]]
[[Category:People from Traill County, North Dakota]]
[[Category:University of North Dakota alumni]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1929]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the Soviet Union]]

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Carl Ben Eielson