Polar Pilot: The Carl Ben Eilson Story

This is a story of the one of America's unsung heroes in the field of aviation-Carl Ben Eielson. Eielson grew up in an upper-middle-class family in Hatton, North Dakota, and was endowed with sufficient talent to make a comfortable living in any career he desired. Since early in life he dreamed of nothing but flying.


After being trained as a military pilot in World War I, he spent two years as a barnstormer in the upper Midwest. In the fall of 1922 he went to Alaska to teach school and at once saw the need for aerial transportation in that massive, uncharted land of isolated settlements. In 1923 he flew the first airmail flight in interior Alaska, which made him an instant hero to all Alaskans, who were accustomed to waiting for months between mail deliveries. In 1924 he flew the first airmail flight under government contract between Fairbanks, Nenana, and McGrath.


His fame as a pioneer bush pilot enabled him to win the pilot's position with Sir Hubert Wilkins, and the two thrilled the world with their flight from Barrow to Spitzbergen and later with their flights in the Atlantic.


In 1929, at age 32, Eielson met death while on a flight over the frozen wastes of Siberia. A 100-day, three-nation search kept his name before the public in 1929-30, but exploits and contributions have all been forgotten.