Bernt Balchen
Polar Aviator
by Carroll V. Glines, Jr.
He set polar flight records, organized a series of daring wartime air operations, and became a leader in Arctic aviation. But despite these achievements, Norwegian-American aviator Bernt Balchen saw his public image and military career repeatedly undermined by his one-time mentor, the famous and influential Admiral Richard Byrd.
In this new biography, Carroll Glines describes how Byrd's respect for Balchen's talents gradually eroded even as Balchen steadily gained a wider reputation for courage and technical skill. Glines contends that Byrd derailed Balchen's postwar promotion to brigadier general, forcing his retirement from the military in 1956. He also documents how Balchen's publisher bowed to pressure from Byrd's supporters to remove material from a 1958 autobiography. Balchen had argued that Byrd's claims to have been the first to fly across the North Pole in 1926 could not be supported by speed and distance calculations.
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BERNT BALCHEN; Polar Aviator
July 17, 2000, Smithsonian
Paperback
in English
1560989009 9781560989004
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Bernt Balchen: Polar Aviator
1999, Smithsonian Institution Press
Hardback
in English
1560989068 9781560989066
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Includes bibliographical references (p. 300-302) and index.
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