I’m going to be talking about one of the greatest explorers of the arctic, Carl Ben Eielson. First, I’m going to be
talking about his early life and secondly, I’m going to be talking about his accomplishments. Few people know
about the things he did to popularize aviation and inspire other people to explore the arctic area of the world. For
this reason, I will inform you about the accomplishments of this American pilot. His flights around Alaska and the
Arctic will go down in history as the greatest and most memorable. From his interest in flying as a child to his arctic
flights, Eielson’s life was full of many accomplishments.
Carl Ben Eielson was born to Norwegian parents in Hatton, North Dakota on July 20, 1897. Eielson had an interest
in flying ever since he was growing up as a child in North Dakota. Because of his interest in flying, he enlisted in the
army during World War I. His purpose for enlisting in the army was to become an aviator. However, he was still
being trained to fly after the war. After Eielson completed his pilot training, he left the army in 1919 at the age of
21 and became a stunt pilot for the next few years. After his years of being a stunt pilot, Eielson attended
Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C. He also worked part time as a police officer at the Capitol Building.
Daniel Sutherland, a politician who served in the House of Representatives as the delegate of the Alaska Territory,
convinced Carl Ben Eielson to teach secondary school in Alaska. According to a webpage titled ‘Carl Ben Eielson’
from the University of Alaska, Eielson taught mathematics and science at the high school and coached basketball.
While teaching in Alaska, Eielson saw an excellent opportunity to bring aviation into Alaska. When Eielson lectured
about aviation, he would discuss air routes for the future. He claimed the United States was going to be a center of
international flight. He founded a commercial air service, running between Fairbanks and Interior Alaska. In 1924,
Eielson flew the first air mail in Alaska from Fairbanks to McGrath within 4 hours. The journey of 300 miles was
dangerous, because radio communication did not exist between the plane and the ground at that time.
Furthermore, people only flew planes during the summer-time in Interior Alaska. This meant nobody had any
experience with flying planes in the winter. Even though Eielson was only told to transport mail in his contract, he
brought sick passengers in his plane to the hospital of Fairbanks. On other flights, he delivered copies of the
Fairbanks newspaper by dropping them through small parachutes in several towns.
According to a webpage titled ‘Carl Ben Eielson’ from Dartmouth College Library, Carl Ben Eielson is probably most
famous for flying the first plane across the Arctic Ocean. The flight covered 2200 miles and took 20 hours. The
purpose of his flight was to determine whether there was an island between Alaska and the North Pole. Eielson
was the first to make explorations in the air of the Antarctic, while charting islands which were undiscovered in the
past. When Eielson returned from his flight across the Arctic ocean, he was asked if he could create Alaskan
Airways. Eielson believed that aviation in Alaska was a matter that required support from the Government. He