Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen | |
---|---|
Born | 7 June 1890 Norway |
Died | 3 June 1965 (aged 74) |
Allegiance | Norway |
Years of service | 1909–1933, 1940–1946 |
Rank | Major General |
Commands held | Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service Royal Norwegian Air Force |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Other work | Polar exploration Aviation leader |
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen (7 June 1890 – 3 June 1965) was a
Background
Riiser-Larsen was born in
Polar exploration
Flying over the North Pole
Riiser-Larsen's years of polar exploration began in 1925 when his compatriot Roald Amundsen, the famed polar explorer, asked him to be his deputy and pilot for an attempt to fly over the North Pole. Riiser-Larsen agreed and secured the use of two Dornier Do J Wal seaplanes, with Karl Feucht as one of two expedition flight mechanics. The expedition, however, was forced to land close to the Pole, badly damaging one of the planes. After twenty-six days on an ice shelf, first trying to shovel tons of snow to create an airstrip, until someone suggested the easier way of tramping the snow surface, the expedition's six members squeezed themselves into the remaining plane. Riiser-Larsen somehow managed to coax the overloaded plane into the air and flew the expedition back to the coast of Northern Svalbard.[2][3]
The following year, Riiser-Larsen rejoined Amundsen for another attempt to fly over the Pole, this time with Italian aeronautical engineer
In 1928, Riiser-Larsen became involved in searching the Arctic for Nobile after he had made a successful flight to the Siberian islands and visited the North Pole once more, but crashed near the coast of the North Eastern part of Svalbard. Riiser-Larsen also became involved in a search for Amundsen, when he as passenger in a French naval flying boat went missing while he was en route to join the search for Nobile. Eventually Nobile and most of his team were found, but Amundsen was not.[5]
The Norvegia expeditions
The Norvegia expeditions were a sequence of Antarctic expeditions financed by the Norwegian shipowner and whaling merchant Lars Christensen during the late 1920s and 1930s. Ostensibly their goal was scientific research and the discovery of new whaling grounds, but Christensen also requested permission from the Norwegian Foreign Office to claim for Norway any uncharted territory that was found. By the end of the second expedition, two small islands in the Southern Ocean, Bouvet Island and Peter I Island, had been annexed. In 1929 Christensen decided to include aeroplanes in the next expedition and appointed Riiser-Larsen its leader. Riiser-Larsen then supervised and took part in mapping most of the Antarctic in this and three further expeditions. More territory was also annexed, this time the large area of the continent known as Queen Maud Land.[6]
Commerce and war
In 1939, the Norwegian military was downsized and Riiser-Larssen was among those officers finding themselves out of work. However, he was quickly offered a new job by the shipping company
During the Nazi
At the beginning of 1941, Riiser-Larsen returned to London to take up the post of Commander in Chief of the Naval Air Service; then of the Combined Arms Air Force; and finally, in 1944, of the fully amalgamated Royal Norwegian Air Force. By the end of the war, however, many of the pilots under his command had become critical of his leadership[why?]. He resigned, bitterly, from the Air Force in 1946.
Return to business
In 1947, Riiser-Larsen again became the head of DNL, a few months before it merged with
In 1951 Riiser-Larsen was chosen as the president of the World Movement for Federal World Government.
Riiser-Larsen died in 1965, four days before his seventy-fifth birthday, and was buried at
See also
References
- ^ "Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ "Roald Amundsen and the 1925 North Pole Expedition". HistoryNet.com. 12 June 2006. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ "The N24/N25 flight towards the North Pole (1925)". The Fram Museum. Archived from the original on 23 May 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ "The Norge flight (1926)". The Fram Museum. Archived from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ "Umberto Nobile (1885-1978)". The Fram Museum. Archived from the original on 6 October 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ Bjørn L. Basberg. "Lars Christensen". Norsk biografisk leksikon. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ Audun Grimstad. "Fred. Olsen & Co". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ Yngve Jarslett. "SAS". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ "Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen (1890–1965)". The Fram Museum. Archived from the original on 6 October 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
Bibliography
- Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, Femti År for Kongen (Fifty Years for the King, Riiser-Larsen's autobiography), Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1958.