Physically and mentally tough, fearless, relentless in pursuing his goals, and capable of enduring staggering physical hardship, Carl Ben Eielson was a survivor and a winner cut from the stock of true American heroes.

Ben Eielson was a small town boy, born in Hatton, North Dakota, in 1897.  He showed an early interest in airplanes and learned to fly in the U.S. Army Air Service in 1917 just 14 years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight.

Eielson’s flying skills made him a legend in his own time climaxed by his epic 2200-mile flight over the Arctic Ocean from  Point Barrow, Alaska, to Spitsbergen in arctic Norway in 1928.

He was the first pilot to land on floating ice and the first to fly airmail in Alaska.  He also was the first to fly an airplane in Antarctica, making initial flights there in 1928 when Admiral Byrd’s planes were still heading south on ships.

Eielson won the Distinguished Flying Cross and also the Harmon Trophy, which was presented, to him by President Hoover in 1929.  He never sought public attention even when meeting kings and presidents or talking with world aviation leaders including Generals Billy Mitchell, H.H. (Hap) Arnold and Admiral Byrd.

He helped change the course of history with his pioneering work in Alaska aviation and with his correct forecast that big pressurized airliners would someday fly over the top of the world.  He fulfilled his dream of forming his own airline in Alaska in 1929.  However, his success was short lived as he was killed in a crash on a rescue mission in Siberia in November of 1929.