Bernt Balchen

Praise

Glines has had the guts and integrity to tell the Balchen story as it should be told, letting the chips fall where they may. For the first time anywhere, Glines lays out the facts about the controversy that has surrounded Admiral [Richard] Byrd’s flight over the North Pole, as well as Byrd’s long series of attacks on Balchen. Byrd bitterly resented — and feared — Balchen’s knowledge that the flight had not been over the North Pole, as Byrd had claimed, and he did everything in his power to hamper Balchen’s career. . . . In his portrayal of Balchen’s fascinating wartime career, Glines really sines, following the Norwegian aviator’s myriad activities with the skill and understanding of a fellow pilot. . . . He has done a masterful job relating [Balchen’s] adventuresome life. (Aviation History)

Carroll Glines has written a remarkable biography of a remarkable man. . . . Bernt Balchen was the first man to pilot an aircraft over both poles, the man who taught Amelia Earhart to fly on instruments so that she could solo across the Atlantic, the man who flew Admiral Byrd across the Atlantic and navigated him around Antarctica when it turned out that Byrd himself was, in truth, neither a flyer nor a navigator. (Roanoke (Virginia) Times)

Glines has had the guts and integrity to tell the Balchen story as it should be told, letting the chips fall where they may. For the first time anywhere, Glines lays out the facts about the controversy that has surrounded Admiral [Richard] Byrd’s flight over the North Pole, as well as Byrd’s long series of attacks on Balchen. Byrd bitterly resented — and feared — Balchen’s knowledge that the flight had not been over the North Pole, as Byrd had claimed, and he did everything in his power to hamper Balchen’s career. . . . In his portrayal of Balchen’s fascinating wartime career, Glines really sines, following the Norwegian aviator’s myriad activities with the skill and understanding of a fellow pilot. . . . He has done a masterful job relating [Balchen’s]adventuresome life. (Aviation History)