Bernt Barlchen was a Nowegian / American aviation pioneer. He was involved in the Amundssen / Nobile attempt to fly over the North Pole and assisted (and flew with) Robert Byrd' now discredited North Pole overflight in 1926. In 1929 was copilot for Robert Byrd on the South Pole overflight.
From 1939 he was in charge of USAAF's resupply of RAF in England and Singapore with aeroplanes, He was also heavily involved with resuplly and other covert activities in Scandinavia until the end of the war.
After the war he was in charge of the 10th rescue squadron and heavily influenced USAF Arctic rescue operations. As part of this effort he was the first person to fly non stop from Fairbanks, Alaska to Thule, Greenland. This made him the first person to overfly both poles
On the civilian side he pioneered the polar routes between the US and Europe that now take for granted.
Great pick Ragner, I was recently in Norway and went to a museum that profiled Nanson and then Amundson's attempts in the South Pole, it really was interesting stuff. Good to find out about Bernt Barlchen though!
AirSpace - more than just hot air