| description: | Bernt Balchen, Pilot, Born 1899, Died 1973. He Was An Officer Of Royal Norwegian Navy. In 1925 He Was Selcted As Pilot To Fly For The Norwegian Naval Relief Expedition Looking For Amundsen Around Spitzbergen. In 1926 He Was Attached To The Amundsen Ellsworth Noble Transpolar Flight. In 1926 He Made A Flight With Floyd Bennett In A Tri- Fokker Plane Around The Usa Under The Auspices Of The Us Department Of Commerce For Boosting Commercial Aviation. In 1927 He Made A Transatlantic Flight With Commander R.E. Byrd In A Tri Motor Fokker. The Norwegian Born Airman Flew 15 Times Over The North Pole And Twice Over The South Pole. He Was Made A Citizen Of Usa By An Act Of Congress Which Also Awarded Him A Special Medal. He Helped Found The Scandinavian Airlines. During Ww Ii He Ran The Allies Secret Airline In Scandinavia And In The Soviet Union And Helped Evacuate 70,000 Russians From A Labour Camp There |