Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen

Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
Riiser-Larsen in 1925
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 Norwegian aviation pioneer, polar explorer and businessman. Among his achievements, he is generally regarded as the founder of the Royal Norwegian Air Force.

Riiser-Larsen was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1890. In 1909, aged nineteen, he joined the Norwegian Naval Academy and in 1915 the newly formed Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service (RNoNAS). After World War I, he served as the acting head of the RNoNAS's factory until a more senior officer was appointed. In 1921, he joined the Aviation Council, then part of the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, as a secretary. This gave him the opportunity to study the fledgling military and civil aviation infrastructure for which the Council was responsible. He also became a frequent pilot on the air routes used by the new aviation companies.

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. 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..

The following year, Riiser-Larsen rejoined Amundsen for another attempt to fly over the Pole, this time with Italian aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile in his recently renamed airship, the Norge. Leaving Spitsbergen on 11 May 1926, the Norge completed the crossing two days later, landing near Teller, Alaska. The flight is considered by many to be the first successful flight over the North Pole, as the other claimants, Frederick Cook, Robert Peary and Richard Byrd, were unable to verify their attempts in full.