Until Roald Amundsen and his expedition reached the North Pole, no one could say for certain what was there. It is necessary to remind ourselves, we who live in an age in which we have flown over every part of the planet and now even have imagery from outer space, that no one had ever seen that part of our globe. It was the last major part of the map of the Earth to be filled in.

Roald Amundsen was one of the most leading explorers of the twentieth century. He and his party were indisputably the first human beings to see the South Pole, reaching there in December 1911, and all evidence currently supports his claim to have been the been the leader of the first party to see the North Pole. Although the North Polar region has been inhabited for thousands of years, unlike the South Polar region, which has never been inhabited by human beings, there is no evidence that people living above the Arctic Circle ever ventured as far as the North Pole. It is in an extremely remote and inaccessible location, even for people used to living in the Arctic, and furthermore would have been no practical reason to go there.

Amundsen had an early interest in aviation. In 1914, Amundsen learned how to fly, under instruction from an Army aviator. In September 1915, he received the first pilot’s license awarded in Norway. He had an early interest in trying to reach the North Pole by air.

Amundsen made his first attempt to reach the North Pole in 1918. In this attempt, he tried to reach the Pole by ship, the Maud. Amundsen took the Maud into arctic waters and there she froze for two winters. This was not unexpected, as the plan was to take advantage of the northward drifting of the ice. The Maud was returned to Seattle and re-equipped, taken back to the arctic in 1922, and again froze fast in the ice. The Maud did carry a couple of airplanes, but both crashed before coming near the Pole. Although Amundsen did not reach the Pole in the Maud, the expedition was nevertheless considered to be a scientific success.

Amundsen returned to the United States and found backing for another attempt to fly over the Pole. A wealthy and adventurous backer named Lincoln Ellsworth agreed to back the effort, two more airplanes were acquired, and another attempt at the Pole was made in the spring of 1925. Both planes landed on the ice only about 150 kilometers from the Pole, but one was damaged and the other had engine trouble. All in the party were barely able to escape with their lives. The truly heroic efforts that were recounted following this flight caught the public imagination and Amundsen was able to make another attempt to reach the Pole.

In 1926, Amundsen and Ellsworth, working with Umberto Nobile, flew a rigid airship (a Zeppelin) from Spitzbergen, Norway, over the North Pole and land at Teller, Alaska. The trip took 72 hours, and after that the final remaining “blank” on the map of the world could be filled in. Amundsen was able to report that there was no land at the North Pole.

Plans and attempts by air

As early as 1908, Amundsen was interesting in trying to reach the North Pole by air. Airplanes at this time were much too fragile, and balloons were not practical either, so he began to plan to use man-carrying kites. Very large kites, all strung together and connected with steel cable were capable of lifting up to 300 kilograms. On test flights, though, lightening killed a member of the party as he attempted to lower a kite.

Years before the date of his first attempt to reach the Pole, Amundsen was looking for an airplane that he could use in his exploration. Until he evaluated the JL-6, he did not think that any aircraft could be used to actually fly to the Pole, but he thought that an airplane could be used to shuttle to and from his research ship.

In 1913, Amundsen purchased two Christofferson Flying Boats. He had to cancel the order, though, for two reasons. First, they would cost too much to ship from San Francisco to Norway. Second, World War I made it impossible to use these machines.

In 1915, Amundsen ordered a Farman airplane of the type he had originally learned to fly in, but when World War I broke out he donated the airplane to the Army.

In 1922, Amundsen purchased a Curtiss Oriole to use for short reconnaissance flights from the Maud. It was equipped with skiis for landing gear. He named it the “Kristine,” for Kristine Elizabeth Bennet. Unfortunately, the Kristine crashed during landing on its second flight and could not be repaired.

In May 1922, Amundsen took delivery on a JL-6. As far as he was concerned, this was a well-tested aircraft that would be ideal for Polar conditions. A JL-6 had the endurance record for continuous flight, it was made of metal, and it had already been been shown to be a workhorse in sub-arctic Canada. According to some sources, this aircraft crashed in a field when Oskar Omdal, Amundsen’s pilot, attempted to fly it from New York to Seattle. (n.b. Local newspapers do not mention Omdal as having been on this flight. They say the pilot was H.T. Lewis). Another JL-6 was procured, but this one was shipped in pieces to Seattle, where the Maud was moored at that time. According to one report, Larsen “presented” Amundsen with the second JL-6 following the crash of the first plane in Pennsylvania. They took the JL-6 in boxes to Wainwright, Alaska, where it was assembled. The plan was to fly this aircraft, this one named the “Elizabeth” (again, after Kristine Elizabeth Bennet), due north, hopefully over the Pole. This aircraft crashed on its first test flight in May 1923. There were reports that this particular aircraft was old and was known to have had an unreliable engine when it was delivered to Amundsen. John M. Larsen and Junkers disputed who had sold Amundsen an obsolete aircraft, but Junkers finally took responsibility. Junkers offered Amundsen a new aircraft, but he declined.

In 1924, Amundsen considered purchasing several Dornier Delphin flying boats, but realized that this aircraft had too short a range to make it over the Pole from Spitzbergen, Norway, to Alaska.

Later in 1924, Amundsen considered purchasing two Dornier Wal flying boats. Financing could not be worked out until 1925, when Lincoln Ellsworth came forward and offered to help.

On May 21, 1925, Amundsen and Ellsworth took off from Norway and flew due north. They landed eight hours later to get their position and found that they were above 87° north. Unfortunately one of the Dornier Wal planes was damaged during the landing and the attempt to go further north had to be abandoned.

In 1926, Amundsen and Ellsworth were preparing to take the Norge, a rigid airship, over the pole. The Norge was built in Rome and was piloted by

Umberto Nobile. While they were preparing, Richard E. Byrd arrived in Norway to attempt to fly to the Pole in a Fokker F.VII. The landing gear of the Fokker was damaged during the first attempt but this was repaired quickly and a second attempt was made on May 9. Byrd flew out from King’s Bay (Kongsfjorden) and returned 15 and one half hours later, saying that he had reached the Pole. His claim was quickly accepted, but it was later calculated that it would have taken the Fokker almost 22 hours to get to the Pole and back from King’s Bay, discounting Byrd’s claim. On May 11, Amundsen took off in the Norge, reaching the North Pole on May 12, 1926. They did not land there, but dropped flags of Norway, the United States, and Italy on the pole.

• In the air with Roald Amundsen
• Link to pictures of the Elizabeth in the National Library in Norway
• Description, in Norwegian, of Amundsen’s experience with the JL-6
• picture of the Norge

Garments used on the flight of the Norge, on display at the Zeppelin Museum in Meersburg, Germany.