Bess Balchen Urbahn, former wife of Bernt Balchen, was interviewed in 1998 for the documentary Alone on the Ice.

Bernt Balchen and the Flight of the Josephine Ford

Q: In 1926, who was Bernt Balchen, what kind of man and what were his skills.
BESS: Bernt Balchen was a Lieutenant in the Norwegian Air Force. 

Q: Who was he? What were his skills at that time? What kind of man was he and what did he want out of his life, at that point?
BESS: I guess like every other youth Bernt Balchen wanted everything out of his life, at the time. He was a flyer and a very good pilot and he also was a very handy person. He could do practically anything with his two hands and he was an excellent skier and he was a boxer and an all around athlete. 

Q: How did he help Richard Byrd with the Josephine Ford? They were having a lot of trouble taking off and Bernt came to the rescue.
BESS: That's correct, Bernt Balchen made new skis for Byrd's plane. He was ordered by either Amundsen or another one of the people on the Amundsen expedition to repair Byrd's skis, which he did. And if Bernt Balchen hadn't repaired the Josephine Ford's skis, Byrd couldn't have taken off. 

Q: What did he have to do to the skis?
BESS: The skis on the Josephine Ford broke when Byrd landed and he didn't know how to repair them and nobody did but Bernt did, and he did it. He was ordered to repair them, by somebody higher up on the Amundsen expedition.

Q: What happened when Bennett and Balchen were flying together on the Josephine Ford?
BESS: Bernt, as always, and he did this, as long as I can remember, he always kept a very careful log and he did it this time and it he realized that the plane wasn't as fast as it was supposed to be and he knew that something was wrong, that it couldn't have reached the Pole and he figured and he figured and finally asked Bennett about it. The only two people who definitely knew about the plane's performance were Floyd Bennett and Bernt Balchen, nobody else did. They can discuss it until doomsday, the facts are there definitely. You cannot discuss it. The plane did not make the Pole, period. 

Q: Why did Balchen feel the plane had not made the Pole? Can you make that clear? It didn't go fast enough? They weren't away long enough?
BESS: They went away, when the Josephine Ford left Spitsbergen, of course the time, I don't remember what time it left but it was gone for 15 and a half hours and given the drag of the skis and the speed that the plane made, it just wasn't enough time to reach the Pole from Spitsbergen.

Q: In his accounts of the North Pole flight, what credit did Byrd give Balchen for his role and how did Balchen feel about it?
BESS: To the best of my knowledge, Byrd never gave Bernt Balchen any credit, for what he had done, at least officially. What he did was to ask him to come with him, to America, which Bernt, my husband, thought was praise enough because he was young and he was adventuresome and he thought this was a great opportunity. 

Bernt Balchen's Feelings About Byrd

Q: Why did Bernt admire Byrd? What did he admire him for and why didn't he think he was a good leader.
BESS: Bernt Balchen admired Byrd, he had vision and he was daring doing what he did, organizing that first Byrd Expedition. You can imagine the pressure he was under, financially and otherwise. But a leader of men, I don't think that Bernt Balchen thought he was a leader of men. He would take people to the side and discuss things with them, rather than getting all of them together and saying what he had on his mind and the people on the expedition, in Little America, turned to Larry Gould, Professor Gould, as their leader. Larry Gould was a wonderful person, just a great guy and he would help people and he would not ever take sides. He would try to get people to agree with one another and help them in that way and apparently Byrd didn't do that.

Q: How did Bernt describe Byrd's behavior, when he emerged from the plane, on the flight to rescue the geological party and Gould, after their plane had been tossed around in the storm?
BESS: So you mean the first Antarctica Expedition, Larry Gould, who was the geologist and second in command of the expedition and Harold June who was one of the pilots on the Expedition and Bernt Balchen flew out on a survey flight and they had to land 140 miles from Little America. And, the storm was so ferocious that the plane was blown away. It just was not usable anymore and then Dean Smith and Commander Byrd, when the weather had cleared up, flew out to rescue them. Byrd was very much concerned for his men and their safety. Bernt described to me that when the two of them landed, Dean Smith and Admiral Byrd or then Commander Byrd, Byrd went to the side and went on his knees and prayed. And, I think he was just so happy to see his people safe and hardy. 

The South Pole Expedition

Q: Byrd asked Bernt to be the pilot on the South Pole, why did he ask him?
BESS: Byrd decided that Bernt Balchen would be the pilot. He had seen my husband's skills in the out of doors and he was a survivor and he was an excellent skier and he knew how to handle practically every situation and he was always prepared for the worst. So, that's why they chose him.

Q: In what way did Bernt save the day on the South Pole flight - what happened? They got into very dangerous circumstances, right?
BESS: The plane didn't gain enough height to get over the mountains and then they had to dump stuff, as you know and they dumped the food rather than the gasoline because they couldn't fly back on sandwiches. So, that's what happened.

Q: Did Byrd and Bernt like each other? Why were they together?
BESS: I think that Admiral Byrd needed Bernt Balchen on the South Pole Expedition. He was impressed with his abilities and I don't think it was ever a very warm feeling between them, definitely not in the later years. Bernt Balchen always did his best to keep a good relationship but that didn't work out in the long run because of what Admiral Byrd did to him.

Q: In his accounts of the South Pole flight, did Byrd give Bernt Balchen credit for his role, for what he had done for his flying ability.
BESS: After the South Pole flight Byrd gave Bernt Balchen credit for what he had done, definitely. 

Q: How key a role was Bernt's role in the South Pole flight?
BESS: Bernt Balchen figured all the logistics of the flight and what the well everything. And of course, you know, Harold June was on the flight and he relieved Bernt in the cockpit but Bernt Balchen probably did most of the work, no question about it. When they came back to Little America, Bernt Balchen offered Byrd a log from the trip and Byrd said he didn't want it. 

Q: Was Bernt treated like a hero after the South Pole flight? How did his reception compare to Richard Byrd's?
BESS: Well, the reception that Bernt Balchen got after the South Pole wasn't exactly what he had hoped for. He got a paper that he had no right to be in the U.S. because he had overstayed his Visa or something. And that's when lots of his friends, known and unknown got together and got him his citizenship. 

The Controversy of the North Pole Flight

Q: How convinced was Bernt that Byrd and Bennett made the Pole and why should we believe him. Wasn't he someone who would read a math book for fun? 
BESS: Well, Bernt Balchen was convinced that Byrd didn't make it, it was mathematically impossible and mathematics was one of Bernt Balchen's hobbies, you wouldn't catch him reading a novel or anything. He'd read math books for fun or he would be reading art books, how-to art books and those were his favorite readings. There was no question in his mind that Byrd didn't make it. And, of course, on top of that, that's what Floyd Bennett had told him.

Q: Did he think that Byrd knew that they hadn't made it and lied?
BESS: I'm convinced after what Bernt Balchen told me that Byrd knew, as well as, Floyd Bennett knew that they hadn't made it and I think life would have been much easier for Byrd had he not, hidden the fact that they didn't make it. Of course I think that in later years that was really what worried him.

Q: Can you summarize, what did he expressly prohibit or prevent Bernt from doing because of the publicity he had started to get?
BESS: Admiral Byrd had a tremendous influence in Washington, first of all, through his brother who was head of the Armed Services Committee, in the Senate and as such, he had a lot of power. And, that of course, Byrd could talk with the Generals in the Pentagon and you know they would have to eat out of his hand practically. So, they just kept Bernt Balchen done and he didn't get any jobs after he had been a Project Officer.

Admiral Byrd even threatened Bernt Balchen that he would go to President Eisenhower and complain about him. I don't know whether he ever did but at least he threatened to do it.

Q: Byrd prevented him from doing any speeches, and press and meaningful work?
BESS: Finally, Bernt Balchen was permitted, he did a lot of speeches before he had the or rather just after he was without a job in the Pentagon. He was used by the Public Relations Office to make speeches and promote the Air Force. And, then that stopped and he was allowed to give one speech, per month and that was all. Other than that, he had nothing to do. He sat in the library and read during his office hours. 

Q: Why do you think Byrd was stupid for pushing Bernt to be quiet?
BESS: In the long run as I see it, it was a very unwise thing of Admiral Byrd to do to go after Bernt Balchen, the way he did. My husband had no intentions of coming out with the North Pole story but he was so tested by Byrd that in the end he really just said, I don't care what the consequences are, I'm going to tell the world about it, because he was so belittled by Byrd and how much can a man take. 

Exposing the Story of the North Pole Expedition

Q: What led to Bernt's decision to write an autobiography and to expose a story of the North Pole flight.
BESS: The first time Bernt Balchen thought of exposing the truth about the North Pole flight was, if I remember, in 1954, while he was still in the Pentagon. And, he was so bothered by all Byrd's doings. I don't know how he could keep his cool, I really don't. But then he discussed with me whether he should publish it or not and then he called Francis Drake and Francis said, don't do it, it's going to backfire. And, then I discussed it with Larry Gould while Bernt Balchen was in a meeting and Larry said he'd think about it. He didn't say outright, don't do it and then Bernt decided not to publish it, at that time. And, then when his so-called autobiography was being written he discussed it with Cory Ford because he felt that he should tell Cory who was the ghost writer about it and Cory urged him to include it in the book, which was being done. And when the book was just being started, Admiral Byrd died which it sounds terrible, it was a disappointment to both Bernt Balchen and me because we had at least hoped that we could confront him with it, in this manner, after all the trouble he caused for Bernt Balchen. 

Q: What was your role working with Bernt on his autobiography and what was the sequence of events that led to the revised edition, general speaking.
BESS: My role in working with my husband's autobiography, was that he would speak and I would type it. Then, we would go to the ghost writer, Cory Ford and the first edition had the story about the North Pole flight and also some other remarks about Admiral Byrd that apparently someone in Admiral Byrd's family got hold of. And, when the edition was printed both the publisher and my husband were threatened with lawsuits if that edition would come out. So, the whole thing was shredded and then it was rewritten And, in the end, the so-called autobiography is not an autobiography at all. It's what can I call it, a mish-mash of things. And, both my husband and I were very unhappy with the book. 

Q: So, were all the criticisms of Byrd and anything that might have been construed as being negative was eliminated from the book in the North Pole flight and the book was completely rewritten?
BESS: Everything that could have the slightest criticism of Admiral Byrd was changed, even things that didn't have that. It was just amazing.