Introduction
‘ Victory awaits him, who has everything in order, luck we call it. Defeat is definitely due for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions, bad luck we call it.’ Roald Amundsen 1927 ‘ I desire to offer your Majesty and the people of Norway my congratulations on the successwhich has attended the bold undertaking of this hardy and intrepid descendant of the Vikings.’ President Calvin Coolidge 1926. Telegram to King Haakon VII
I
have written this book because Amundsen’s aviation activities were important, interesting and have not been examined in detail from a modern perspective. I knew something of the story and wanted to know more. It was a pleasure to get to know the subject and write about it detail. About halfway through the book I realised that I had grown to like Amundsen very much and my only regret is that of course I will never have the opportunity to sit down with him, have a few drinks and talk about his life. The social, political and technological context of Amundsen’s life could not be more different from that of today. In his lifetime every nation had its hero’s and it was acceptable to admire and respect people who took risks and achieved. In his lifetime aviation came into existence and developed at a rate that no one had predicted. Explorers found that they could cover in hours what had taken months or years to cover on the surface. It suddenly seemed possible to fill in the blank spots on the maps. Maps became much more accurate due to aerial photography and aerial survey. Airships seemed to be the future, aviators were seen as heroes, governments encouraged ‘air mindedness’ but few people would do more than have a ten minute flight with a barnstormer. Newspapers published lists of the few passengers who arrived at the new airports. Air navigation was developing and very complex. A long flight required an air navigator to work from take-off to touchdown with
From Pole to Pole.indd 6
12/06/2013 11:22