| 1897 |
Carl Ben Eielson was born in Hatton, North Dakota
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| 1918
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Learned to fly when he enlisted in the newly formed aviation section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps
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| 1922
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Accepted an offer to teach at the high school in Fairbanks but soon recognized the potential for aviation in Alaska and went to work as the sole pilot for the Farthest North Aviation Company
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| 1924
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Awarded the first Airmail postal contract in Alaska to deliver mail between Fairbanks and McGrath
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| 1925
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Australian explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins asks Eielson to be his Chief pilot for the Arctic expeditions in 1926 and 1927
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| 1928
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Wilkins and Eielson were the first to fly the 2,200-mile route over the polar cap from the north coast of Alaska to Spitzbergen, Norway. The feat earned Eielson the Distinguished Flying Cross and the 1928 Harmon Trophy for the greatest American aviation accomplishment of the year. |
| 1929
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Returned to Alaska in the Summer to start a commercial aviation company but died later that Winter with his friend Earl Borland in a crash. They were flying rescue operations for the stranded passengers and cargo of the ice-bound ship "Nanuk".
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| 1930
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After more than 2 months and a multi-national effort, Eielson's crash site was found and his body returned to his hometown for burial
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| 1948
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The U.S. Air Force renamed its mile 26 airfield in his honor
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| 1985
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Inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame
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