Einar Sem-Jacobsen

Born: 1878, Kristiania, Norway
Died: 1936, Paris, France

Einar Sem-Jacobsen was a pioneer of aviation in Norway and became founding director of the Norwegian Army Air Service’s aircraft factory (Hærens Flyfabrikk) at Kjeller in 1916.

Already in 1904 — only months after the Wright brothers made the world’s first controlled powered flight, the flying enthusiast Sem-Jacobsen had begun presenting lectures on aviation across Norway. He penned several articles on the subject based on his study trips to Europe and in 1909 founded the Norsk Luftseiladsforening (Norwegian Aeronautical Association).

Also in 1909, it was Sem-Jacobsen who encouraged Roald Amundsen to consider using man-lifting kites on his planned expedition across the Arctic Ocean. With the aim of helping an ice pilot to make vital reconnaissance of leads and ridges in the sea ice, trials held outside the naval base at Horten saw kites successfully lift a man up to 500 metres altitude. Tragedy struck, however, when Ole Engelstad was killed in a thunderstorm as lightning passed down a wire tether he was holding. Sem-Jacobsen, who had been close by and tried to revive his comrade, later described the loss:

“The boat trip from Vealøs to the hospital with the dying comrade in my arms stands as one the most difficult I have experienced. Engelstad was my good friend for many years, and with enthusiasm and zeal had bought into my idea with the kites. He persevered for many months so that our experiments might be crowned with success, and before we even knew that we could achieve the task we had taken on, he was killed during those same trials. Those were hard days.”📜

Amundsen still took the kites on board Fram, but thanks to the change in plan that saw the South Pole become the expedition’s primary goal and the drift across the Arctic Ocean never realized, they were never used.

After obtaining one of Norway’s first balloon pilot’s licences in 1910, Sem-Jacobsen used balloons to carry out the first aerial photography of the country and make meteorological observations of the atmosphere. He funded his own training as an aeronautical engineer in Paris in 1911, and in 1912 was the first Norwegian to receive an international pilot’s certificate.

By late March 1914, the Arctic Ocean component of the Fram expedition had been formally abandoned and Amundsen was back in Norway. He had taken his first aeroplane ride a year earlier in San Francisco during his lecture tour following the South Pole triumph, and was now convinced that the future of polar exploration lay at least partly in powered flight.

With the end of the Fram expedition, the two seaplanes Amundsen had ordered in the United States were of little use and would have to be sold, but in May 1914, he and Sem-Jacobsen left for France and Germany on a tour of aircraft factories. After testing a variety of machines, Amundsen bought a Farman aeroplane in Paris, intending that Sem-Jacobsen would fly this home. With mechanic Johannes Nielsen, Sem-Jacobsen then began the necessary series of short hops to Norway, but on arriving in Liège, Belgium, he was ordered to report immediately for army duty as his leave had expired. There was little choice but for Sem-Jacobsen to return to Norway by train and the dismantled machine to go by train to Antwerp and then by sea to Kristiania.

On the outbreak of the First World War only a few months later, Amundsen donated the plane to the Norwegian State, which used it for first the Navy and then the Army Air Arms.

From mid-April to mid-June 1914, Sem-Jacobsen was Roald Amundsen’s flying instructor. Amundsen had already been a passenger with Sem-Jacobsen back in early April, on a notable flight of some 200 km from Lillestrøm to Lillehammer and back. Their flight attracted a lot of attention and a couple of thousand people showed up to watch them take-off from Lysgårdsjordene in Lillehammer.

On June 11, 1914, a remarkable 800 or so service personnel and civilians gathered to watch as Amundsen prepared for his pilot’s skill test. Before allowing Amundsen to prove his ability to fly the plane alone, Sem-Jacobsen took him on a last training flight to demonstrate what was required. But hardly had they climbed 30 metres off the ground when a control line broke and became entangled in the propeller. With no elevator or rudder control, the plane came crashing back to earth and Sem-Jacobsen had to be freed from the wreckage. Real damage was limited to the plane itself, however, and Amundsen passed the test shortly afterwards in a replacement.

In gratitude for his collaboration, Sem-Jacobsen received a silver mug from Amundsen with the greeting:

“Thanks for the lessons up there. Hope you will accept this as a memento. Your devoted R. A.”

Einar Sem-Jacobsen died of heart failure in Paris on October 16, 1936, aged 58.

Source:

Norsk biografisk leksikon: Einar Sem-Jacobsen