Thor Solberg

Thor Solberg (March 28, 1893 – February 26, 1967) was a Norwegian-born aviation pioneer who made the first successful flight from the United States of America to Norway in 1935.

[1][2] He made the journey, which started in New York City, in an open-cockpit single-engine aircraft with no landing instruments.

[6] Solberg, inspired by aviators such as Charles Lindbergh, was to be the first person to fly from Norway to the United States solo, receiving some aid and advice from Roald Amundsen.

Upon arriving in the United States, Solberg worked at various jobs, such as proprietor of an art studio and picture framing store in Brooklyn, while planning his flight.

[3] In preparation for his flight to Norway, Solberg practiced blind flying, studied his route, and created his own maps of it.

[3] After managing to convince the Enna Jettick Shoe Company to fund his flight, Solberg made his first attempt to fly from the United States to Norway with Carl Petersen in a Bellanca K, named Enna Jettick, (formerly Roma from a failed US to Italy flight), on August 23, 1932, but that attempt failed.

[8] On July 18, 1935, Solberg made a second attempt with a different plane, an amphibious single-engine Loening C-2-C Air Yacht that he named Liev Eiriksson.