1. Jens Tryggve Herman Gran was a Norwegian aviator, polar explorer and author.
40 Facts About Tryggve Gran
1. 2.
Tryggve Gran co-piloted the first flight from London via Oslo to Stockholm in 1920.
3.
Tryggve Gran was born in Bergen, Norway, growing up in an affluent family dominant in the shipbuilding industry.
4.
In 1900, after school in Bergen and Lillehammer, Gran was sent to a school in Lausanne, Switzerland for a year, where he learned some German and French.
5.
Tryggve Gran entered the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy in 1907 and graduated in the spring of 1910.
6.
Tryggve Gran took an interest in science and exploration which in 1910 led to Fridtjof Nansen recommending his services to Robert Falcon Scott, who was in Norway at the time preparing for an expedition to the Antarctic and testing the motor tractor he intended to take with him.
7.
Scott was impressed with Tryggve Gran, who was an expert skier, and Nansen convinced Scott to take Tryggve Gran as ski instructor to Scott's men for the Terra Nova Expedition.
8.
From November 1911 to February 1912, while Scott and the rest of the Southern party were on their journey to the Pole, Tryggve Gran accompanied the geological expedition to the western mountains led by Griffith Taylor.
9.
In November 1912, Tryggve Gran was part of the 11-man search party that found the tent containing the dead bodies of the past South Pole party.
10.
Tryggve Gran travelled back to the base at Cape Evans wearing Scott's skis, reasoning that at least Scott's skis would complete the journey.
11.
On his return voyage, Tryggve Gran met aviator Robert Loraine, the first pilot to cross the Irish Sea, and immediately took an interest in aviation.
12.
On 30 July 1914 Tryggve Gran became the first pilot to cross the North Sea.
13.
Tryggve Gran flew the Bleriot on service in Norway during WW1.
14.
Tryggve Gran joined the newly formed Norwegian Army Air Service as a Lieutenant on 3 August 1914, and his Bleriot XI was bought by the government.
15.
On 9 September 1915, Tryggve Gran made a flight in his Bleriot from Elvenes in Salangen Municipality in northern Norway, within the Arctic Circle.
16.
Tryggve Gran was initially assigned to 11 Reserve Training Squadron, part of the London Air Defence Area, based at RAF Northolt.
17.
Moore, an old acquaintance from Tryggve Gran's flying days at Hendon in 1913.
18.
Tryggve Gran has been, it is stated, ordered to resign his commission in the Norwegian Flying Corps for having appeared in uniform in a foreign country, it being added that he will probably become a naturalised British subject and join the British Flying Corps.
19.
Tryggve Gran was confirmed in his rank and appointed a Flying Officer on 1 March 1917.
20.
Tryggve Gran was posted to B flight of 39 Squadron based at RFC Sutton's Farm in the London Air Defence Area, part of the Home Defence wing.
21.
Tryggve Gran's Commanding Officer was Major T O'B.
22.
On 28 August 1917 Tryggve Gran was assigned to the newly formed 101 Squadron on the Western Front in France.
23.
Tryggve Gran was briefly sent to 70 Squadron - apparently a staging post before joining his official unit - arriving there on 1 September 1917.
24.
Tryggve Gran returned to England from 16 December 1917 and recovered in the Royal Free Hospital.
25.
Tryggve Gran was awarded the Military Cross for his exploits.
26.
Tryggve Gran was appointed a Flight Commander on 1 January 1918 with the rank of acting captain, by which time he was able to walk with crutches.
27.
Tryggve Gran was married to his first wife on 29 April 1918, reportedly wearing the Mons Star, although it seems unlikely that he was entitled to it.
28.
Tryggve Gran was promoted acting major on 10 September 1918, and received an offer to go to northern Russia to lead a flying detachment of the Royal Air Force during the Allied intervention in the North Russia Campaign.
29.
Tryggve Gran was temporarily transferred to the RAF unemployed list on 26 April 1919.
30.
Tryggve Gran returned to the UK and his commission was cancelled again on 2 December 1919.
31.
Tryggve Gran received another commission as a Flight Lieutenant on 22 September 1920.
32.
Tryggve Gran joined the staff of the Air Pilotage School at RAF Andover that month.
33.
In May 1922 Tryggve Gran travelled with the future Olympic skiers Thorleif Haug and Jacob Tullin Thams to Svalbard to prepare for a ski trip across the ice sheet.
34.
In 1931 Tryggve Gran proposed a solo attempt to reach the South Pole on a motorcycle.
35.
Tryggve Gran received the Cross of the Legion d'honneur in 1934.
36.
Tryggve Gran stood trial in 1948 for his war-time activities.
37.
Tryggve Gran said that Gran had spent some time in a military jail suspected of being a spy; but on his release he had acted almost like the head of the prison camps and had ordered 300 soldiers to clear snow for farmers in Hemsedal.
38.
Tryggve Gran was found guilty of treason and sentenced to a prison term of 18 months: but since he had already been incarcerated during his arrest he didn't serve any further time in jail.
39.
Tryggve Gran was a gifted football player, earning one cap for Norway in 1908.
40.
Tryggve Gran died in his home in Grimstad, Norway on 8 January 1980 aged 91.