Issue No 22 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN 41
and wrote a letter of recommendation to the
Consul. Riiser-Larsen also advised Gunnestad
not to cross the North Sea in a direct line, but
rather follow a route he was planning for DNL’s
prospective scheduled air service from Oslo to
London. This comprised flying from Oslo to
Kristiansand, across the Skagerrak, past Esbjerg
on Denmark’s west coast, along the Frisian
Islands and the Dutch coast to cross the Strait of
Dover to Folkestone and then on to London. The
risk would thus be kept to a minimum, making
the insurance company more willing to charge a
favourable premium for this route, instead of a
more hazardous direct crossing of the North Sea
by landplane.
The following day Gunnestad paid a visit to
Norwegian national newspaper Aftenposten, with
a view to negotiating exclusive rights to the story
of the prospective flight, which the newspaper
accepted. On September 14, Gunnestad wrote
a letter to the Consul requesting a meeting,
which took place near Sandefjord a week later.
Gunnestad later recalled:
“My first meeting with the Consul was in
September 1933, when I, with more than a
small degree of nervousness, knocked on his
door at Ranvik, just outside Sandefjord. My
nervousness turned out to be ungrounded.
Consul Christensen was a charming, easy-going
person who exuded trust.”
Shortly after the meeting Gunnestad received
written confirmation of the Consul’s permission
to use the Vega; planning in earnest could now
begin. As navigator, Gunnestad selected his
friend Thor Bernhoft, who had been a pupil of
his at his flying school. On September 20, the
insurance papers were signed and two days
later Aftenposten announced Gunnestad’s
intended flight.RAISING SPONSORSHIP
Initially, the plan was to fly from Arendal on
the south-eastern coast of Norway and return
from the UK to Oslo. Gunnestad and Bernhoft
estimated taking a total of around 12–14hr for
the return flight. Gunnestad began a search for
sponsorship for the flight and quickly secured
a deal for fuel. The Soviet Union had recently
introduced a new type of petrol, SNE, into
Norway, and the flyer was shown a great deal
of goodwill and understanding at the Soviet
embassy. Gunnestad also secured sponsorship
from Thrane & Co, which agreed to supply
Amoco oil for the flight, as well as negotiating
a deal in which Gunnestad would be paid 200
Norwegian Kroner to promote Amoco.
The single biggest sponsor, however, was
Gerhard Ludvigsen of the Norwegian branch of
the British company Selo, which was formed in
1920 by Ilford and a number of other companies
to produce film rolls and other photographic
materials. Selo covered most of the costs and
its name was prominently displayed on the
fuselage, for which the company paid the
princely sum of £18.ABOVE Gunnestad (right) and mechanic Ole Næss
beside the Avian at an aviation meeting. Næss flew
in the Vega in preparation for Gunnestad’s North
Sea adventure in October 1933, but did not join him
and Thor Bernhoft on the flight. An accomplished
parachutist, Næss was tragically killed during one of
his demonstration parachute jumps in 1937.VIA AUTHOR