Oskar Omdal

• Name — Oskar Omdal • Born — 11 October 1895 • Birthplace — Kristiansand, Norway • Died — 23 December 1927 • Place of death — Atlantic Ocean • Occupation — Pilot of the Royal Norwegian Navy • Known for — Mysteriously disappearing during trans-Atlantic flight • Illustration — Oskar Omdal (left) with Roald Amundsen, 1922

He was born at Kristiansand in Vest-Agder, Norway. He attended the Technical School at Porsgrunn. He graduated from the Norwegian Naval Flight School (Marinens Flygeskole) at Horten in 1919. He was promoted to lieutenant in the Royal Norwegian Navy during 1922. In 1923 with Roald Amundsen he tried to fly from Wainwright, Alaska, to Spitsbergen across the North Pole, but their aircraft was damaged and they abandoned the journey. In 1925, Omdal was a mechanic on Lincoln Ellsworth and Roald Amundsen's attempted flight to the North Pole.

Omdal took off on December 23, 1927, from Curtiss Field on Long Island, New York, with Frances Wilson Grayson, navigator Brice Goldsborough and engineer Frank Koehler headed for Harbor Grace in Newfoundland. This flight was in preparation for Grayson's planned crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to set the record for the first woman to cross. The twin-engine air-craft Dawn, an amphibious Sikorsky S-36, and its crew never arrived. No trace of the plane or the four aviators was found.

• Arlov, Thor B. (2003) Svalbards historie (Trondheim: Akademisk Forlag) • Hafsten, Bjørn/Arheim, Tor (2003) Marinens Flygevåpen 1912 – 1944 (Tankestreken forlag)