Vilhelm Swedenborg
Encyclopedia
Drottningholm
Drottningholm, literally "Queen's Islet", is a locality situated in Ekerö Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden, with 410 inhabitants in 2005....
) son of lieutenant colonel Gustaf Erik Oscar Swedenborg and Maria Therése Fock, was a Swedish military and aeronaut, today remembered as a reservist on Salomon August Andrée
Salomon August Andrée
Salomon August Andrée , during his lifetime most often known as S. A. Andrée, was a Swedish engineer, physicist, aeronaut and polar explorer who died while leading an attempt to reach the Geographic North Pole by hydrogen balloon...
s failed Northpole-expedition
S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897
S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 was an ill-fated effort to reach the North Pole in which all three expedition members perished. S. A. Andrée , the first Swedish balloonist, proposed a voyage by hydrogen balloon from Svalbard to either Russia or Canada, which was to pass,...
in 1897 and for being one of the first Swedish balloonists. He was also the first person holding an aeronautical certificate in Sweden, issued in 1905.
Participation in Andrées expedition
Swedenborg became a reservist in the expedition in the autumn of 1896. The background for this might be that he was a the son-in-law of the famous polar explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld. He was also a descendant of the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg, and his famous last name gave a certain prestige to the expedition.Swedenborg left for Paris in March 1897 together with Knut Frænkel
Knut Frænkel
Knut Hjalmar Ferdinand Frænkel was a Swedish engineer and arctic explorer who perished in the Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 of S. A...
where they received training in ballooning by Henri Lachambre
Henri Lachambre
Henri Lachambre was a French manufacturer of balloons. His factory was in the Paris suburb Vaugirard. He also participated in ballooning himself and attained a number of 500 ascents....
, the manufacturer of the balloon "The Eagle" that was to be used in the polar expedition.
However, the expedition never needed his efforts, and after the balloon took off from Danskøya
Danskøya
Danskøya is an island in Norway's Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It lies just off the northwest coast of Spitsbergen, the largest island in the archipelago, near to Magdalenefjorden. Just to the north lies Amsterdamøya. Like many of Svalbard's islands, Danskøya is uninhabited...
, he went home to Sweden where he followed a military career. He also became a famous balloonist and among others, he flew together with Hans Frænkel, the brother of Knut Frænkel
Knut Frænkel
Knut Hjalmar Ferdinand Frænkel was a Swedish engineer and arctic explorer who perished in the Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 of S. A...
. Together with Hans Frænkel and Eric Unge he set a Swedish record in long-distance flying with balloon. In 14½ hours they flew 760 km. This record remains unbeaten.
When the remains of the Andrée-expedition were found in 1930, the dead were transported to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. The aging lieutenant colonel Swedenborg (he was retired in 1921) was part of the honour guard when the bodies were received in Sweden; a display of heraldic grief unmatched until the assassination of Olof Palme almost 60 years later.
Literature
Vilhelm Swedenborg:Över och under molnen, Stockholm 1939, Gebers forlag, 200 pages.See also
S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897
S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 was an ill-fated effort to reach the North Pole in which all three expedition members perished. S. A. Andrée , the first Swedish balloonist, proposed a voyage by hydrogen balloon from Svalbard to either Russia or Canada, which was to pass,...