In line with Norwegian’s design profile, all our planes have a red nose, and on the tail there is an image of a Norwegian who has broken the boundaries and challenged the established order.
- Fridtjof Nansen, LN-KKF
- Gidsken Jakobsen, LN-KKG
- Otto Sverdrup, LN-KKH
- Helge Ingstad, LN-KKI
- Sonja Henie, LN-KKJ
- Roald Amundsen, LN-KKL
- Thor Heyerdahl, LN-KKM
- Sigrid Undset, LN-KKN
- Henrik Ibsen, LN-KKO
- Kirsten Flagstad, LN-KKP
- Alf Prøysen, LN-KKQ
Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) Put Norway on the international map. He crossed Greenland by ski and undertook the most important and boldest polar exploration to that point taking the ship ’Fram’ across the Arctic Ocean. During the ”Fram Expedition" of 1893-1896 he also attempted to reach the North Pole by ski. As the nations best known individual he was directly involved in the dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905. He was a great scientist and diplomat and arranged a variety of international emergency projects. Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922.
Gidsken Jakobsen (1908-1990) from Narvik is one of our leading aviation pioneers. Jakobsen was one of the first Norwegians who tried to make Norwegian aviation commercially viable, and in 1932 she established her own airline. Jakobsen was the first female director of a Scandinavian airline. Her company operated taxi-flights in Northern Norway and in the Vestland region. When she registered her first plane in Oslo in 1929 she was the first person to fly from Northern Norway to Oslo in winter. Jakobsen also took the initiative to ship fish from Northern Norway by airfreight. She is recognised as one of the greatest individuals within Norwegian aviation, and was a woman who broke both gender-role and geographical boundaries. Jakobsen was only the second Norwegian woman to take her flying certificate. This was when she was 20, and came top in her training, out of ten students.
Otto Sverdrup (1854-1930) is one of our foremeost polar researchers, along with Nansen and Amundsen. He led the work to build ”Fram” and ensured that it was restored and prepared for the future. Sverdrup took part in Nansen’s GReenland expedition, he was skipper on the ”Fram Expedition” across the Arctic Ocean and he was responsible for his own ”Fram Expedition” in 1898 -1902, which charted the last unmapped areas of Northern Canada.
Helge Ingstad’s (1899-2001) documentation of ancient Scandinavian settlement in Canada some 500 years before Columbus caused world history to be re-written. In 1991, together with his wife he was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s Gold Medal for his research and joined the illustrious company of Thor Heyerdahl, David Livingstone, Robert Scott and Sir Edmund Hillary.
Sonja Henie (1912-1969) awoke great interest internationally when she won three Olympic Gold medals and ten world championships in figure skating. At the height of her film carrier she was the USA’s most popular actress. Together with her husband Niels Onstad she established the Henie-Onstad skating centre in Oslo.
Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) is one of our all-time greatest polar explorers. Amundsen took the vessel "Gjøa" through the North West Passage. He was the first man to reach the South Pole in a dramatic race against Robert Falcon Scott, and he took the ship "Maud" through the North East Passage. Amundsen also reached the North Pole with the airship “Norge”.
Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) did not see the oceans as a barrier to communication, but instead as a possibility; and as an explanation for how movement of peoples took place. With the ”Kon – Tiki” expedition of 1947 he demonstrated his theory about migration from South America to Polynesia. Through the ”Ra expedition” he documented that even in antiquity man could have crossed the Atlantic from Africa to America. With the ”Tigris Expedition” he wanted to prove that there had been maritime contact between ancient Asia and Africa.
Sigrid Undset (1882-1949) received the Nobel Prize for Literature for her novels set in the Middle Ages, first and foremost Kristin Lavransdatter and Olav Audunssøn, in 1928. Her breakthrough novel Jenny, about the artist community in Rome, was published in 1911. Bjerkebæk in Lillehammer was Sigrid Undset’s home from 1919 – 1949, apart from during WWII, when she was an ‘information solder’ in the USA. For her extensive contribution she became the first woman to receive the Storkorset of St. Olav i 1947 Order in 1947.
Kirsten Flagstad (1895–1962) was the 20th Century’s greatest singer and one of Norways most famous singers on the international stage. Boen in Hamar, she grew up in Oslo and debuted in 1918. From then until 1934 she took major roles in the Nordic Operas and in Bayreuth, before she made her truly international breakthroughat the New York Metropolitan Opera in January 1935. Her interpretation of Operatic women’s roles, not least those of Wagner’s music, left a deep impression, saved the Met’s finances and gave her a lasting fame. Her recordings are legendary. In 1958 Kirsten Flagstad became the first director of the Norwegian National Opera.
Henrik Ibsen, (1828-1906) born in Skien is, along with William Shakespeare, recognised as the world’s foremost playwright, and is the father of modern drama. With masterpieces such as ”Peer Gynt”, “A Dolls House”, Wild Ducks” and “Hedda Gabler”, his work is constantly being performed across the world's stages. Theatregoers and researchers from the furthers corners of the globe learn Norwegian just to understand Ibsen in its original language, but translations have been made into all most languages. Ibsen’s often uncomfortable insights into the heart of the middle classes create equally powerful scenes now as they did more than a hundred years ago.
Alf Prøysen (1914–1970), born and brought up in Ringsaker, Hedmark, is one of our most beloved writers. He debuted with ”Dørstokken heme”, a collection of short stories, in 1945. He became famous across Norway some years later when he sang his own songs on radio and on disk. Many of his songs have become classics, such as "Julekveldsvisa", a Christmas song, and "Du ska få en dag i mårå". He was a well known voice on ”Barnetimen” (Children’s hour) and his children’s book ”Teskjekjerringa” has been translated into several languages. Alf Prøysen is also known for his novel ”Trost i taklampa”, which has also been performed on stage and made into a film.