Dagny Berger

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Dagny Berger (born September 16, 1903 in Asker as Dagny Hansen , † May 10, 1950 in Bygdøy ) was a Norwegian pilot . She was the first woman in Norway to receive a license to fly .

Life

Berger first grew up in Asker, but her parents moved to Rykkin in Bærum Municipality in 1910 . In the same year, her family changed the family name from Hansen to Berger. After being one of the first women in Norway to get her driver's license in 1923, she took part in car races in Finland . To finance her passion for cars, she had to sell books and watches, among other things.

At the age of 22, she also wanted to get a flight license after reading in the newspaper that there were women abroad who did this too. She was turned away at several flight schools and was advised to inquire at one of the aircraft factories in England. Berger then asked the De Havilland Aircraft Company flight school and was accepted there in 1926. There she flew a de Havilland Moth machine . She financed her training by working as a driving instructor and chauffeur for an Indian family. In September 1927, she finally completed her training and she received the license to fly. Berger became Norway's first female pilot. At an event organized by the University of Oslo , she and Sonja Henie were presented as a role model for young Norwegian women. Upon her return, she tried to earn a living as a pilot, but was unsuccessful. In 1929 she tried to finance a flight across the Atlantic. Berger did not manage to buy her own aircraft, as requested, and she had to cease flying from 1929.

Instead, she worked from 1929 as a governess in cities such as Montreal , New York City , Paris and Nice . After returning to Norway again in 1933, she started working in a Masonic lodge and in a restaurant. Your travel agency, which was set up in 1940, had economic problems and had to close again in 1949. On May 10, 1950, she drowned in a swimming accident in Bygdøy , a peninsula in Oslo . She remained unmarried.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Østlendingen (ed.): Dagny Berger vil flyve over Atlanterhavet . Elverum September 16, 1929, p. 6 (Norwegian, nb.no ).
  2. ↑ Flekkefjords Tidende (ed.): Druknet under badning . Flekkefjord May 15, 1950, p. 4 ( nb.no ).
  3. ↑ Hope, Svein Ola: Alt vel: smiles from Berger and Rykkinn from 75-year history . Berger and Rykkinn vel, 2000, p. 64 (Norwegian, nb.no ).
personal data
SURNAME Berger, Dagny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hansen, Dagny (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian pilot
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Asker
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1950
Place of death Bygdøy