Viggo Widerøe Viggo Widerøe ( 13 August 1904 – 8 January 2002 ) was a Norwegian aviator and entrepreneur . He founded Widerøe ' s Flyveselskap , Norway ' s third largest airline , in 1934 . The airline is still in operation today . Personal life . Viggo Widerøe was born in Kristiania as a son of the mercantile agent Theodor Widerøe ( 1868 – 1947 ) and Carla Johanne Launer ( 1875 – 1971 ) . He was a brother of the engineer and accelerator physicist Rolf Widerøe , and grew up at Vinderen . In 1935 he married Solveig Agnes Schrøder ( 1914 – 1989 ) ; they had the daughter Turi Widerøe . Through her , Viggo Widerøe was the father - in - law of Karl Erik Harr between 1972 and 1975 . Career . Reportedly , Viggo Widerøe decided to become an aviator already in 1910 . This was one year after the start of aviation in Kristiania . In 1924 , Widerøe joined the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service and received a pilot ' s licence the following year . He became a conscript pilot for the NoAAS until 1 January 1928 , when he was appointed officer . Widerøe took his civilian pilot ' s licence on 13 June 1930 with Norske Luftruter and worked for the company until the end of summer of 1930 . Two years later , Viggo Widerøe bought John Strandrud ' s shares in Rundflyvning , that was based in Drammen , and started as a pilot . In 1933 , Viggo Widerøe established the company Widerøe & Bjørneby along with Halvor Bjørneby and bought a Simmonds Spartan . In all these companies , activity was concentrated at aerial photography , advertisement flying , air shows , demonstrations and charter passenger flights . Widerøe lay much emphasis on increasing the public interest in aviation throughout South Norway , and arranged flight shows in 1933 and 1934 together with Norsk Aero Klubb . On 19 January 1934 , Viggo Widerøe founded the company Widerøe ' s Flyveselskap along with his brother Arild Widerøe and Einar Isdahl . They raised and Viggo went to the United States where he bought a Waco Cabin that he flew home himself . Postal services started on the 18 . June on the route Oslo – Kristiansand – Stavanger – Haugesund , making Viggo the first person to fly a scheduled , domestic flight in Norway . In 1936 , all concessions for scheduled flights were transferred to Det Norske Luftfartselskap ( DNL ) , and Widerøe had to start again with photography , schools and charter flights . But at the same time , DNL bought 51 % of Wideøe ' s Flyveselskap , and they were subcontracted some postal flights . In the winter of 1936 – 1937 , Viggo attended an expedition by Lars Christensen in the Antarctic with the goal to take aerial photography of the continent ' s coast . About were covered . In 1937 , a personal tragedy struck as Arild Widerøe and other family members lost their lives in an air accident at the Port of Oslo . Two years later , civil aviation was put on hold due to hardships with supply of fuel . Nonetheless , Widerøe provided flight training for exiled Finns during their Winter War of 1939 . In 1940 , Norway was invaded by Germany as a part of World War II . Viggo joined Milorg , part of the Norwegian resistance . He helped young Norwegian men to flee the country to become war pilots based in foreign countries . Soon , he became suspect in the eyes of German forces . He was arrested for " spying " in May 1941 , and was imprisoned at Møllergata 19 for two months . He was sentenced to death , but this was converted to ten year of prison after he held his speech of defence in German . He was transferred to Grini concentration camp in July 1941 , as # 352 of almost 20 , 000 prisoners . Another aerial pioneer Helge Skappel was imprisoned as well , and they spent prison time in Åkebergveien from October to November 1941 , before being shipped to Germany via Akershus Fortress . He was imprisoned in Hamburg - Fühlsbuttel from 13 January 1942 , and later three other camps in Rendsburg , Dreibergen and Dieburg until he was liberated in March 1945 . For the rest of the war , he worked as a secretary and interpreter for the American General George Patton . His wife was also involved in Norwegian resistance work . After the war , Widerøe was employed as assisting director in the Norwegian Aviation Authority from 1945 to 1946 . He then became chief inspector of DNL , and then became one of the first Norwegian employees when Scandinavian Airlines System ( SAS ) was established , after he had moved to Stockholm in Sweden . In SAS , he mainly worked with headhunting people for the new company . In 1947 , DNL sold its stake in Widerøe ' s Flyveselskap to Forenede Industrier . Viggo was headhunted to become managing director , a position he held until 1969 . But he continued to also work as a pilot for the company until 1954 , when he took last flight . He also flew secret reconnaissance missions in Finnmark for the Norwegian Intelligence Service , as a part of the Cold War , and was in charge of a military aviation school at Hønefoss Airport , Eggemoen from 1950 to 1952 . He was decorated with the Royal Norwegian Order of St . Olav in 1954 , and Mount Widerøe in Antarctica was named after him . On the other hand , Viggo never made much money from starting the company . He was in debt until the 1980s , and by the 1990s , he only had shares for NOK 3 , 000 . After retirement , Viggo remained in Oslo during the summer , but spent his winters in L ' Alfàs del Pi in Spain . He died in January 2002 in Oslo .