Tancred Ibsen, born 11 July 1893 in Gausdal, Norway - died 4 December 1978 in Oslo, Norway was a Norwegian officer, pilot, film director and screenwriter. He was the son of Sigurd Ibsen, and the grandson of Henrik Ibsen, and Nobel laureate Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson.

Aviation career

In 1917, Tancred Ibsen started his career in the Army at the Norwegian Army Air Service and started the training for pilot at Kjeller Airport. Not content with his military career, he started the first civilian active airplane company, A/S Aero in 1920, financed by his uncle, businessman Einar Bjørnson, and two shipowners. The company successly operated demonstration, advertising, and limited mail flights with Tancred Ibsen as the head pilot. The company also chartered airplanes to the Det Norske Luftfartrederi routes in southern Norway. Tancred Ibsen soon got tired of his career as a pilot, and the activity of A/S Aero ended, with the company becoming part of the aircraft factory in Tønsberg, A/S Norske Aeroplanfabrik. When that company later went broke, it turned out that A/S Aero was never formally registered as a limited company, but as a personal company of Tancred Ibsen. This turned out to be a potential personal disaster, since the debt of the factory was regarded as a personal debt. Ibsen managed, however, to get to a favourable settlement.