Torstein Raaby

Torstein Pettersen Raaby (1920-1964) was a Norwegian resistance fighter and explorer.

During World War II Raaby spent ten months in hiding in the village of Alta on Kaa fjord, sending detailed reports on German warships and their radar installations to England via a hidden radio set surreptitiously connected to the antenna of a German officer. His reports were instrumental helping the RAF to find and permanently disable the battleship Tirpitz. For that and other undercover operations during the war, Raaby was awarded the Royal Norwegian Olav Military Cross. In 1944, he was awarded Norways's highest decoration for military gallantry, the "Krigskorset med Sverd" or War Cross with sword. Raaby held the rank of Second Lieutenant (Fenrik).

In 1947 he took part in Thor Heyerdahl's "Kon Tiki" expedition from Peru to Polynesia as a radio operator, exchanging frequent messages with amateur radio enthusiasts in Chile, the USA, and even Norway, on a tiny 6-watt transmitter.

After the expedition he returned to northern Norway, until he, again as a radio operator, lived on the remote Bear Island, far north of the Arctic Circle. From 1959 to 1961 he was a station controller of the radio station on the Arctic island of Jan Mayen.

Raaby died of a heart condition while on an expedition to reach the North Pole on skis. Torstein Raaby is buried at his birthplace of Dverberg on Andøya.

References

* Heyerdahl, Thor (1950). The Kon-Tiki Expedition. George Allen & Unwin. (Translated by F.H. Lyon)