Photos of very early aircraft/airlines flying Alaska

Question everyone.


How many readers are aware of the WW II activity on the Aleutian chain of Alaska? The second bloodiest campaign after Guadalcanal in WW II in the Pacific was in Alaska on the chain. At one point, I was associated with a tourism project with the State of Alaska and all tour companies and airlines serving Alaska and traveled all over the lower 48 on seminars. I often asked the public if they knew Alaska was involved in WW II and that Japan had two bases located on the chain. None had ever heard about it unless they were in that area at the time. Most history teachers had never studied anything about it and of course, there is almost nothing in the school history books. Of course the history books here in Texas at one time were teaching the students the first atomic bomb was dropped on Korea in the Korean police action (war). Hmmmm. No wonder home schooling is so popular today.

My question is: I am about ready to research this subject for our book and was wondering if Steve's SuperCub.org members would enjoy a recap of what I will come up with somewhere down the line.
Unbelievable, for Alaska, the number of large bombers and fighter aircraft, especially the
P-38s and PBYs that were involved. Discovery Wings has a great hour film that is often rerun. Some of the damaged aircraft are still being recovered today.
Also, it might be interesting if readers would enjoy passing on their memories of that era.

Ernie,

I would like to see and hear more about WWII in Alaska.

One of the things I found that I thought was interesting, was that during the major Aleutian battles (Attu and Kiska) the RCAF was flying combat air patrols over Anchorage and the surrounding area since all US air forces were in use elsewhere. Later that RCAF unit took part in the air battles in 1943 and 44. I believe it was the RCAF 111 squadron (not the RAF 111 squadron from the battle of Britain) and they were flying P-40s and Hurricanes and later P-38s and Spitfires.

If anybody out there has photos of this RCAF unit while based in Anchorage during the war, I'd sure like to see them. There are an awful lot of interesting stories about Alaska in the war years that need to be told. The Archives of the 11th Air Force are a pretty good source for those who might have the time and inclination to study the subject a little more.

A day in the life of a pioneer airline in Alaska, Northern Consolidated Airlines which merged into Wien Air Alaska.

http://www.anchoragepress.com/archives/document18ee.html

I wish I had more information about the flight when we flew an elephant into Nome on a 737. Anything for a circus for the kids of Nome.

Sky King would love this story.

Cessna T-50 Operator: Northern Consolidated Airlines which later merged with Wien forming Wien Consolidated airlines
http://images.google.com/images?q="cessna+t-50"&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en


NCA had several T-50s (bamboo bomber) in the early days which were modified with bigger Lycoming engines instead of the old Jacobs 245 (I believe) round ones. They really performed good for NCA. With the Jacobs, they were really under powered but with the Lycomings, they could actually haul a good load into the bush out of Anchorage. I have a picture of one T-50 sitting on a frozen lake with one main gear in the water after going through the ice. I have yet to find a way to get the format changed so I can post it. I had talked to Cessna in the 50s about the possibility of going from the round engines to opposed six bangers (less drag). They thought it would be a good idea at the time but very expensive. I gave that up but still think, at the time, it would have been a great bush aircraft. Than came the Twin Otter so no need for the idea any more. Ah, progress.

Pan American Airways (Airlines) routes in Alaska.


Before I post this story about what Pan Am did for Alaska, is there anyone out there that has any unusual information? How about it Nome? Pan Am used to fly there. Could Pan Am have served Galena or Bethel enroute to Nome? Canada? As far as I can find out, Pan AM used to fly into Whitehorse out of southeast Alaska on the way to Fairbanks. How about the Alaska Chain? Anyone remember their operations there with the Martins and Sikorskys on the way to Japan? With your permission, I will include your stories word for word in my final post. Pan Am and Trippe were a great pair in building aviation world wide. Although I can't say I knew him, I was introduced to him by someone in the Wien family at one point. He ran Pan Am much the same as the Wien brothers ran Wien.

I often talk about the airline I worked for in Alaska and Seattle, Wien Air Alaska. Below is a link to the final route system Wien operated and throughout the airline life, they operated everything from DC-8s down to open cockpit bi-wings having started up in 1929 as a scheduled airline but actually some flights started around 1924. When the profitable Cessna 180s came out, many pilots bought their own aircraft and leased it back to Wien and as I understand it, there were even some pilots that may have bought a 737 for the same purpose. Our 749 Connie was owned by a pilot and a great workhorse in it's day if it didn't go mechanical first.

http://www.airchive.com/Timetables and Maps/Wien Compressed/Wien map8312.jpg

Take a look at the Alaska area. Every destination shown in Alaska is a mainline airport and out of there, it worked like a mini hub with contract carriers feeding out to the small remote towns. From the 70s and earlier, almost all aircraft were Wien owned or pilot owned. Durring my time with Wien, I was assigned a management area in all the towns in the upper half of Alaska. Somewhere near 1970, Wien served some 172 towns in Alaska.

In the bush, the local station manager acted as dispatcher and since the aircraft were below 12,500 pounds, it didn't require a ticket. It amounted to being a team where the manager and pilot figured out the best way to get the job done.

Following is a link to many of the aircraft on display at the Alaska Heritage Museum in Anchorage.
The photo of the Cessna T-50 of Northern Consolidated is the picture I referred to elsewhere.

http://www.alaskaairmuseum.com/pages/aircraft/aircraft2.htm

http://www.ruudleeuw.com/alcan03-museum1.htm