History of Alaskan aviation; bush pilots, development of airports, World War II aviation development, Northern Staging Route (WW II), North Pacific Great Circle Route, and more
Mines in the Wrangell Mountains, 65 miles east of Chitina and only a few miles south of McCarthy, were world-class copper producers during the early 1900s. However, by the 1930s the copper reserves were...
The plane in the drawing is a 1928 Stearman C3B, registration number NC5415. It is, along with planes such as Ben Eielson’s World War I-era Curtis Wright JN-4 (on display at Fairbanks International Airport),...
Immediately preceding and during World War II the Civilian Aeronautics Authority (CAA was the predecessor to the FAA) built and upgraded airports across the United States as part of a national defense program. Theresa...
Merle “Smitty” Smith, who is now known by his more colorful nickname, “Mudhole,” became enamored of flying at an early age. According to Lone Janson’s 1981 biography of him, Smitty, who was born and...
During Fairbanks’ post-World War II population boom, development pressure forced the relocation of the community’s airport, Weeks Field. The airport, less than a mile from downtown, moved eight miles farther away, to its present...
Kulis Air National Guard Base in the early 1960s, with a Fairchild C-123J parked in front. According to National Park Service documents, Alaska’s first Air National Guard unit, the 8144th Air Base Squadron,...
Pan American Airways hanger at Weeks field in the early 1940s The Pan American Airways hangar shown in the drawing is part of Fairbanks’ hidden history. It was once used by Pan Am at...
R. C. Wood’s house in the mid 1980s Richard Crowther “Dick” Wood, a pioneer Fairbanks banker and civic leader, was born in Winnemucca, Nevada in 1876. He spent much of his childhood in Tombstone,...
Carl Ben Eielson, one of Alaska’s pioneering aviators, grew up yearning to fly. Born in Hatton, North Dakota in 1897, he got his chance to become a pilot during World War I by enlisting...
I am working on a drawing of Ben Eielson’s Curtis Wright JN-4 (Jenny), which still exists and is being restored. Today I was able to get a look at the pieces of the plane...
