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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 0332.PDF
144 FLIGHT ALASKA'S AIRLINES Remarkable Expansion in an Area Where Operators Carry Oddly Assorted Freight By FRANK BLLINGWORTH TEN years ago Alaska relied for its supplies on coastal shipping. Bush-pilots provided a tenuous link between the settlements, and there was an infrequent and un certain service to the United States. Today, thirteen air lines are operating in the territory. Air-freighters fly on regular schedules to the very shores of the straits separating Alaska and Siberia, and an assortment of Grumman Widg eons, Wacos, Travel Airs, Aeroncas, Stinsons, Cessnas and Bellancas operate between the larger towns and the trapping settlements in the wild, almost unexplored interior. There are regular services between Alaska and the United States and Canada. The airport at Juneau (the capital) and that at Anchorage handle a constant stream of traffic on the northern Great Circle route to Tokio—both military and civil, for a major airlift has been in operation between Juneau, Anchorage and Tokio since the outbreak of war in Korea, when aircraft of North west Airlines and Pan American started operating from Seattle to Japan via Alaska. Subsequently American civil and military aircraft were supported by transports of the R.C.A.F. in flying wounded from Tokio to hospitals in the United States—again via a northern route which, before the 1939-1945 war, was predicted to be "entirely impracticable." As long ago as 1932 Pan American bought up two aviation com panies in Alaska, Pacific Alasca, Inc., and Alaska Airways, Inc. with bases at Fairbanks, Anchorage and Nome, and proceeded to develop an Alaskan service in the faith that the day would tome when the Great Circle route via Alaska would be feasible. Sub sequently, application was made to the Canadian Government for permission to include Whitehorse in a Juneau-Whitehorse-Fair- banks service, which was inaugurated in 1935. Meanwhile, Pan American had bought up Alaska Southern Airways, which operated a charter service between Southern Alaska and the United States; and, using this as a foundation, they built upon it a weekly Clipper service between Alaska and the United States. This came into being in 1940. Today, Juneau and Anchorage are shown as key points on world air-travel maps: recently I reached Fairbanks, in Central Arctic Alaska, in $2 hours from London (via B.O.A.C. to Mon treal, Trans-Canada Air Lines to Edmonton, Canadian Pacific Air Lines to Whitehorse, and "bush-plane" to Fairbanks). The inauguration and development of air services were re- Traffic at Alaska's airports may range from Aeroncas to the largest air liners, such as this Northwest Airlines Stratocruiser, seen at Juneau. This striking photograph was taken through the cabin window of a DC-4 crossing the White Pass, between Juneau (Alaska) and White horse (Yukon Territory), on the route of the Klondyke gold-rush. fleeted in a steady and marked extension of commerce and indus try in Alaska; and, like the representatives of commerce, the prospector and trapper and lumberman of the interior were quick to grasp opportunities offered by the new transport medium. For example, an "air laundering service" flies soiled linen from Fairbanks to Seattle for washing (a 3,400-mile round trip), the delivery-plus-laundering charge being 30 cents per pound, which is little more than the laundering-only charge in Fairbanks. Magazines appear on bookshelves in Alaska on the day of publica tion in the U.S. Cinemas in Fairbanks, Juneau and Anchorage show new films on the day of release in the States. Following the spring break-up of the frozen rivers, trappers head for the settlements by boat or dog-team, there to pass the results of the seasons "trap" to bush-pilots for delivery to the air terminals. In the old days it took up to 90 days for pelts to reach "The Outside." Today, even the most distant trapper- settlement in Alaska is less than four days from the major fur markets in Canada and the United States—a vital factor in a trade wherein markets fluctuate. The following figures reflect the development of air transport on "inward" services. The transports of one operator carried 1,604 lb in the peak month in 1940 and 30,000 lb in the record month in 1947. With a reduction of volume-cargo rates by as much as 62 per cent this same company handled 160,000 lb of "in" freight in February, 1948; by 1950 the figure for the peak month had risen to 250,000 lb, and has since more than doubled. The genuine "Far North" atmosphere: a Pan American DC-4 at Fair banks, key-point in the Central Arctic and North Alaskan route-networks.
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