History of aviation in Alaska

Aviation in Alaska has a central importance In the vast, lightly populated state with severe weather issues. The short highway system links a few major population centers; railroads are of even lesser importance.[1] Ocean ports, islands and river towns are served by ocean-going vessels. Air service makes up the rest. Air service by "bush pilots" to the Interior and western Alaska, as well as the Aleutian Islands, allowed for the influx of settlers, the year-round contact of villages with the state's larger cities and services, mail and supplies, and rapid transportation of people and goods throughout the state.[2][3]

Commercial service
Trial air routes of Alaska in 1925

Commercial service in Alaska began with Wien Air Alaska in 1927. It expanded in the 1930s with Pacific Alaska Airways, Barnhill & McGee Airways, McGee Airways and Star Air Service, with the latter two eventually becoming the core of Alaska Airlines in 1944. Federal subsidies enable Essential Air Services in Alaska to continue, provided by airlines such as PenAir, Warbelow's Air Ventures, Wings of Alaska, Taquan Air, and Servant Air.

Part of a series on the
History of Alaska

Notable pilots

See also


Notes
  1. William H. Wilson, Railroad in the Clouds: The Alaska Railroad in the Age of Steam, 1914-1945 (1977)
  2. Steve Levi, Cowboys of the Sky: The Story of Alaska's Bush Pilots (2008)
  3. Katherine Johnson Ringsmuth, Alaska's Skyboys: Cowboy Pilots and the Myth of the Lost Frontier (2015).

Further reading
  • Liefer, Gregory. Broken Wings: Aviation Disasters in Alaska (Publication Consultants, 2014).
  • Levi, Steve. Cowboys of the Sky: The Story of Alaska's Bush Pilots (Publication Consultants, 2008).
  • Ringsmuth, Katherine Johnson. Alaska's Skyboys: Cowboy Pilots and the Myth of the Lost Frontier (University of Washington Press, 2015).
  • Satterfield, Archie. The Alaska Airlines Story (Alaska Northwest Books, 1981).


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