Publisher's Synopsis
This Pilot Novel is a remarkable story of the courage and dedication of a push pilot!
Arriving in Alaska, the author began his job in Cantwell, where he ferried mining equipment and supplies from the railroad to the placer mining operation. On many trips, he had to make use of "painfully short" landing fields, with one measuring less than 700 feet. He spent one year in Cantwell, learning much about flying in Alaska.
The author's next job was even more challenging. He was the first pilot to fly a winter air mail route from Anchorage to Bristol Bay, flying for McGee Airways. Until 1935, mail to remote villages had been delivered by dog team....
With a dozen friends, he started Bering Sea Airways. He was chief - and only - pilot for the small outfit, flying a brand new Waco he purchased in Seattle.
He describes the thrills and horrors of flying without benefit of radio, weather reports, or flight instruments, relying on his knowledge of landmarks and the lay of the land. Often the villages were hard to spot because they were so covered with drifting snow. He encountered the famous "woolies" of the Aleutians - winds he claimed, that rivaled small tornadoes - which were a danger to his small plane even if it was grounded, when "they would hit us with a bang and lift us off the ground and drop us with a thud"...
The author was one of the first pilots in Alaska to install radio equipment on his plane. The radio came in handy the first time he had it along - before it had even been installed - when he was able to radio for help after his plane went down on an island lake in Prince William Sound.
Those interested in aviation history and the challenges faced by native and early settlers in Alaska will find this book extremely useful and enjoyable reading.
