Arctic Bush Pilot: From Navy Combat to Flying Alaska's Northern Wilderness PDF
Preview Arctic Bush Pilot: From Navy Combat to Flying Alaska's Northern Wilderness
Navy Combat to Flying Stebithern Wilderness A MEMOIR: james "Andy" Anderson as told to Jim Rearden I've never read a book that so skillfully puts the reader into a bush pilot's head and so compellingly captures the drama, adventure, and misadventure of Arctic flying —Cliff Cernick, Flyer magazine ISBN 0-945397-83-6 $16.95 BACKED BY WIEN AIRLINES, former Navy combat pilot “Andy” Anderson pioneered post-World War II bush service to Alaska’s vast Koyukuk River region serving miners, Natives, sportsmen, geologists, adventurers, and assorted bush rats. He flew mining equipment, gold, live wolves and sled dogs, you name it—anything needed for life in the bush. He sweated out dozens of dangerous medical-emergency flights, “always at night and in terrible storms.” Illustrated with 50 historical photo's and co-authored by one of Alaska’s most popular writers, ARCTIC BUSH PILOT is an exciting and sometimes nostalgic account of a pioneer pilot and his special place in Alaska aviation history. ARCTIC BUSH PILOT brings alive the beauty of the Koyukuk region and its people. —Paul Haggland, pilot, Fairbanks, Alaska I’d have died of pneumonia one winter if Andy Anderson hadn’t flown me from Huslia to the Tanana Hospital in rotten weather. —Sidney Huntington, Galena, Alaska ISBN O-BMSaBV-flB-b 9 780945 397830 FROM NAVY COMBAT TO FLYING ALASKA'S NORTHERN WILDERNESS A MEMOIR: James "Andy" Anderson as told to Jim Rearden EPICENTER PRESS Epicenter Press Inc. is a regional press founded in Alaska whose interests include but are not limited to the arts, history, environment, and diverse culrures and lifestyles of the North Pacific and high latitudes. We seek both the traditional and innovative in publishing nonfiction tradebooks and giftbooks featuring contemporary art and photography. Text © 2000 Jim Rearden Photos © 2000 Jim Rearden unless otherwise credited Publisher: Kent Sturgis Editor: Don Graydon Mapmaker: Russell Nelson Proofreader: Sherrill Carlson Cover and text design, typesetting: Elizabeth Watson No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or on a computer disk, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. Permission is given for brief excerpts to be published with book reviews in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and catalogs. ISBN 0-945397-83-6 To order single copies of ARCTIC BUSH PILOT, mail $16.95 (WA residents add $1.46 sales tax) plus $5 for Priority Mail shipping to: Epicenter Press, Box 82368, Kenmore, WA 98028; phone our 24-hour order line, 800-950- 6663; or visit our website, EpicenterPress.com. Booksellers: Retail discounts are available from our distributor, Graphic Arts Center Publishing, Box 10306, Portland, OR 97210. Phone 800-452-3032. Printed in Canada First printing May 2000 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 My thanks to every Indian and Eskimo villager, every miner and trap per, and every bushrat who lived in the Koyukuk Valley and Brooks Range where I flew, for in one way or another each contributed to the development of scheduled air service there. Frank Tobuk and Warren “Canuck” Killen, Wien Airlines employees at Betties, kept me flying; Canuck was my right arm. Neither of these fine men ever failed me. The Wien brothers, Noel, Sig, and Fritz, and the next genera tion of Wiens—Richard, Merrill, and Bob—all contributed whole heartedly to my bush operation at Betties. The Wiens taught me much about the fine art of Alaska flying. Russell “Mac” McConnell, although he was a Betties FAA main tenance employee, contributed much to my flying program; Mac could do anything. My heartfelt appreciation goes to my first wife, Hannah, who did a superb job of overseeing the Betties roadhouse operation and raising our children. My thanks to our children, Mary, David, and Phil, for their acceptance of a difficult situation. To my wonderful parents, my thanks for a responsible Christian upbringing. To my brothers Carl and Louis and my sister Hope, my 5 ARCTIC BUSH PILOT thanks for a lifetime of moral support. And to Betty, my wife ol three decades, at my side in sickness and health, in good times and bad, goes my deepest appreciation. My thanks to her three children, Cheryl, Julie, and Jay, for their understanding and steadfast faith in both of us. Thanks too to Cliff Cernick, of Anchorage, for his professional on-the-mark line editing. William O. Seymour, professor of journal ism at the University of West Virginia, made helpful comments on the manuscript. Thanks to Ernest N. Wolff for permission to use bio graphical details on men of the Chandalar that appeared in his book let Frank Yasnda and the Chandalar. Last, my appreciation to Jim Rearden for producing a lucid, accurate record of my aviation career. —JLA 6 Half a century ago I participated in a tiny part of the aviation history of Alaska. When I established scheduled flights in the Koyukuk River valley, which straddles the Arctic Circle, I wasn’t thinking of history or of being a pioneer. I simply filled a need and took advantage of an economic opportunity. But eventually the satisfaction of serving became as important to me as the economics. I was fortunate to arrive at Betties, where I was based, at a period when there was a great need for aerial transportation. At first, my small, inefficient planes could only haul freight of limited size. As my business grew, I flew increasingly larger and more dependable freight carrying airplanes. When I ended my seventeen-year bush flying career, my planes were delivering some of the bigger stuff: refrigera tors, 4-by-8 sheets of plywood, entire dog teams. At first, most villages I served had no airport; when I left, most of these villages had an airport that could handle twin-engine planes. By then these villages also had good radio communication. At first, villagers rushed to meet my plane whenever I landed, much as pioneers of the early west gathered at a depot to greet the train. By the time I left, only those who had business at the airport met my flights; airplanes had become commonplace. 7 ARCTIC BUSH PILOT 8 PREFACE I enjoyed being a bush pilot. I enjoyed flying. I enjoyed the magnificent wilderness land over which I flew. I enjoyed the people I served. For these reasons my years at Betties seemed almost like a paid vacation. Remembering these pleasures, and reliving my experiences by writing about them, has given me much satisfaction. I would like to believe that this review of my time as an arctic bush pilot will contribute in a small way to the history of Alaskan aviation. James L. “Andy"Anderson Dr. Edward Wiegand of Sandusky, Ohio, fishes in Agiakhake above the timberline in The Brooks Range, jim rearden photo 9
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