With Alaska Airline’s marking it's 90th Anniversary on April of 2022, the first book dedicated to those early years has been published by Washington author Kathy Mills Rozzini. It’s a fascinating story that actually has its beginning at Seattle’s Boeing Field. It tells the tale of the disappearing airline heritage that was triumphantly resurrected and of how a one-plane flight school that began in Anchorage during the Great Depression persevered through World War II and the invasion of Alaska by the Japanese and became what we know today as Alaska Airlines.
Challenging times for any company; but especially, for the bush pilot who tried to tame the unpredictable skies of Alaska in the primitive and fragile planes of that era. Through the good times and bad, the little operation that Steve Mills (the author's grandfather) began quickly became a full service airline and just three years after opening as Star Air Service, they became the largest airline in Alaska with 15 planes. But it didn’t come without sacrifices from everyone.
This book, written in chronological order uses dates, interviews, newspaper accounts, details, and documented facts to retell the events of the first eleven years. It is also the story of the people who kept the airline going when the odds were against them. They were ordinary people doing extraordinary things to improve the lives of Alaskans through aviation, and in the process created an airline that is still flying today.
A great read for AV geeks, pilots, plane spotters, aircraft history buffs or someone that just simply loves that flying is possible and enjoys traveling the airways.
Non Fiction - Aviation History
Publisher: Independently published (October 16, 2020), USA
Language: English
Paperback : 333 pages
ISBN: 9798688346916
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019912350
Item Weight: 1.19 pounds
Dimensions: 6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
