Alaska and the Airplane

Alaskans were introduced to the airplane as early as 1913, when town officials in Fairbanks invited stunt flyers James and Lilly Martin to fly over the local baseball park on July 4. Because many areas are only accessible by air, this enormous state is still defined today by aviation so that aviation and Alaska have formed a very special symbiosis that is unique both in the world of geography and flying. This publication celebrates the 100th anniversary of this remarkable relationship. It looks at aviation through artifacts of flight, popular culture and other ephemera; objects that are unique to flying in Alaska and that impressively convey stories of the pioneering spirit, engineering and the North. In an extraordinary fashion, they foreground the changes flying brought to life on the ground, guiding the reader from the early days through times of war and industrialization, to the beginning of the second century in the air.