Alaskan Aviation History [Hardcover]

Robert W. Stevens (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Des Moins, Washington, U.S.A.: Polynyas Pr (1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929427017
• ISBN-13: 978-0929427010
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,876,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alaskan Aviation History, 1897-1930, November 17, 2000

By 

Bob Stevens (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY 1897-1930 (2 Vol. Set) (Hardcover)

My father wrote this two-volume set over 15 years of painstaking research, resulting in 1095 pages with 59 chapters and 980 photographs, most never before published and lovingly restored from private collections and personal albums of the great bush pilots and long-established Alaskan families. His own love affair with Alaska began in July, 1946 as a young DC-3 copilot for Pacific Northern Airlines based in Anchorage and continued through his retirement as a senior DC-10 captain for Western Airlines in May, 1978. 32 years of commercial flying as well as crisscrossing every corner of Alaska in small planes, float-flying to nameless lakes for hunting and fishing, he came to see much of Alaska's rich aviation heritage was in danger of slipping into oblivion.

Volume I traces the story from early ballooning in 1897, through 1928. Volume II covers the busy times of 1929 and 1930. This set covers civil, commercial and military aviation throughout Alaska, including Russian and Scandinavian trans-polar expeditions. Follow the day to day progress of events along with the more sensational occurrences and hundreds of other fascinating facts, meticulously researched from personal journals and newspaper archives of the time; clearly presented first-hand accounts in narrative form and fully indexed.

Here is what others have said regarding this photographic treasury of, and tribute to the planes and pilots who explored and settled this last American frontier-Alaska!

"I would like to congratulate you on a very thorough job and the best work of its kind I have yet to see. I am ordering from your publisher." ~K.M. Molsen-(original) Curator of Canadian National Aviation Museum.

"Your publication of ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY, 1897-1930 is needed for the collections of the Library of Congress." ~McDermott-Chief, E & G Division.

"Bob Stevens is one of the best authorities on Alaskan aviation history." ~R.E.G. Davies, Curator of Air Transport, Aeronautics Department of SMITHSONIAN.

"Your two recent volumes on the early history of the Alaskan aviation industry appear to be the definitive documents to which all future research on the subject will be compared." ~Frank Norris- Historian, National Park Service, Anchorage Alaska.

"ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY is a labor of love. Surely it had to be, to be so complete; beautifully done and above all, so readable." ~Lowell Thomas, Jr. in THE EXPLORERS CLUB JOURNAL (The Explorers Club in New York).

"I would like to order a review copy of ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY for a forthcoming review in Technology and Culture, our quarterly journal of the Society for the History of Technology." ~Managing Editor-Smithsonian Institution.

"Herewith my check for two sets of ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY. I have just done a review of these beautiful volumes for the EXPLORERS CLUB and would like to have my own set, and a second for my pilot son." ~Lowell Thomas Jr.

"Those interested in bush flying will welcome ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY, which includes much Canadian material where it intermeshes with Alaskan flying." ~OUTBOUND-the Canadian Aviation Historical Society newsletter.

"Received the books yesterday all O.K.-no wonder it took 15 years to complete! Pictures-what beautiful pictures-never saw anything like it. I hope I don't have to wait seven years for the next volume. Keep them coming." ~Howie Schmidt-TWA pilot.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great personal stories of Alaskan aviation adventurers!, July 23, 2002

By 

Shyney Books "Shyney Books" (Charleston, SC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY 1897-1930 (2 Vol. Set) (Hardcover)

This is the only book on Alaskan aviation that includes such rare stories as an entire chapter on my great-Uncle Charles LaJotte! He was somewhat infamous in his day for freighting a WWI surplus Curtis Jenny to Nome (via the sailing Schooner Fred J. Wood)and offering aeroplane rides during the summer of 1923. Bob Steven's lifework details the adventures (and misadventures) of many early aviators, both famous and mostly forgotten.

5.0 out of 5 stars ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY, 1897-1930, November 3, 2000

By 

Bob Stevens (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alaskan Aviation History (Hardcover)

My father wrote this 2 volume set over 15 years of painstaking research, resulting in 1095 pages with 59 chapters and 980 photographs; most never before published and lovingly restored from private collections and personal albums of the great bush pilots and long established Alaskan families. His own love affair with Alaska began in July, 1946 as a young DC-3 copilot for Pacific Northern Airlines based in Anchorage and continued through his retirement as a senior DC-10 Captain for Western Airlines in May, 1978. 32 years of commercial flying as well as crisscrossing every corner of Alaska in small planes, float flying to nameless lakes for hunting and fishing, he came to see much of Alaska's rich aviation heritage was in danger of slipping into oblivion.

Volume I traces the story from ballooning in 1897, through 1928. Volume II covers the busy times of 1929 and 1930. This set covers civil, commercial and military aviation throughout Alaska, including Russian and Scandinavian trans-Polar expeditions. The day to day progress of events along with the more sensational occurrences and hundreds of other fascinating facts, meticulously researched from personal journals and newspaper archives of the time; clearly presented first-hand accounts in narrative form and fully indexed.

Here is what others have said regarding this Photographic treasury of, and tribute to: the planes & pilots who explored and settled this last American frontier-Alaska!

"I would like to congratulate you on a very thorough job and the best work of its kind I have yet to see. I am ordering from your publisher." ~K. M Molsen-(original) curator of Canadian National Aviation Museum.

"Your publication of ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY, 1897-1930 is needed for the collections of the Library of Congress." ~McDermott- Chief, E & G Division.

"Bob Stevens is one of the best authorities on Alaskan aviation history." ~R.E.G. Davies, Curator of Air Transport, Aeronautics Department of SMITHIONIAN.

"Your two recent volumes on the early history of the Alaskan aviation industry appear to be the difinitive documents to which all future research on the subject will be compared."~Frank Norris-Historian, National Park Service, Anchorage Alaska.

"ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY is a labor of love. Surely it had to be, to be so complete; beautifully done and above all, so readable." ~Lowell Thomas, Jr.-in THE EXPLORERS CLUB JOURNAL (The Explorers Club in New York)

"I would like to order a review copy of ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY for a forthcoming review in Technology and culture, our quarterly journal of the Society for the History of Technology." ~Managing Editor-Smithsonian Institution.

"Herewith my check for two sets of ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY. I have just done a review of these beautiful volumes for the EXPLORERS CLUB and would like to have my own set, and a second for my pilot son." ~Lowell Thomas, Jr.

"Those interested in bush flying will welcome ALASKAN AVIATION HISTORY, which includes much Canadian material where it intermeshes with Alaskan flying." ~OUTBOUND- the the Canadian Aviation Historical Society newsletter.

"Received the books yesterday all O.K.- no wonder it took 15 years to complete! Pictures-what beautiful pictures-never saw anything like it. I hope I don't have to wait seven years for the next volume. Keep them coming." ~Howie Schmidt-TWA pilot.