Alaska's Skyboys Cowboy Pilots and the Myth of the Last Frontier / Katherine Johnson Ringsmuth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ringsmuth, Katherine Johnson.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bush pilots--Alaska.

Bush pilots.

Aeronautics--Alaska--History.

Aeronautics.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (310 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This fascinating account of the development of aviation in Alaska examines the daring missions of pilots who initially opened up the territory for military positioning and later for trade and tourism. Early Alaskan military and bush pilots navigated some of the highest and most rugged terrain on earth, taking off and landing on glaciers, mudflats, and active volcanoes. Although they were consistently portrayed by industry leaders and lawmakers alike as cowboys-and their planes compared to settlers' covered wagons-the reality was that aviation catapulted Alaska onto a modern, global stage; the federal government subsidized aviation's growth in the territory as part of the Cold War defense against the Soviet Union. Through personal stories, industry publications, and news accounts, historian Katherine Johnson Ringsmuth uncovers the ways that Alaska's aviation growth was downplayed in order to perpetuate the myth of the cowboy spirit and the desire to tame what many considered to be the last frontier.

Contents:

Cover; ALASKA'S SKYBOYS; Title; Copyright; Dedication; CONTENTS; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Why Buck Taylor and Not Buck Rogers?; ONE Cowboys, Sourdoughs, and Alaska Bush Pilots; TWO Mines, Mail, and Mercy Flights; THREE Mudflat Takeoffs and Glacier Landings; FOUR The Copper Belt Line; FIVE Taming the "Wild North"; SIX World War II, Reeve's Field, and the Northern Air Route; SEVEN The Last Casualties of Fog and War; EIGHT From Air Carrier to Cordova Airlines; NINE Soaring Spies, Surveyors, and Scientists; TEN The Flying Huntsman; ELEVEN Creating an Airplane Culture

TWELVE Seekers of the InaccessibleConclusion: Where Have All the Skyboys Gone?; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780295806228

0295806222

OCLC:

921176280