Alaska Aviation: Legends Magazine by Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA

LEGENDS MAGAZINE

2015 LEGENDS BOB BIELEFELD BOB JACOBS JIM ROWE LARRY THOMPSON LINDLEY KETCHUM LOWELL THOMAS NANCY MILLER– LIVINGSTON STRATFORD

If back pain is keeping you grounded, turn to Dr. Maxwell to help get you back in the air.

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Flying vintage fighters up to the edge and cubs onto gravel bars both share with neurosurgery the need for precision. There is no room for error! I salute our Alaskan aviation legends who fly over this most rugged and glorious place. Dr. Marius Maxwell Chief Neurosurgeon and Founder, Arctic Spine

ARCTICSPINE Alaska’sLaser Laser Spine Center Alaska’s Spine Center Marius Maxwell M.D., PhD., FACS, FAANS

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Anchorage

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Wasilla

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Fairbanks

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Kenai

A SALUTE Alaska is twice the size of Texas—something we like to brag about to our Lone Star State friends—but road tripping in Texas is a heck of a lot simpler. In a state half our size, there are almost 3,500 miles of interstate highway. Alaska has roughly 1,100 miles of interstate highway. That’s why we depend on our aviators to keep us connected, from Barrow to Metlakatla. And really, most Alaskans would argue that the vast splendor of our state is best seen from above. Every year, the Alaska Air Carriers Association (alaskaaircarriers.org) selects Alaska Aviation Legends to honor at their November 6 banquet. These are the men and women who have helped make our great state that much more accessible to wide-eyed visitors and longtime residents. Alaska Dispatch News is pleased to partner with AACA to bring you their stories. A big thank you and congratulations to this year’s honorees.

2015 PUBLISHER ALICE ROGOFF EDITORIAL DIRECTOR MAIA NOLAN-PARTNOW EDITOR JAMIE GONZALES

JGONZALES@ALASKADISPATCH.COM

THE LEGENDS p.

LAYOUT KELLY DAY-LEWIS

LARRY THOMPSON Homer Air’s “Hairy Larry” still flying out of Arizona

CONTRIBUTORS JAMIE KLAES JANE DALE LYN KLAES ROB STAPLETON

DESIGNER DANIEL MEESE

LINDLEY KETCHUM A Life in the Skies Over Asia, Russia and the U.S.A.

ART DIRECTOR JOSHUA GENUINO

JIM ROWE The wayfaring pilot who made his home and launched Bering Air in Nome

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR VIKI SPIROSKA

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NANCY MILLER LIVINGSTON STRATFORD Civilian WWII aviator & Alaska’s first female helicopter pilot BOB STEUBAN JACOBS This welder/mechanic/pilot knew airplanes inside and out ROBERT BIELEFELD From Alaska oil man to founding pilot of Kenai Aviation LOWELL THOMAS JR. A Lifetime of Adventure

ON THE COVER Otter DHC-3 Airplane Photo by Philip Hall Design by Daniel Meese

THE WAYFARING PILOT WHO MADE HIS HOME & LAUNCHED BERING AIR IN NOME

JIM ROWE By Jane Dale, AACA

SOLOED 1968—Harbor Springs, Michigan AIRCRAFT FLOWN Aero Commander: 500, 680E, 680FL Cessna: L19, 120, 140, 150, 170, 180, 182, 185, 195, 205, 206, 207, 208B, 310 de Havilland Canada: DHC-3 Otter, Beaver, Dove Beechcraft: Bonanza, Beech 18, King Air 200 Piper: J3, PA-11, 12, 18, Cherokee, Apache, Seneca, Aztec, Navajo Others: Mitsubishi MU2, CASA C212, Citabria, Stearman, Bellanca, Ercoupe, Taylorcraft Helicopters: Hughes(MD) 300C, 500D; Robinson R-22, R-44 Gliders: Schwitzer (several models)

Jim Rowe, R-44 helicopter at Sinuk River. Photo courtesy of the Rowe family

With Bering Air’s first DeHavilland Otter are the original Bering Air company members and their families. Left to right is Ken and Cheryl Zachary, Cathy, Jennie and Fred Dyan, Chris, Ben and Jim Rowe.

im and Chris Rowe raised their two sons, Ben and Russell, in Nome, Alaska. Together with longtime employees and friends, they quietly grew Bering Air into a major regional schedule, charter, fixed wing and helicopter business. Rowe, who had worked for Munz and Foster Aviation before creating Bering Air, is credited with helping on many rescues in the 1970s and 80s where he garnered not only experience, but made lifelong friends. Rowe has flown helicopters, aircraft, run the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, participated in Bering Sea rescues, flown medevac flights in the middle of the night, tried mining and raised a family. Rowe had many firsts in his aviation career, including being the first to offer passenger air service to the Russian Far East. Still today, after over 4,000 flights to Russia, Bering Air continues to operate year-round service to that isolated region. Bering Air has an excellent rapport with the villagers that it serves on the Seward Peninsula, St. Lawrence Island and the Kotzebue region, which aids the business in keeping its longtime customers. The Rowe’s life reads like a storybook. They first met at a flight school. After high school, Rowe attended Western Michigan University and graduated from the aviation program. During the summers, Rowe continued to work at Harbor Springs Airport where he met Chris.

NOVEMBER 2015

Jim Rowe Chris was interested in learning to fly and Rowe was her instructor. Chris soloed. During her second solo Jim recalls, “Without looking back, I could hear the airplane taxiing right behind me.” Chris followed Rowe back to the terminal and then parked the airplane. She decided flying wasn’t her thing, but knew they would see each other again, whether or not she continued flying lessons. Coming into the country During the summer before graduation, Rowe and a friend purchased a Cessna 195. After graduation, the two, along with two others from Petoskey, Michigan, took a crosscountry flight to Baja, Mexico, and then worked their way up the west coast from Baja all the way to Barrow, Alaska. “We each started with $400 in our pockets—$200 for food and $200 for fuel,” Rowe said. “Along the way we stopped at a few places and worked. Since we had to carry all our fuel from Fairbanks, there wasn’t room for the fourth member of the group and he left us at Phillips Field and hitchhiked back to Michigan to finish college. The rest of us flew to Barrow via Chandalar and Umiat. We were in Barrow July 1, 1974.” Out of money in Barrow, one member of the flight crew called his father and asked him to wire $100 to Nome. After hearing the money would be available at the Nome post office, they climbed back in the Cessna 195 and flew the final leg of the long trip. “We arrived in Nome at 4:30 p.m. with a flat tail wheel and amongst us, 78 cents in our pockets, and decided to split up and meet at a bar closest to the post office—the Polar Bar,” said Rowe. At the bar, the three met Mike Murphy, a young entrepreneur who had just opened a pizza parlor across the street. He invited them over.

WE ARRIVED IN NOME AT 4:30 P.M. WITH A FLAT TAIL WHEEL AND AMONGST US, 78 CENTS IN OUR POCKETS…

“While there, Mike got a phone call. He picked it up and asked, ‘Are you Jim Rowe? Dick Galleher wants to talk to you,’” Rowe recalled. Galleher owned Munz Northern Airlines, a local air taxi company. Rowe picked up the phone and Galleher said, “Hey, are you the hippie that just flew into town in that Cessna 195?” Rowe replied that he probably needed a haircut but wasn’t a hippie. Galleher continued, “I bet that if you flew into Nome in that airplane you can probably fly.” He offered Rowe a job on the spot and finished with, “Tomorrow’s the 4th, so come in the morning of the 5th.” Rowe mentioned his partner in the airplane was a mechanic and asked if he needed a mechanic. “Yeah, bring him along, too,” Galleher replied.

HEY, ARE YOU THE HIPPIE THAT JUST FLEW INTO TOWN IN THAT CESSNA 195? Bering Air is created and grows Jim and Chris were married in November 1974 in Michigan when he took time off from flying for Munz. That was also the year Nome flooded. From July 1974 to mid-November 1975, Rowe flew for Munz Northern and then went to Foster Aviation to fly for Richard Foster between 1975 and 1979. Meanwhile, Chris fit right into life in Nome and began dog mushing, eventually running two Kobuk 440 dog mushing races and organizing or participating in many local races. “On September 17, 1979, Bering Air incorporated,” Rowe said. “Our first day of operation was October 3 with pilots that included myself, two pilots who came with the business, and Ken Zachary, who, along with Chris, was a partner in the business at the time. I hadn’t anticipated how quickly you became a senior pilot, nor did we anticipate the FAA, State Troopers and school district employees that I had flown with Foster’s would call, but they did.” Foster had mentioned they were already asking for Rowe and sometimes elected to wait two to three days just to

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The Bering Air night maintenance crew around 1995 with Jim Rowe in the Center and Chris Rowe second from right. Photo courtesy of Bering Air

fly with him. “So when I opened the doors, the phones were ringing off the hook for work we just couldn’t do,” he recalled. At the time, Chris was pregnant with Russell and Ben was just 19 months old. “After Russell was born, Chris put him in a box under the desk and worked as the customer service agent, dispatcher and finance director.” Alaska Airlines meets Bering Air “In March of 1983, Ray Vecci, future Alaska Airlines CEO, and Ken Skids, senior vice president, were in Nome looking for a code share partner,” said Rowe. “In 1974, the Alaska Transportation Commission (ATC) had kicked Alaska Airlines out of Nome and kicked Wein out of southeast. In 1983, that all changed with the sun setting of the ATC. In June 1983, Alaska Airlines planned to come back to Nome and needed a code share partner so they could obtain a share of the mail. Munz was already the code share partner for Wein.” Rowe turned them down, saying that Bering Air was not a scheduled carrier. Vecci and Skids thought Rowe was arrogant and cocky, but he felt that “people choose to come and fly with us and deep down I was still hoping to haul fish in the summer and run dogs during the winter. A week later Alaska called again and I had thought about it, probably had just written a payroll and began to wonder where the funds for the next one would come from,” he said.

After a call from Alaska to come to Seattle to discuss the option again, Rowe negotiated his airfare and hotel before agreeing to the meeting. Once in Seattle, Rowe was again approached by Alaska Air officials who offered to write up the Bering Air ops manual, and set the scheduled flights into play. Rowe again stated that he did not have the operating capital and needed aircraft for scheduled passenger flights. Eventually Alaska Airlines CEO Bruce Kennedy got their code sharing partner with Bering Air, but it cost them $150,000 and two Piper Navajo Chieftain aircraft—a debt Bering Air honored and repaid as part of a business deal. Eventually the code sharing was discontinued after an East Coast crash by a regional air carrier for American Airlines in 1999 that raised the NTSB’s attention to regional carrier oversight. “At the same time, Bering Air and Alaska Airlines continued to have a relationship, but we operated totally independently,” explained Rowe. Rowe insists that without his partner and wife, Chris, and many dedicated employees who became friends, none of his adventurous life would have been possible.

NOVEMBER 2015

A LIFE IN THE SKIES OVER ASIA, RUSSIA AND THE U.S.A.

LINDLEY “KETCH” KETCHUM By Jamie Klaes, AACA

indley “Ketch” Ketchum was born March 12, 1923, in Huntington, California. The youngest of three brothers, Ketchum was still a child when they moved back to the family homestead in Idaho, south of Pocatello. Growing up in Idaho, he and his brothers took turns milking the cow and chopping firewood. After a move west, Ketchum attended Compton High School in California. One morning, while hurrying to Mr. Barnes’ biology class, his eye caught a particular young lady chasing tennis balls across the court. Her name was Marguerite. They both graduated in 1941, and a year later, on August 25, 1942, the two married. After Ketchum graduated, he accepted a civil service position as an apprentice aircraft mechanic with the Navy on San Diego’s North Island. Shortly after, the world was turned upside down when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. At that time, Ketchum had a great desire to become a pilot. He went down and took the Army Air Corps pilot exams and passed. In October 1942, Ketchum was sworn into the Army where he and his peers were introduced to flying in a Taylorcraft in La Grande, Oregon.

U.S. Army C47 aircraft were the first to make it into Tempelhof with supplies for Germany. Photograph courtesy of the Ketchum family

Ketch pitching in to keep a non-scheduled airline flying. Photograph courtesy of the Ketchum family

BORN 1923—Huntington, California AIRCRAFT FLOWN Single Engine: PT-22 Ryan, BT-13 Vultee. AT-6 North American. Multi-Engine: AT-17 Cessna twin, AT-11 Beech, C-45 Beech, C-46 Curtiss, C-47 Douglas, C-54 Douglas, C-82 Fairchild, T-29 Convair, C-124 Douglas. Bombers: B-25 Mitchel, B-26 Invader, B-29 Superfortres, B-36 Peace Maker. Jets: T-33 Lockheed, B-36 Jet/Recip. Flying boats: PB-Y-5 Convair, J2F-6 Grumman Duck. Civilian Aircraft: A-26 Douglas On-Mark, DC-3 Douglas, J-50 Beech Bonanza. DeHaviland: DHC-6 Twin Otter, DHC-3 Turbo Otter, DHC-2T Turbo Beaver. Beech: J-50 Twin Bonanza, Model 33 single Bonanza. Cessna: C-152, C-172, C-180, C-182, C-185, C-206, C-207, C-337 Twin. Fairchild: PC-6 Turbo Porter Gliders/Sail Planes: CG4-A Waco, Civilian Sport Dua Discuss XL High Performance, Grob G-103.

Ketch Ketchum with wife Marguerite and son Craig. Photo courtesy of the Ketchum family

According to Ketchum, some of the young men quit on the spot. Either the airplane scared the heck out of them or they got air sick, or both. But he relished the challenge. For him, flying was an exciting new environment. Ketchum flew to the Philippines, Japan and Korea after World War II. He returned to California where he earned his civilian ratings, including his airline transport pilot certification. In 1948, he was called back into the Air Force to fly supplies into Berlin at the beginning of the Cold War. “It certainly was more gratifying feeding human beings than dropping bombs on them!” he said.

IT CERTAINLY WAS MORE GRATIFYING FEEDING HUMAN BEINGS THAN DROPPING BOMBS ON THEM!

For his service during the Berlin Airlift, Ketchum was awarded the Air Medal and Command Pilot Wings.

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Lindley “Ketch” Ketchum

After a career flying complex multi-engine aircraft in the military, Ketchum and his family decided to take a road trip to Alaska. Ketchum was hired at his first job in Alaska with Warden Gay at Sea Air Motive on Lake Hood. During his time at Sea Air Motive, he flew mostly on wheels and skis in Beavers, turbo Beavers and Twin Otters. In 1969, Ketchum noticed a business for sale on Lake Hood. He and Marguerite decided to purchase it and create Ketchum Air Service. Starting out with a little office and a Cessna 185, he did all the flying while Marguerite did all of the office work, including mopping the floor with a wet broom dipped in the lake. With a big smile, Ketchum reminisced that he played with airplanes while she did all the real work!

Ketchum Air Service was a successful, family-owned and operated air charter business. At the height of their business, Ketchum Air Service had 12 airplanes, including turbine Otters and Beavers and additional offices in Cordova and Valdez. After 26 years of operating the family business, Ketchum retired a second time after their son, Craig, and his wife, Bertsie, decided to purchase the business. Even then, Ketchum was still lending a hand at the family business; he was current in the aircraft and still had his medical. But, finally, with many interests to pursue and over 70 years since his first flight in the Air Corps, in the words of Ketch Ketchum, it was time to hang it up—he had been there, done that.

WITH A BIG SMILE, KETCHUM REMINISCED THAT HE PLAYED WITH AIRPLANES WHILE SHE DID ALL THE REAL WORK!

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HOMER AIR’S “HAIRY LARRY” STILL FLYING OUT OF ARIZONA

LARRY THOMPSON By Rob Stapleton

arry Thompson was born in a Southwestern Iowa farmhouse in a place with no name in 1939. He was raised among eight siblings who he said helped him develop “character.” At 13 years old, he flew to Alaska with his father in a PA-12 from the Midwest. His dad had a job offer from the Morrison Knutson Company that drew them north. The family took quickly to their new life. Thompson owned his first airplane—a PA-11—in the seventh grade. When his family lived south of Glennallen, in Mendeltna, the PA-11 is what he and his brother used for their commute to Palmer High School. By the time he was 17, he had his private pilot’s certificate and at 18, a commercial license. Thompson began flying meat for his father, who worked as a game guide, while he was in high school. He went on to fly an Aero Commander for the Ball Brothers before moving to Chicago. “I flew for American [Airlines] out of Chicago for four years as an air transport pilot, and that’s all it took to convince me to come back to Alaska,” he said.

AND THAT’S ALL IT TOOK TO CONVINCE ME TO COME BACK TO ALASKA. Thompson would eventually land in Homer, where he worked for Homer Flight Service, assisting Diane Martin, whose husband had been killed in a crash. In partnership with Cecil Garten, he later bought the business from Martin, in 1972. And in 1978, he bought out his partner to take over Homer Air. Thompson was able to cultivate and grow Homer Air from a $17,000-a-year business in the early 1970s to a business that brought in more than $1 million a year during the 1980s. To grow the business, he flew for canneries, Kenai Peninsula Borough officials and staff, Bristol Bay fishermen, the Bradley Lake Electrical project, Exxon-Valdez oil spill response, Kenai Peninsula locals and, eventually, McNeil River bear viewing tourists. Even as Homer Air grew, Thompson continued to dedicate each summer to commercial fishing, something he said he couldn’t live without.

AIRCRAFT FLOWN Aero Commander Beechcraft Cessna T-50, 150,170,180,185, 205,206,207,401, 421s Islander Piper J2, J3, PA-11, PA-18 Apache Comanche, Navajo Chieftain, Seneca Mooney Taylorcraft

Larry Thompson by a Homer Air Cessna 207. Thompson flew hundreds of hours in both the 206 and 207 aircraft and said he had three of each when he owned Homer Air. Photo courtesy of Larry Thompson

Something else that grew right along with the business? His signature beard and hair, which have earned him such nicknames as “Hairy Larry” and “Scary Larry.” His beard was recognized in the Miners and Trappers beard growing contest, and in a businessman’s beard contest. His stare, long hair and beard make him appear more Viking than bush pilot. In 1992, he married wife Dee in a memorable ceremony. “We got married in the air above Homer and Seldovia on December 12, 1992,” said Thompson. “We had the Homer magistrate, city manager, and the chief of police who was my best man. It was a cast of characters, for sure.” Thompson enjoyed living and working in the Lower Cook Inlet while operating Homer Air. “I never expected to be here for long, but I ended up living in Seldovia for 8 years,” he said.

WE GOT MARRIED IN THE AIR ABOVE HOMER AND SELDOVIA ON DECEMBER 12, 1992. In 2001, he sold Homer Air and retired, with Dee, to Sedona, Arizona. “I eventually built a big hangar there and in addition to the airplanes, I have four motorcycles to ride,” he said. “I fly out of Rimrock Airport (48AZ) and recently resurfaced the runway from gravel to asphalt and put in lights. I fly each one of my aircraft about 20 hours a year.” NOVEMBER 2015

So, what’s his favorite aircraft to fly? “Whatever is fun depending on where and what the job is,” said Thompson. “If you want to memorize the countryside, I fly a Cub. If I want to get someplace in a hurry, I take the Turbo Mooney.” And the most unique? “I needed a twin-engine aircraft at one point and ended up with a Cessna T-50 ‘bamboo bomber’ that had reportedly been owned by Howard Hughes,“ he said. “Those had been reported to have some structural issues due to wood rot. Mostly to the fuselage and wings built from wood and covered with fabric. When my mechanic started taking it apart, we heard that if it was truly owned by Howard Hughes that it would have buffalo nickels in the spar saddles. Once we had it apart, sure enough there they were—brand new, shiny buffalo five-cent coins.”

IF I WANT TO GET SOMEPLACE IN A HURRY, I TAKE THE TURBO MOONEY. In addition to his years with Homer Air and American Airlines, Thompson also flew for the Ball Brothers out of Dillingham. He even had a stint with the FAA at the Air Traffic Control Center on Boniface Parkway in Anchorage. “I worked all over the state: King Salmon, Kotzebue, Nome and eventually Homer,” Thompson said. According to Thompson, he had accrued 23,400 hours as pilot in command as of 1984.

Larry Thompson sports his winning Businessman’s Brush beard during the Anchorage Fur Rondy’s Miners and Trappers Ball. Photo courtesy of Larry Thompson

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He’s also quick to remember well-known Alaska aviation operators Al Wright, Joe Wilbur, Norm and Georgia Tibbetts, Neal Bergt and others who have passed along.

Larry Thompson by a Homer Air Cessna 207 Thompson fley hundreds of hours in both the 206 and 207 aircraft and said he had three of each when he owned Homer Air. Photo courtesy of Larry Thompson

“Every one of those people added something to the aviation industry in Alaska. Say what you will but we should never forget how those folks pioneered a way in which we can now say paved the way for many of us,” said Thompson. Of his career in Alaska as a Part 135 operator, he said, “I am just lucky, and that ‘character’ that I learned from my siblings and parents has paid off.”

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NOVEMBER 2015

CIVILIAN WWII AVIATOR & ALASKA’S FIRST FEMALE HELICOPTER PILOT

NANCY MILLER LIVINGSTON STRATFORD By Jamie Klaes, AACA

Nancy flying in the Bell 47BS helicopter. Photo courtesy of Nancy Livingston Stratford

BORN 1919—Los Angeles, California

ancy Miller Livingston Stratford was the first female helicopter pilot in the state of Alaska and is, perhaps, one of the state’s most decorated aviators. She has over 8,500 flying hours built over a half century, from the 1930s to the late 1970s. She’s piloted Spitfires, Mosquitoes, twins and helicopters, and she has experience in 150 types of aircraft. Born Nancy Miller on June 12, 1919, in Los Angeles, California, she attended L.A. High School where she played various sports and wrote for the school newspaper. The daughter of an Episcopalian minister, Miller attended Occidental College and the University of California, Berkeley, with plans to be a schoolteacher.

AIRCRAFT FLOWN Light Twin-Engine: Oxford, Anson, Dominie Heavy Twin-Engine: Wellington, Lockheed, Hudson A-29, Albemarle, Mitchell B-25, Lockheed Ventura B-34, Hampden, Beaufighter, Blenheim, Warwick, Boston A-20, DeHavilland Mosquito, Douglas C-47/DC-3 Fighters, Fleet Air Arm, Dive Bombers: Seafire (Navy Model, Spitfire), Swodfish, Firefly, Barracuda, Battle, Albacore, Fulmar, Hurricane, Tempest, Typhoon, Seamew, Wild cat (F4F-US), Hellcat (F6F-US), Corsair (F4U-US), Avenger (TBM-US) Observation & Other Types: Lysander, Auster (Taylorcraft), Courier, Defiant, Puss Moth, Stinson, Reliant, Walrus, Sea Otter, Piper J-3 Cub, Fairchild 24 Rotor Craft: Hiller 12B, Hiller 12E, Alouette II

Miller’s first airplane ride was a birthday present from her brother, Dick. On her 16th birthday he gave her the choice of a ride in either an airplane or a Goodyear blimp. The airplane flight was uneventful, with smooth air and shallow turns until the final approach. On short final, the pilot put the airplane into a “slip” to lose altitude rapidly. Miller let out a “whoop” of excitement. It wasn’t until four years later that Miller pursued aviation when she saw an article about the Civilian Pilot Training Program to be given by the government to some 110 young men and 10 young women at the University of California, Berkeley. It consisted of 50 hours of ground school given on Saturday mornings and 35 hours of flight time during the week. The training would lead to a private pilot’s license. Miller was under the age of 21 at the time and needed her father’s permission to apply. Although he counseled her not to do the program, he still signed the permission slip. Miller was one of the 10 women accepted into the program, and she started training in December 1939 at the Oakland Airport. “My grades went down, much to my parents’ disapproval,” Miller said. “But the desire for flying had been instilled in me, and my aviation studies became my first priority. I did not want to fail. It did not come easily, and I had to and did study hard.” Miller completed the first program in May 1940, receiving her Civil Aeronautics Administration Private Pilot rating. She went on to obtain her fixed-wing commercial license and flight instructor ratings in 1941 at the Central Airport in L.A. That assignment was short; Pearl Harbor was attacked two weeks later, on December 7, 1941.

and women from 31 different countries. Formed to ferry military aircraft from British factories to front-line squadrons in Britain, the ATA was made up primarily of a handful of male pilots who were too old or medically unfit for combat flying. The ATA would become Cochran’s inspiration for founding the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP), which served on American soil. Miller found that the WASP pilots did not experience as much equality as the ATA ones did and were typically given less flying and the less desirable trips. In the ATA, the female pilots were fully accepted and given equal opportunities to fly all types of aircraft, as well as receiving equal pay. Eight British women ferried 4-engines as PICs, with a non-pilot flight engineer. “We were based in England and flew aircraft from factories or repair facilities to operating fields and the like within Great Britain. This released the combat pilots from these noncombat but essential flight duties. Contrary to some reports, we did not ferry across the ocean, although we did fly to the Continent after the war ended. I served in this capacity from 1942 to 1945, during which time I flew 50 different types of military aircraft as Pilot in Command. This included 35 types of single-engine and 15 types of multi-engine aircraft. These were mostly British aircraft such as the Hurricane, Spitfire,

Mendenhall Glacier, 1963: Nancy with Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand. Photo courtesy of Nancy Livingston Stratford

THE DESIRE FOR FLYING HAD BEEN INSTILLED IN ME, AND MY AVIATION STUDIES BECAME MY FIRST PRIORITY. The Civilian Pilot Training Program moved inland to Bishop, California (flights in a zone spanning 50 miles from the Pacific coast were restricted), and Nancy continued working as an instructor for the program. At the outbreak of World War II, there were no female pilots in the U.S. military services. In 1942, Jacqueline Cochran, then with “Wings for Britain” recruited Nancy and 23 other American women to join with her in the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) to ferry military aircraft. This was a cosmopolitan group of civilian pilots, including men NOVEMBER 2015

Nancy Miller Livingston Stratford

Mosquito and Wellington, as well as some American aircraft being used by the British such as the P-51 Mustang, B-25 Mitchell, C-47 (DC-3), Lockheed Hudson, F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat, TBM Avenger and F4U Corsair. Lots of variety and great flight experience. In July 1947, Miller earned her helicopter and seaplane ratings. She was the first woman on the West Coast to receive a commercial helicopter rating, the second woman in the United States and the fourth woman in the free world. It was during her helicopter training in the Seattle area that she received one hour of instruction from Carl Brady, Alaska helicopter aviation pioneer and founder of ERA Helicopters, just after he had received his rating. Miller married Arlo Livingston in 1956 and together they founded Livingston Copters in Oregon, flying photo missions, giving sightseeing tours and transporting skiers. In addition to her pilot duties, she served as bookkeeper, administrative assistant and vice president of the company. In the summer of 1959, the U.S. Geological Survey offered Livingston Copters three months of work out of Ketchikan, Alaska. When Arlo returned, he said Alaska was the place for

choppers and that he wanted to move to Juneau the following year. Nancy and Arlo moved to Juneau, Alaska, in July 1960, setting up shop on North Douglas Island. Now Nancy Miller Livingston, she flew Hiller 12E and Alouette II helicopters on photo missions, took passengers on sightseeing tours over the glaciers, flew skiers up the mountains to ski areas and performed a variety of other duties.

SHE WAS THE FIRST WOMAN ON THE WEST COAST TO RECEIVE A COMMERCIAL HELICOPTER RATING, THE SECOND WOMAN IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE FOURTH WOMAN IN THE FREE WORLD. “At the time it wasn’t decent for women to be out in the field two or three months with all these males,” said MillerLivingston. “My flying at that time was in addition to being the

base radio operator, bookkeeper, administrative assistant and vice president of Livingston Copters, Inc. until my retirement in 1977. In the 1950-1960s, they did not encourage women pilots to go out into the field for days on end!” The Livingstons owned and operated Livingston Copters until ERA Helicopters bought the company in late 1977. With Arlo near 70 years of age, he decided to retire, and they moved to Washington state in 1978. After Arlo died, Nancy married Milton Stratford, who is since deceased, and she moved to San Diego, where she now resides. She is one of the original Whirly-Girl members. Her WhirlyGirl number is four; Miller-Livingston-Stratford is a life member of the 99s, Silver Wings and Women in Aviation; and from 1963-65, she was a member of the first Women’s Advisory Committee on Aviation (WACOA). In 2002, the Whirly Girls presented her with a lifetime-achievement award for her contributions over the past 60 years. In 2008, Prime Minister Brown and the British Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport invited Miller-Livingston-Stratford and the other 162 remaining ATA personnel to 10 Downing Street to present the Air Transport

Auxiliary Veterans Badge—a long-overdue award for their wartime service. In March 2015, at the Helicopter Association, Inc. annual convention, Sergei Sikorsky presented her with the Les Morris Award from the Twirly Birds organization, “In recognition of her outstanding contribution to vertical flight as a pioneer helicopter pilot.” Nancy Miller Livingston Stratford reflects on her aviation career, saying: “I hope that our experiences made it a bit easier for the present group of women pilots.”

Nancy stands beside her favorite aircraft, the Spitfire, in England, circa 1943. Photo courtesy of Nancy Livingston Stratford

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THIS WELDER/MECHANIC/PILOT KNEW AIRPLANES INSIDE AND OUT

BOB “JAKE” STEUBAN JACOBS By Lyn Klaes, AACA

IN MEMORIAM 1918–2015 TOTAL FLIGHT HOURS 25,000+ AIRCRAFT FLOWN Bellanca 14-9, J3 Cub, Aeronca Champ, Stearman, PT17, Norseman, Twin Cessna, Cessna 140,170,180, Taylorcraft, Funk B-36 Ford, Super Cruiser, PA12, Twin, Beechcraft C18, Twin Bonanza, AT19, Pilgrim, C46, DC3, DC6, DHC2, DHC3 Otter on floats, Sky Van, Travelair Wasp, Grumman Goose, Widgeon, Norseman, Gullwing Stinson, SR6, Beech Debonair, King Air, Cherokee 6, Fairchild C-82 , C-130 Hercules L110 & L382 Jake sits among boxes of dynamite that were just unloaded from his DeHavilland Beaver at Sagwon on the North Slope of Alaska. Photo courtesy of the Jacobs family

orn March 3, 1918, in Columbus, South Carolina, Bob “Jake” Jacobs launched his aviation career in 1937 while working at a local airfield in New Jersey. By 1938, Jacobs fulfilled the requirements for an A&E mechanics license and then began private pilot lessons in New Castle, Delaware. Bellanca Aircraft Company in New Jersey hired Jacobs in its production department as a spot welder. They sent him to welding school and then to the University of Wisconsin’s Forestry School to learn about wood used in aircraft construction. But with the commencement of World War II, Bellanca’s priorities changed and they geared up for sheet metal work and the construction of Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress, a four-engine, propeller-driven heavy bomber and the most sophisticated airplane of the time. Jacobs wasn’t interested in the sheet metal craft and picked up a copy of Alaska Life. He noticed an advertisement looking for qualified mechanics. While waiting to test-fly two aircraft coming off the assembly line, he wrote letters to Alaska Star and Alaska Coastal Airlines. A few months after arriving in Alaska, Jacobs was offered a job with Alaska Star, which later that year became Alaska Airlines. Jacobs recalls: “I was sent as a mechanic all over Alaska by Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines was a real bush airline back then. Their first large airplane was the Lockheed Electra put into service in 1943. In 1944, most air service mail

runs were the only real thing that paid. After some dual flight time and many maintenance rescues, I was hired to fly. There were hardly any airports. Landing at all these villages was mostly skis and floats until 1958.” Jacobs began flying the mail run out of Nome in a Piper J-3 Cub and then the Stearman. His first flight was June 1945 from Golovin to Nome. That August, his Cub flight log read: “Engine failure, forced landing on tundra, turned the ship up on its back.”

THERE WERE HARDLY ANY AIRPORTS. LANDING AT ALL THESE VILLAGES WAS MOSTLY SKIS AND FLOATS UNTIL 1958. In the summer of 1959, Interior Airways hired Jacobs to base out of Fairbanks and fly the DEW (Distant Early Warning) sites with food and other supplies. The DEW radar system was constructed along Alaska’s north shore to guard against Soviet planes invading U.S. air space during the Cold War. Then, during the summer of 1961, Jacobs flew for Frontier

Flying Service out of Fairbanks in the twin beech to Clear Air Force Station several times a day. During the winter of 1962, he flew for Vegas Airways out of Torrance, California. Once spring came, he returned to Alaska and flew for Interior Airways in the Norseman resupplying camps from Umiat to Point Barrow and Barter Island. Jacobs enjoyed photography, and after completing a photography course and cruising the Caribbean, he returned to Alaska and courted the love of his life, Neville Abbott. In 1968, Jacobs and Abbott married and made their home in downtown Fairbanks, where they resided for 50 years together.

sense of conditions that saw him safely through the years. Until 1985, Jacobs flew C-130 Hercules all over the world, including Africa, Great Britain and Canada while delivering all types of loads including a ski lift to Switzerland. Jacobs died earlier this year, on August 13, 2015, and will be remembered as a true bush pilot and pioneer legend of aviation in Alaska.

In 1968-1971, Jacobs was based at Sagwon, where Interior Airways staged a fleet of airplanes. He enjoyed flying Widgeons and the deHavilland Beaver on floats and skis to support geologists during north slope oil exploration. The variety of challenges Jacobs endured in rural Alaska with passengers and delivering mail ended. He left bush flying and, while recovering from his last bush flight, he studied for his C-130 certificate. He was a member of the Quiet Birdmen (QBs) and was respected by those who knew and flew with him for his extraordinary memory of details of the land, knowledge of the elements and keen

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Bob Jacobs getting some help loading some drill pipe into an Interior Airways DeHavilland Beaver. Photo courtesy of the Jacobs family

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NOVEMBER 2015

FROM ALASKA OIL MAN TO FOUNDING PILOT OF KENAI AVIATION

ROBERT “BOB” BIELEFELD By Rob Stapleton

ith 42,000 hours of logged time, mostly in the Cook Inlet region, Bielefeld made his living flying oil company executives and drill rig crews across the Cook Inlet and back and forth from Kenai to Anchorage. Trained in California as an oil well driller, Bielefeld moved to Alaska to work in the oil fields of the Kenai Peninsula and upper Cook Inlet. He didn’t expect to become one of Alaska’s aviation legends when he joined Kenai Aviation in 1961. Coming to Alaska Bielefeld was born in Anaheim, California, in 1931 and got his start in the oil business after graduating from Anaheim High School. He joined the Navy in 1949, and after a year of service, he enrolled in Orange Coast College where he studied petroleum technology for two years. He worked all over California and became interested in flying while he was working on a drill rig project in northern California near an airport. He eventually earned his private license in Chico, California, and purchased a Piper Tri-Pacer. “I was trained as an oil man and came to Alaska from Anaheim, California, where I was working,” said Bielefeld. “It never occurred to me to fly for a living until I ferried some gas line guys to a location during the time we were laying the Kenai gas line.” Though he really wanted to stay in the drilling business, and worked in the Swanson River oilfields from 1959 through 1961, oil company representatives started hiring him to fly them across the Inlet, and he transitioned into aviation full time. In addition, the thought of being away from his wife, Norma, and their children, Jim and Julia, for weeks at a time weighed heavily on his decision to change careers. Starting Kenai Aviation With his Piper Tri-Pacer, Bob started the flying business in earnest in 1962. He received his commercial license that year in Anchorage and immediately became a certified flight instructor. “I had my Piper Tri-Pacer here and started flying commercial with it and a Piper Comanche,” Bielefeld explained.

Photo by Rob Stapleton

BORN 1931—Anaheim, California AIRCRAFT FLOWN Ercoupe Piper Colt Tri-Pacer Comanche Super Cub Navajo Chieftain Beechcraft Twin Bonanza Beechcraft Queen Air Cessna 172 Cessna 206s

IT NEVER OCCURRED TO ME TO FLY FOR A LIVING UNTIL I FERRIED SOME GAS LINE GUYS TO A LOCATION DURING THE TIME WE WERE LAYING THE KENAI GAS LINE.

“We bought that 206 new and worked it flying crews to and from Anchorage and across the Inlet for places like Beluga, Tyonek, Trading Bay and Drift River,” Bielefeld said. He says that the first yellow 206 that he bought new in 1966 and paid for in two years is probably his favorite of them all.

Bob with a Piper Comanche in the early days of the flight operations. Bielefeld eventually sold the plane which was not suited for the type of flying he was doing around the Cook Inlet. Photo courtesy of Kenai Aviation

“I remember when I first came here we had crank telephones. When we started the business it was located on the other side of the old runway.” Bielefeld reminisces about the early days around Kenai and remembers when they built the Kenai Aviation office where they currently operate. “We built this office 30 years ago on a 50-year lease and my son Jim will have to extend the lease to the city in the future,” he said. According to Bielefeld, the Federal Aviation Administration gave the city of Kenai 1,300 acres and any sale of the land would go to the airport for development. For business development, Bielefeld used his knowledge of the oil fields and his contacts on the North Slope during his days of flying before the Prudhoe Bay discovery. During that time, the Navy was working on shutting down rigs that had been drilled in 1952 on the Navy Petroleum Reserve and needed transportation. “We were flying into areas where the oil was just coming right out of the ground near the Coleville River, now called Kuparuk,” he said. While most of the company’s flying has been for the oil industry, there have also been sideline contracts for the State of Alaska and the local school districts. Charter work included transporting Kenai Peninsula youth to Anchorage for placement in McLaughlin Youth Center, as well as work with Alascom. Bielefeld also starred in an Alascom TV commercial at one point. “I would fly into the villages on the west shore of the Cook Inlet and people would look at me and say, ‘I know you. You are the guy on the TV commercials,’” Bielefeld remembered. The Kenai Aviation fleet Bielefeld says that his favorite aircraft is the one that he is flying at the time, and added that he has flown many aircraft owned by pilots he was instructing. In 1966, he decided to buy a new Cessna 206.

Memorable flights As a career commercial pilot in Alaska, he admitted there were a few flights that still stand out: Cold Bay, the Pribilofs, Pennsylvania to Kenai and many on the North Slope. “At the time I didn’t think much about it, but later it dawned on me how this could have turned out,” he said of one explosives charter flight. “I got a charter from Kenai to Ventura, California, to take a load of explosive drilling eggs down there for the Schlumberger Oilfield Service Company. They couldn’t be shipped any other way and I had experience with them from my oil field days.” “I had to have written permission to land at every airport along my flight path. This also required a letter in hand from each airport and permission from the Department of Transport to fly through and land in Canada.”

WE WERE FLYING INTO AREAS WHERE THE OIL WAS JUST COMING RIGHT OUT OF THE GROUND… It was a long and complicated flight in a Cessna 206 in December—but a lucrative one, according to Bielefeld. “That was quite a flight…all the way down the coast with a load of dynamite behind me,” he said. Later, to supplement his commercial flying, Bielefeld purchased a smaller and more economical Piper Colt from the Piper factory in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, to be used for flight instruction. “That was quite a trip from Lock Haven to California and then to Kenai,” Bielefeld said. “The trip took 80 hours total.” He added that the aircraft came new for $5,225 with radio, speed fairings, tie-down rings and all the extras. Becoming an FAA examiner to retirement According to his logbooks, Bielefeld has given over 400 pilots licenses as a flight examiner. He ultimately gave up his designated pilot examiner position on the Kenai Peninsula due to an increase in charter work that required flying on demand, though. NOVEMBER 2015

Robert “Bob” Bielefeld

For his exemplary career, Bielefeld was honored by the FAA in its national database for his contribution to aviation safety by his example. An FAA press release from September 2013 reads: “Kenai-based pilot sets positive example. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is recognizing Robert Theodore Bielefeld with inclusion in the prestigious FAA Airmen Certification Database. This database names Bielefeld and other certified pilots who have met or exceeded the high educational, licensing and medical standards established by the FAA.” Bielefeld stopped flying five years ago to concentrate on beating cancer by undergoing weekly treatments. He remains director of Kenai Aviation while his son Jim serves as chief executive officer.

One of Kenai Aviation’s Cessna 206s in flight over Cook Inlet. Photo courtesy of Kenai Aviation

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LOWELL THOMAS JR. By Lyn Klaes, AACA

owell Thomas Jr. began his world travels at a young age; he was born on October 6, 1923, while his parents, Frances Ryan and Lowell Thomas Sr., toured London and lectured on the elder Thomas’ latest book, With Lawrence in Arabia. At only a few months old, the younger Thomas crossed the Atlantic Ocean returning to the United States on board the Adriatic, a White Star Ocean Liner. During the return trip home to Long Island, New York, they encountered the winter storm of 1924 that rocked the ocean liner and the Thomas family. Thomas slept peacefully in his parents’ suite, tightly tucked into a small basket, unaffected by the howling winds and gigantic waves. Thomas’s life has been exciting: Piloting a Cessna 180 around the world, flying with Pygmies in Africa, joining Charles Lindbergh over the Chugach, being an Episcopal bishop statewide, observing on a famous pole-to-pole expedition and flying hundreds of mountain climbers on and off Denali. He has authored three books, Flight to Adventure: Alaska and Beyond, Out of this World: Across the Himalayas to Forbidden Tibet and The Silent War in Tibet. And with his father, he co-authored Famous First Flights that Changed History. He is also an avid filmmaker, who cut his teeth on filming as well as flying in Alaska. As an observer on the 1965 Pole Cat flight around the world, which traveled a total of 26,230 miles, Thomas and five other pilots flew over both poles in a record flight time of 51 hours and 27 minutes in a Boeing 707-320G. All five pilots took a

BORN 1923—London, UK AIRCRAFT FLOWN AT-10 Boeing Stearman B-25 Mitchell Bomber Boeing C40 Stinson Voyager Cessna-180 “Charlie” Helio Courier Turbocharged Cessna 207 Turboprop

Tay and Lowell Thomas Jr. preparing for their trip around the world flight in a Cessna 180 they referred to as “The Flight to Adventure.” Photo courtesy of the Thomas family

turn at the controls and to further the adventurous flight, Thomas, a member of the Explorers Club, did a live radio broadcast over the South Pole.

THOMAS AND FIVE OTHER PILOTS FLEW OVER BOTH POLES IN A RECORD FLIGHT TIME OF 51 HOURS AND 27 MINUTES. Aside from an illustrious career in aviation, Thomas served in the Alaska State Legislature for eight years and served a term as lieutenant governor of Alaska during the Hammond administration. During his time in the State Senate, he introduced legislation to create the 495,000-acre Chugach State Park.

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But legislation for Chugach State Park was not his only legislative achievement, as he also helped curtail bounty hunting for wildlife in Alaska. In this pursuit Thomas had an unlikely ally, pioneer long-distance pilot Charles Lindbergh, who was appalled by the notion of using aircraft to hunt wildlife. When Lindbergh heard that prospects for Thomas’s bill were bleak, he volunteered to help. Within days, Lindbergh was in Juneau, addressing the Legislature and the governor, which triggered an editorial in the Anchorage Daily News the next day. Ultimately, the Legislature scrapped aerial and ground bounty hunting. Two years later, Thomas flew Lindbergh over the Chugach and Kenai mountains, landing on several glaciers in the process. After Thomas had served eight years as a state legislator, Jay Hammond asked him to run for lieutenant governor. “Hammond was such a good cause, I had to jump in with

HAMMOND WAS SUCH A GOOD CAUSE, I HAD TO JUMP IN WITH BOTH FEET. HAMMOND CARED DEEPLY ABOUT ALASKA’S NATURAL WILDERNESS VALUES. both feet. Hammond cared deeply about Alaska’s natural wilderness values,” Thomas said. The two were elected in 1974, by a narrow margin, on a platform to conserve the environment and preserve the state for future generations. As lieutenant governor, Thomas was in charge of the Alaska Growth Policy Council. Upon earning a commercial pilot license in 1981, Thomas became a majority owner of Talkeetna Air Taxi along with Doug Geeting. That year, there were 600 climbers and each learned a healthy respect for Denali as they experienced subzero temperatures, blizzards and high winds, even during summer. At 20,310 feet, Denali, formerly known as Mt. McKinley, is North America’s highest peak. Denali’s position on the boundary between the North Pacific/Bering Sea and Arctic/Continental weather systems means that bad weather can come from two directions and sometimes all at once, creating conditions that can change quickly. Weather proved a never ending problem, especially at base camp where the

Charles Lindbergh assisted Lowell Thomas Jr. by addressing the addition of the Chugach State Park, and the opposition of bounty hunting for animals in Alaska. Here they are looking over a Helio Courier aircraft similar to the one used by Thomas and donated to the Alaska Aviation Museum. Photo courtesy of the Thomas family

snow could be crusty ice or wet cement. Occasionally they had to snowshoe and stamp down a takeoff area in front of the plane and sometimes during touchdown a ski would tear off or the tail ski would break through the crust. The dangers of mountain flying were a large part of its appeal. Only experience taught Thomas how to read nature’s warning signs. When Thomas is pressed about his flying record and how he remained unscathed from five forced emergency landings, he says he has never damaged an airplane or injured a passenger, “which I mostly attribute to good luck and the good Lord. Probably the closest I ever came to disaster was searching for the Denali climber, Naomi Uemura. Denali’s challenge was to read its moods and know when to fly or not to fly. Poor visibility with clouds, snow and fog were common. But the greatest threat was from downdrafts strong enough to toss a plane thousands of feet up and down.” Thomas flew two photographers to follow Naomi Uemura’s solo winter ascent. The trio made their last radio contact after spotting him between the clouds, in his red snow suit,

at 17,200 feet. In a search effort for Uemura 10 days later, at -20 degrees Fahrenheit, Thomas climbed more than 20,000 feet, checking the conditions on the north side of the peak. The air was smooth and there were no signs of downdrafts or snow blowing off the ridges, just a gentle 5-10 knot north wind. “Abruptly, the bottom fell out,” recalls Thomas, “The plane and I went into a freefall. Stuff in the back that wasn’t tied down went floating in the air. I hit my head on the ceiling despite my tight seat belt. Papers and pencils went soaring. Never have I experienced such a downdraft. The engine continued to turn while I wrestled with the controls to keep us right-side up. In less than thirty seconds I dropped 6,000 feet to 14,000 feet. That was an incredible rate of descent. It was an aerial Niagara Falls. How lucky for me that the plane’s momentum carried me away from McKinley’s face. Naomi Uemura’s fate will forever be a mystery.” There is the saying, “Alaska has old pilots and bold pilots, but no old, bold pilots,” for good reason: Alaska’s weather is hostile and fickle and until recently, navigational aids were scarce and unreliable. But Thomas’s aviation career is a single exception. As a pilot spanning six decades, Thomas spent nearly 20 years flying Denali, one of the world’s most challenging aviation environments, without an accident. Thomas’s expertise was recognized when Tom Wardleigh of the Alaska Aviation Safety Foundation invited him to speak before a pilot group at a seminar about mountain flying. Thomas recently donated his 1960 Helio Courier, currently on display, to the Alaska Aviation Museum in Anchorage, where his books are available for purchase.

The Helio Courier flown by Lowell Thomas Jr. in the Alaska Range’s Ruth Amphitheater, in the shadow of Mt. Denali. Photo courtesy of the Thomas family NOVEMBER 2015

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