Yukon Airways
Yukon
Airways recounts the effort of a small-determined group of
bush pilots during the late 1920's and 1930's who created
an air route from Edmonton, Alberta to the Yukon Territory.
A route that with the coming of World War II would be used
by thousands of aircraft being ferried to Alaska as part of
America's Lend-Lease Program to supply the Russian war
machine with fighting aircraft.
In many cases barely trained young men, who had virtually
no experience with the remoteness of the vast country over
which they had to fly, flew these aircraft and this
resulted in frequent mishaps. Along this route through the
wilderness the U.S. engineers and their contractors created
a series of over twenty-five airfields and emergency
airstrips, which were located in proximity to the highway
itself.
After the construction of the
Alaska Highway and with the North West Staging Route in
full operation the need for a readily available supply of
fuel was obvious. Acting on an agreement made in August
1940 between Canada’s Prime Minister Mackenzie King and
United States President Franklin Delano. Roosevelt. The U.
S. Army Engineers started a survey and later the
construction of an oil pipeline from Norman Wells in
Canada’s North West Territory to Whitehorse in the Yukon.
Along this route eight small airstrips were constructed to
quickly provide needed personnel and supplies.
YUKON AIRWAYS tells the story of the determination,
tenacity and ingenuity of these bush pilots and their
engineers and recounts the hardships faced by the airman of
the U.S. Army Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force
who came to this wilderness during World War II.
At almost 400 pages in length it includes well over 500
photographs, illustrations and maps.
Yukon Airways
Air Pilot Navigator (Volume Five)
Chris Weicht.
Creekside Publications. (2007)
ISBN: 978-1-4251-4773-0