Description
"…some of the most fascinating stories ever to come out of Alaska….gripping tales of early bush flying…the colorful story of one of the great early pilots" –Lowell Thomas, Jr."…a superb portrait of flying when pilots were as tough as their professional environment." –Ernest K. GannPioneering Alaskan aviator Jack Jefford shares a lifetime of gripping rescues, white-knuckle crackups, and wild adventures that come from flying the not always friendly skies of Alaska. Jack Jefford saw his first plane in Nebraska at the age of six, and he was hooked. He soloed at age 21, in Denver, Colorado. In 1937, he accepted a pilot's job in the gold rush town of Nome just south of the Arctic Circle, and left the States for the Territory of Alaska. In three short years, he became the Chief Pilot of the CAA, forerunner of the FAA. He daily faced the dangers of Alaska's skies, helped settle a frontier, and managed to survive long enough to share a lifetime of stories -- delivering mail by plane, hunting coyotes, counting reindeer, transporting prisoners and congressmen, and rescuing the lost and injured, often at great risk to himself. 319 pages.