The following list was taken from the book "Sourdough Sky", a pictorial history of flights and flyers in the Bush Country, by Stephen E. Mills and James W. Phillips (Bonanza Books, 1960). The list concerns a time span of 1923 to 1938.

I would welcome additional information about these carriers (dates, anecdotes, names and places, etc.) and esspecially would welcome photos, thus writing online history on these commercial aviation pioneers. All material will be published with credit to the sender and/or provider.
Other information and photos, such as on early Alaska (or Canadian) carriers not neccessarily in the 1923-1938 time frame, will be welcomed too (including material from privat bush pilots). As long as it can be classified as "historical" and will add to the understanding of bush flying and commercial aviation in Canada and Alaska before, let's say, GPS was invented.

Aho Flying Service	Aircraft Charter Company
Alaska Aerial Transport	Alaska Air Transport
Alaska Coastal Airlines	Alaska Interior Airline
Alaska Inland Airways	Alaska Washington Airways
Alaskan Airways	Anchorage Air Transport
Bennett-Rodebaugh Company Inc	Bethel Airways
Bowman Airways	Bristol Bay Airways
Carlson Air Service	Carr Air Service
Christensen's Flying Service	Cordova Air Service
Dorrance Airways	Ellis Airlines
Fairbanks Airplane Company	Ferguson Flying Service
Gillam Airways	Graham Airways
Gorst Air Transport	Jim Dodson Airways
Ketchikan Airways	Lavery Airways
Lerdahl Flying Service	Lou Brennan Flying Service
Marine Airways	McGhee Airways
Mirow Air Service	Nat Browne Air Service
Northern Air Transport	Northern Air Service
Northern Airways	Northern Cross Airways
Oscar Winchell Flying Service	Pacific Alaska Airways
Pacific International Airways	Peck and Rice Airways
Petersburg Air Service	Petersen Flying Service
Pioneer Airways	Pollack Air Service
Reeve Airways	Roust Airways
Ruoff Bristol Bay Air Service	Sasseen Airways
Service Airways	Star Air Service
Walatka Air Service	White Pass and Yukon Airways
Wien Airways	Woodley Airways (see below)

Mike Browne wrote me in Aug.2005 with details on Nat Browne Air Services:
"Nat (my father) was the 13th of the first 100 bushpilots in Alaska, initially flying out of Valdez, beginning in 1932/33, then moving to Fairbanks, Anchorage, and settling in Bethel in 1935, and, for awhile, was the first pilot to be based there. He flew a Waco YKS, and later, when he was awarded a mail contract for villages along the lower Kuskokwim & Yukon, and to Goodnews Bay, he had a Bellanca Skyrocket and a Stinson Reliant leased from Alaska Airlines. In 1948, he bought one of the first Cessna 170s with fabric wings. He flew year 'round; floats, skis, wheels.

As for cargo; well, he flew anything that could fit in the airplane, including airsick sled dogs.

Employees: He had native help on the ground, and I think Johnny Walatka may have flown with him for awhile. The pilot I remember best was Ray Miller, now dead, who later flew 737s for Wien in the 1960s, and was first officer on the only airliner in Alaska to be hijacked to Cuba. That was in 1968. The hijacking attempt ended when the airliner landed in Vancouver B.C. to refuel, and the highjacker, a disturbed young man with a .22, surrendered to the Canadian authorities. Ray later told my family: "I tried to talk him out of giving himself up. I'd never seen Cuba." Only a bushpilot would think like that.

In the late 40s, when Ray Petersen was organizing Northern Consolidated, Nat's flying service was supposed to be part of the consortium, but the deal fell through for reasons which were never explained to me. Ray had flown out of Bethel for awhile. In 1950, Nat closed the business in Bethel after being awarded a contract to map DEW line radar sites for the then U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey, which was working in concert with the Air Force. Nat bought 14 Super Cubs and was initially based on St. Lawrence Island. He later established his headquarters on Lake Hood. The Air Force/C&GS contract was terminated in 1954 when Rick Helicopters of Anchorage stated it could finish the job in less time. This was at the height of the Cold War and speed was of the essence to the goverment."

The Mar/Apr 2005 issue of Airliners (no.92) featured an article about

Pacific Northern Airlines

, by Branden Young.

Arthur Woodley started this company (1 man, 1 plane) on 10Apr1932 as

Woodley Airways

"Just a note, to add Golden North Airways to the list.
In 1947 I was just a kid and had my first airplane ride from Seattle to Fairbanks in a Lavery Airways DC-3, and when we left in 1950 we flew back to Seattle in a Golden North Airways C-46. I think it took all night and I remember a fuel stop in Yakutat."
Ken Price
Woodland, CA

Aviation Safety Network has an accident report on a Curtiss C-46A Commando at Annette Island,Alaska on 22Feb49; tailnbr unknown.
However, www.aerotransport.org specifies 1 aircraft for the fleet: C-46A N92854 cn250 ex/ USAF 43-47179; but this aircraft is stated to have moved on to Johnson FS.
I would welcome more details, and dates of operation, of this company.

Ward R. Smith wrote:
My Grandfather, Jack Peck, began by starting an airline called Peck & Rice Airlines in the 1930s, which I believe flew mail, passengers, and cargo in and around the Bethel area.
After this he flew for a time for Alaska Airlines, and then started Alaska Aeronautical (AAI), at the same time operating a Cessna dealership out of Lake Hood. This lasted up until the early 1970s when he sold AAI.
More on Jack Peck can be read on Cordova Airlines.

George D. Hanson shares his memories on early Alaska aviation:
My father and brother both worked for some of Alaska's early airlines.
My father, Virgil Hanson, was an early 'avionics' technician, as was my brother Alan.
Dad was responsible for installing and maintaining some of the early navigation stations in Alaska. He worked for McGee, Star and Alaska Airlines as they progressed from McGee to Alaska. He also worked for Pan Am.
Alan worked for Cordova Airlines, then moved to Northern Consolidated which later became Wien.
We lived across from Merrill Field in Anchorage during WW11 and I can still remember some of it, although I was only 5 years old in 1944.
I worked in plumbing & heating and ran the electric utility in Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay) from the mid- 1970's to the late- 1980's.

Links:
See also the early Alaska Aviation photos from Lars Opland's collection and Aviation History by Phil Smith

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