Lars Opland lives in Wasilla,Alaska and we started exchanging emails when I asked around on the internet for info Mirow Air Services and the Stinson; soon Lars started to send interesting images, some of them I would like to share here.
His collection includes images from his Grandpa's album, scanned images from the the Museum of Alaska Transportation & Industry, the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum, Ted Spencer's Alaska Aviation Historical Institute, & more...

Another fine shot from the Juneau waterfront.
"Here's "Nugget" from another angle while we're at it; another scan from Ted Spencer. NC47M was not a "typical" Vega floatplane at this point, fitted with non-standard engine, cowling & floats".
Photo: courtesy of Ted Spencer, Alaska Historical Aircraft Society

"Ted Spencer uses the name, Alaskan Historical Aircraft Society, though he now lives in California. I am sure he won't mind us using the photos he has provided as long as he gets proper credit: "Photo courtesy of Ted Spencer, Alaska Historical Aircraft Society". He used to be Director at the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum at Lake Hood. he and jim Ruotsala shared a lot of research."

Hans Mirow, as identified on back of photo from Museum of Alaska Transportation & Industry archives. Except he isn't, Mirow's granddaughter says that's Jack Jefford... (But I have doubts as Jefford had a moustache for most of his adult life, gathering from the photos in "Winging It", the book about Jack Jefford
THE ANSWER TO THIS CAN BE READ FURTHER BELOW-Webmaster)

Dave Moody volunteered following information: "I didn't think it was Hans Mirow in the picture either. I got this same picture from Lars and questioned it. And when walking through the Anchorage airport, I looked at their historical collection, they have several pictures of old aviators.
So I came to the conclusion his name is Ed Young. I'm sure of it!" (See also Sharon Penprase' reaction further below).
Also the following reaction confirms the person to be Jack Jefford: "I agree with Hans Mirow's granddaughter. That is Jack Jefford in a rare photo of him without his mustache. He was my uncle!
I am from Nome, where my mother (his sister) and grandmother (Jack's mother) raised me.
I'll look back through some of the old family photos and see if I can find another without his moustache.
Haven't seen this one before."
Dean Alexander Brown

In an essay, published on the internet, about Alaska Aviation, I came across the name Ed Young:
"Alaskan aviation matured quickly in 1929. The early barnstormers had had incredible luck walking away from crash after crash, but in 1929, all that changed. In September of 1929, Russell Merrill departed on a flight from Anchorage to the Nyac mine near Bethel. He was never seen again. On November 9,1929 Ben Eielson was lost while enroute to Siberia. Ed Young was killed when his Fairchild 71 crashed at Livengood. The last to find his fate was Ralph Wien. On October 12, 1930, Wien crashed at Kotzebue killing him and two priests."

Hans Mirow

Some mention of Hans Mirow is made on the page concerning Lockheed Vega 5B NC162W: "...sold it on September 19, 1935 to Hans Mirow of Nome, AK to be flown on skis for charter work in Alaska. It suffered its second accident at Nome on April 28, 1936. It was completely rebuilt by Northwest Air Service in Seattle, WA as of August 1936.
Mr. Mirow died in 1940 and the aircraft was licensed in the name of Mirow Air Service, Madeline Mirow, Executor, Nome, AK."
Mirow Air Service: more info welcomed

Stinson A Tri-motor NC15165 on Airliners.net

Photo of NC16154

The caption reads: "One of the Stinson Tri-motors, Nome, Alaska
Chartered by Reindeer Acquisition Unit for 3 months, Mirow Air Service, Nome, Alaska"

Although it is hard to read I think I can make a serial on the tailsection: 16154

Photo (c) Lars Opland Collection

Stinson Tri-Motor NC15109 (c/n 9109) of Alaska Airlines.
Photo: Museum of Alaska Transportation & Industry archives.

"One of Alaska Star Airlines' aircraft (ca. 1944?) either just before, or just after Alaska Star changed its corporate name to Alaska Airlines, Inc.
NC15109 was an ex-American Airlines Stinson A"
From: www.EdCoatescollection.com

"NC162W appears in the MATI archives first among the many beautiful photos of the William Fike Collection.
Mr. Fike was an Alaska Star Airlines pilot through the early 1940's and he took many B&W and color photos of the aircraft in use at the time. Star's only Vega appears often among these."

Lockheed Vega 5B NC162W (c/n 128) was involved in an accident, without fatalities, on 08Feb44, no details.

Lockheed Vega 5B, S/N 128 (ATC 227) manufactured July 1930 by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, CA. It came with a Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine (S/N 3200) of 450HP. It was a seven-place aircraft. It was named "Shell No. 6". More...

Photo right:
- Lars Opland Collection -
NC162 while in service with Mirow Air Service.

"This one I found in the William Fike Collection. Not sure if this is colorized, but a fine portrait. "

Photo: courtesy Ted Spencer collection.

Photos: Museum of Alaska Transportation & Industry

Schematics

More info:
Lockheed Orion 9

Photo: Bill Fike's color photography, from MATI archives

The Bellanca CH-200 was a six-place single-engine light transport that first flew in 1928. Continuous improvement and more powerful engines resulted in several model numbers. The Bellanca CH-300 was nicknamed "the Pacemaker".
Here is more: http://www.shanaberger.com/bellanca_ch400.htm
The story of Pacemaker NC251M is much longer than NC259M's because this one still exists. It was originally owned by Inter-Island Airways of Hawaii and I am not certain when NC251M was brought to Alaska.
But I have no photographic documentation of it in Star livery that much predates 1940.
Here it is with Inter-Island Airways, circa 1930 (web download, origin unknown). [The image was photoshopped].

That "Skyrocket" featured on the Shanaberger website is at the Virginia museum allright, but it has been altered to resemble the Bellanca WB-2 "Columbia" and so it isn't a good representative of anything, but itself! Websites that use this sort of thing as representative bug the crap out of me.
Here is a really fine Bellanca website and replica:
www.spiritofwenatchee.org
"Miss Veedol" is/was a Bellanca J-300 Long Distance Special, but these folks did a good job of getting it right and have posted some very good documentation on various pages.
There are also very fine photos of both the replica and the original on different pages. Other websites often misidentify "Miss Veedol" as a CH-400 or a Skyrocket or both (probably because of the big rudder, which was never an identification feature), and I have spent some time getting them to correct the info because it causes problems for customers trying to order the right kit. Some are happy to fix it and some never reply...

Another photo of Pacemaker NC259M in true Alaskan setting:

Here is the earliest Star livery I have for NC251CM, from MATI archives.
Can anybody identify either of these fellows? The one in boots, jodhpurs & parka has "pilot" written all over him...

Duane McEwen wrote me in Jan.2007:
"You asked about identification of the two men standing by the Bellanca NC251M. I am going to guess that the one on the right in the high lace-up boots might be Jack Jefford. Jefford was a well known early day Alaska pilot who came to Alaska from Nebraska in 1937 to fly for Mirow Air Service out of Nome. He flew for them until 1940, when he became a pilot for the CAA in Anchorage. He was a very well know CAA/FAA pilot until he retired in 1972. He died in 1979.
He wrote a book titled "Winging It!" Actually, he told the stories in the book into a tape recorder, and after he died his daughter and son-in-law transcribed the tape recorded stories into a book. The subtitle of the book is: "His own story by Jack Jefford, pioneer Alaskan aviator".
I am guessing that the person in the photo may be him because: dark hair, relatively tall (although obviously the shorter of the two in the photo.) He lists his height in his book as six feet, and his weight as 180 lbs. The parka is very similar to one that he was photographed in several times. He later had a pencil thin moustache, but that photo may be earlier. (Of course, it may not be him at all, my guess may be totally wrong!)"

"My father-in-law went to work for the CAA as a radio operator at Cape Yakataga, Alaska in 1947. He brought his family with him from Wenatchee, WA to Cape Yakataga. They rode from Seattle, WA to Juneau, Alaska on a Pan American Airways DC-4, and from Juneau to Anchorage on an Alaska Airlines DC-3. From Anchorage to Cape Y, they rode in a CAA DC-3, the King Chris, with Jack Jefford as pilot...
My wife made the trip with her parents as a small infant. King Chris was the first DC-3 owned by the Alaskan Region of the CAA. The name plate from the King Chris was in the aviation museum in Anchorage in the late 90s, and may still be there.
The full reference for the book is: Winging It! His own story by Jack Jefford, pioneer Alaskan aviator, Edited by Carmen Jefford Fisher and Mark Fisher with Clifford Cernick. Rand McNally and Co. Chicago, 1981. ISBN 0-528-81111-8.
The book has many good Alaskan flying stories, several of which are about Hans Mirow, his flying service, and his airplanes.
I spent over 30 years in Alaska before I retired and came south. I sure miss that place and those days!"
Duane McEwen
Lynden, WA

NC251M worked for Kenmore Air in Washington in the 1950's and then went into private hands.
At one point it was written off and lost its original tailnumber., before this photo was taken; after rebuilt it became NC1024S because NC251M had been assigned to a Mitsubishi MU-2 back in the 1960s, while the Bellanca languished as an apparent pile of junk behind a barn. But the turbo twin has since been written off, been "cosmetically restored" and now graces a display pylon at Tulsa Airport... John Pike overcame considerable bureaucratic difficulty and restored the original registration to his Bellanca, in about 2003.

Here is more information on the Bellanca Pacemaker. However, (on this website) the Wright J-6E or 975E was an upgrade from the original lower-compression J-6/975. On the original power plant, the exhaust exits out the front of the cylinder head, while on the E-version the exhaust port is out the side of the head and all the elbows reach in between the cylinders.

Starting about 1936, A new logo appeared; a cream & dark blue "Kremlin Star". NC168N didn't have it yet in 1936, but sported the whole scheme for a color motion picture footage of operations on floats from the frozen, snow-covered surface of Lake Spenard in 1940 (color image from AAHM archives)

Wrecked without loss of life in Rainy Pass in 1946, NC168N's remains have been recovered and reside at the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum.

To make things clear: the Pacemaker is the Bellanca CH-300. There was a CH-200, but it was not called a "Pacemaker" and is visibly different.
CH-200 (simply called "Bellanca CH" on the tail here, I can make out NC2246 or NC2248 or NC2245...), the first Bellanca design certified as a commercial passenger carrier, with Wright J-5 engine (early CH-300 Pacemakers also had the bow-legged landing gear).

Greg Hamilton wrote me in Jan.2011 about NC224x:
"I think your NC224x Bellanca CH is probably NC224E (Echo) s/n 121.
See http://www.dmairfield.org/airplanes/NC224E/index.html
I think Bellanca CH is how Bellanca was described on registration."

Harold Gillam, one of Alaska most notorious bush pilots, went missing on a flight from Seattle to Ketchikan on Jan. 5, 1943.
Born in 1903 in Illinois and raised in Nebraska, Gillam joined the Navy as a teen, served in the Pacific and mustered out in Seattle. While there he learned of construction opportunities in Alaska and came north in 1923. His career in aviation developed here, while he worked at Weeks airfield in Fairbanks. It was Gillam, as a trainee flying alone, who found Carl Ben Eielson's crashed plane in Siberia in 1930.
Gillam had a reputation as an inordinate risk-taker, not a useful approach in flying small aircraft. He had six crashes in a little over six months flying out of Cordova to Kennecott in 1931.
In early 1943, Gillam flew for Morrison-Knudson, one of the major contractors handling military construction in Alaska during World War II. Piloting a twin-engine Lockheed Electra, he flew from Seattle on Jan. 5 that year, carrying five passengers, intending to refuel at the Annette Island air base near Ketchikan. Probably because of confusion over the heading of the radio beam from the Annette Island tower, Gillam flew into the top of a mountain on the mainland not far from the base.
Everyone survived the initial impact, but a woman aboard died within two days. The other four passengers managed to descend the mountain to the shoreline where they were rescued a month later. Gillam had separated from the others, made his way to the shore and had tied up makeshift visual markers to guide air or sea rescuers. Unfortunately, he had apparently broken through ice on a stream and likely died from exposure. He is buried in Fairbanks,Alaska.
He was noted for his daring as a bush flier, but his career also serves as a poignant reminder of the need for prudence and meticulous attention to detail when flying the Alaska wilderness.
There are two recent biographies: Arnold Griese, "Bush Pilot" and Ken Eichner, "Nine Lives of an Alaska Bush Pilot".
From: www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8545154p-8437939c.html

NC711Y is also featured on my webpage dedicated to Phil Smith's collection

A photo of Pilgrim NC711Y was sent to me in March 2007 and is included on my page Photos by Friends and Guests, page 7

G-CARM on floats at Juneau, just prior to the 1939 crash.

© Photo from the Jim Ruotsala collection, courtesy of Ted Spencer.

JAMES "JIM" RUOTSALA (1934 - 2007) is considered by many to be Alaska’s foremost aviation historian; he has combined his collection of photographs with others and researched aviation in the Alaska Panhandle during the early part of the twentieth century. His books include 'Alaskan Wings' and 'Pilots of the Panhandle'.
Ruotsala was born in Juneau on Feb. 17, 1934. He fell in love with flying at the age of 9, when he would spend his days at a hangar now known as Hangar on the Wharf. He wrote more than 80 published articles, had a collection of about 3,000 aviation photographs and a self-published book that won him a Denali Award.
During his 42 years in the military, including service with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army Reserve, he received 21 medals and numerous letters of commendation. He remained active for many years as the commander of the 1st Civil Support Battalion, Alaska State Defense Force in Southeast.
After his military career, he became divisional manager at P.F. Collier in Honolulu for 11 years. He spent some time in Anchorage as marketing director for Air Alaska before returning to Juneau in 1991.
Source: www.juneauempire.com

Peck & Rice also operated this Stinson T (No, it's not a 'U'; MATI added many incorrect captions) under contract to Morrison-Knudson, during WWII (MATI archives).

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