Arts and Entertainment

Photos: Arctic Flight: A Century of Alaska Aviation

Celebrating one hundred years of Alaskan aviation history, the exhibit includes such artifacts as the 1928 Stearman C2B from the Anchorage Aviation Museum (which was dismantled and transported up three flights for display) that Harold Gillam flew in the search for Ben Eielson and Russ Merrill's first Alaskan pilot's license.

While there are biographical sketches on a hundred bush pilot "legends" offered, the focus is more on the actual work accomplished by aviators in the state rather than tales of glory. As curator Julie Decker explained to me recently, this perspective was by design.

"We are trying to tell how the airplane changed life on the ground; on the goods and services that have been dependent on the airplane and how that is part of Alaskan life."

Full story: 'Arctic Flight' at Anchorage Museum

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