Ted Stevens Int'l, Anchorage, AK, USA - 14/04/2008

Another really hectic day started off with an early morning visit to the am rotation spot. Unfortunately the weather was really grim, but it did provide a very tiny amount of vapour to the take-off shots.

0800 rolled around and we needed to depart for our visit to the AK Air National Guard at Kulis ANGB.

Next on the agenda for the day was a visit to TransNorthern Aviation back at Ted Stevens.

TransNorthern offers charter air services in eight, nine and nineteen passenger aircraft. In addition to passenger services they also offer freight, and combination charters.

Aircraft in use with the operation are a Beech 99, a Fairchild Metro and three Douglas Super DC-3 variants, though our visit was concerned solely with these last three airframes.

N30TN is a C-117D. This example has the distinction of being only the second DC-3S prototype converted by Douglas, in 1949.

Having seen service with Harbert Construction Company, Raytheon Corporation and Bolger Corporation, she took up a new registration with Burdish Grain Company in March 1964.

A couple of years later she was placed on the Mexican register for Banco Mercantil & Supermercado SA. She stayed put for six years until 1972 when she was returned to the US. A further string of operators utilised her services until 1986 when she was acquired by the County Council of Beaufort, SC, to assist with mosquito control.

TransNorthern bought her in 2004.

N851M is a VC-117D. It was delivered to the USN in 1951 as a R4D-6 before being upgraded to R4D-8 and later VC-117D standard.

Between August 1976 and December 1977 it was stored at the then MASDC (Military Aircraft Storage & Disposition Center) at Davis Monthan, AZ, before being purchased by Florida Surplus Property and then passing to Lee County Health Department, Fort Myers, in April 1978, with whom it served, fighting the mosquito population until 1990 when Airpower Inc acquired her. She appeared in Alaska during the spring of 2007.

N28TN is a Douglas R4D-8 that started off life in 1943 as a regular C-47A belonging to the US Army. Shortly afterwards it was transferred to the US Navy as a R4D-5.

After the commercial failure of the 'Super Dakota' program, the US Navy helped Douglas out by buying up production space, and this example was sent for conversion to R4D-8 standard, or C-117D as the type was officially known.

At the end of its military service it spent a very short time on the US civillian register before being bought by Carl Millard of Ontario, Canada where she joined a fleet of C-47s, C-54s and other C-117s on Millards' charge, hauling car parts.

The operation drew to a close in the early-90s and she was bought by Kenn Borek Air for use in Antarctica offering tourist rides.

With the introduction of the Basler Turbo DC-3 on Borek's books, her time was done and she was offered for sale in 2006. It was then that TransNorthern acquired her and aside from a change of titles, she still carries the same colourscheme that she wore whilst working for Borek.

On the end of the ramp was N777YA, a Douglas R4D-6. As with all of the others, this aircraft started off life with the US Army before passing to the US Navy and then on to countless civillian operators, before Woods Air Services withdrew her from service at Palmer and TransNorthern took her on.

Sincere thanks go to Jason for taking time out to give us the tour and the T-shirts!

As we made our way back to the gate we passed by this Asiana Air Cargo Lump, and it would've been rude not to have shot her ;-)

After a quick lunch we headed down to the mound to kill some time before our next appointment. It provided us with our first Cathay A346 movement, and the first flying shots we'd got of the old Asiana scheme.

That next appointment was with the Everts Air Cargo operation at Anchorage, and as with the Fairbanks location, our hosts could not have been more helpful and welcoming.

Present were three of the four DC-6s currently operating from here, "Dumbo", the C-46 and one of the Brasilias.

Meet Dumbo. He may now be a Curtis C-46R Commando, but Dumbo started out life as a C-46A with the USAAF.

Riddle Airlines performed the upgrade to 'R' standard in 1957 and he toured the world as a demonstrator for them.

At some point he headed south and earnt his keep with RANSA, a Venezuelan airline, and Aerovias Alianza in Panama, before being returned to the US in 1968 and taking up residence in Alaska, where he's been since then. Interior Airways and Fairbanks Air Service both operated him until he joined Everts in 1973.

Pete, our host, told us Dumbo was scheduled to fly that evening.

The DC-6s present were N9056R, N251CE and N351CE.

'56R's career to this point had seen it in passenger usage with Canadian Pacific Airlines, Wardair Canada and Pacific Western Airlines, before being converted to an air tanker during its time with Conifair Aviation. That role even prompted it to see service in France with Securite Civile. It joined Tatonduk Outfitters (the parent company of Everts Air Cargo) in 2000 and was stored at Fairbanks for a while, before picking up the mantle hauling freight with Everts Air Cargo.

'251' had been delivered to the USAF in December 1954 and was transferred to the USN in May 1965. She joined the Everts operation in 1985 and has served as both a fuel and a cargo hauler.

'351' was delivered to the USAF in September of 1954 and she served with both the Air Force and the Navy until she was acquired by Everts Air Fuel in March 1989. She moved across to the cargo operation (then known as Air Cargo Express) in 1995.

Sincere thanks go to Pete for the interesting and informative tour.

We figured we may as well give Everts' neighbours, Peninsular Airways (PenAir) a quick knock to see if they could spare us a few minutes to show us their fleet.

A very enthusiastic and knowledgable lady agreed to give us an excellent walkaround of the aircraft on the ramp and a potted history of the company.

From Anchorage they operare a mixed fleet of SAAB 340s and Fairchild Metros, each with a different animal motif painted on the rear quarter of the aircraft.

Away from Anchorage they operate a fleet of smaller aircraft including the Grumman Goose, Piper Saratoga and the Cessna Grand Caravan.

There was a really warm impressive left by Pen. Clearly their roots are important to them. The very aircraft that started it all in 1955, a Taylorcraft, had been bought by the founder's children, restored to flight and given to him as a present. It sat inside their newly built hangar in the warm and protected from the elements.

Back to the mound again before we took an early dinner - no way were we going to miss Dumbo's departure! The moon had also moved around into the ideal position to feature in a couple of shots too.

There was a time where you could've been forgiven for thinking you'd be teleported to Seoul!

After a top notch halibut and chips in "Humpy's" we headed slightly further down from the mound, shooting through the fence in the hope that Dumbo would need to taxi all the way across to us in order to get to the departure end. Sadly he didn't, but it did provide the opportunity to get a slightly different take on rotation shots.

We even had an Alaskan 737 arrive at the 'wrong' end.

But then, the moment we'd been waiting for came to fruition. Dumbo started up and taxied out. He did some engine runs, having sat cold all day, before taxying for the runway 32 departure, and unlike the previous time we'd witnessed it, the pilot kept him much lower. What a sight! Just gorgeous!

And so another awesome day had come and gone.

Sincere thanks to everyone who hosted us. Everyone's so friendly up there!