Links:

• Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum
• Wien Air Alaska Commercials, 1980-1981
• Wien Air Alaska timetable
• AV Web, July 14, 2002 interview with N. Merrill Wien, son of Noel Wien.
• Kent Wien, grandson of Noel Wien
• Anchorage Aviation History and Development
• Weeks Field, Fairbanks, Alaska
• Time article, March 22, 1968, about merger between Wien Alaska and Northern Consolidated Airlines; forming Wien Alaska Airlines.
• Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame

Visit the Library for More Information:

Alaska's libraries include plenty of audio, visual, and written material about the early days of Alaska's aviation history and Noel Wien in particular. Visit your local library or go online to see what's available in holdings all over the state. Take these simple steps:

1. Access SLED (State Library Electronic Doorway) at http://sled.alaska.edu/library.html. Click on the listing for ALNCat (the Alaska Library Network Catalog) to view the Basic Search window.
2. Go to the Keyword field, and type in ALASKA AVIATION HISTORY or NOEL WIEN.

More Reading:

Harkey, Ira. Noel Wien: Alaska Pioneer Bush Pilot. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1999. Originally published as Pioneer Bush Pilot: The Story of Noel Wien. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1974.

McAllister, Bruce. Wings Above the Arctic: A Photographic History of Arctic Aviation. Boulder, Colo.: Roundup Press, 2002.

Mondor, Colleen Catherine. Just One More Dead Pilot: An Exploration of the Causes of Pilot Error Accidents among Alaskan Air Taxi Operators. Thesis/dissertation, 1999.

Potter, Jean Clark. The Flying North. Toronto, London: Bantam, 1983, 1947.

Stevens, Robert W. Alaskan Aviation History. Des Moines, Wash.: Polynyas Press, 1990.

Archival Materials:

Alaska Transportation Museum Photograph Collection, 1905-1970. John W. Klingbeil. Alaska State Library. Collection includes about 725 black-and-white photographs with images of pilots, airplanes, airplane accidents, airports, airlines and railroads. The collection contains an image of Irene Ryan, first woman to solo in Alaska. Approximately 125 images are mounted on museum boards, as they were received, and are not numbered. Many images are not Alaskan. John W. Klingbeil photographed some of the images.

Sam O. White Photograph Collection, 1922-1960. Alaska State Libraray. Collection includes 95 black-and-white images.Many of the views in this collection were used to illustrate Sam White's story of his work in Alaska, serialized in the ALASKA SPORTSMAN magazine from Dec. 1964 through Nov. 1965. Most depict airplanes and villages in interior Alaska. Other subjects include Alaska Game Commission personnel and offices, airplane crashes, bush planes and bush pilots, the Wien brothers (Merrill, Sig and Noel) and Alaskan localities.

Video:

Wings of Wien, 1924-1999. Dee Hanson. VHS tape (21 min.) Alaska: Takotna Video Production, 1999.

Hit the Road Alaska. David Moore Huntley; David Lyons. VHS tape (ca. 100 min.) New York: A & E Television Networks; Sudbury, MA: Moore Huntley Productions, 2004. Nine segments covering major events in Alaskan history: Vitus Bering Expedition; Henry Tureman Allen's Alaska Exploratory Expedition of 1885, which traversed and mapped a significant portion of the interior of Alaska including the Copper, Tanana, and Koyukuk rivers; the Chilkoot Trail and the Klondike Gold Rush; Nome and the 1925 diphtheria serum dogsled run; the Alaska Highway; the Aleutians Campaign in World War II; Good Friday Alaska earthquake of 1964; Trans-Alaska Pipeline; bush pilots and aviation in Alaska.

Audio:

Sounds of Alaska. Volume 1, 1950s. Narrated by Frank Brink. Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Library and Archives. LP recording, 33-1/3 rpm, mono. Anchorage, Alaska: Frank Brink Productions, Ltd.; New York: Capitol Records, Custom Services Department. Includes sound recordings of George Ahgupuk, Eskimo artist; Anchorage; Tex Noey. Fairbanks; gold panning; mining; Cap Lathrop. Nome, gold rush city; sourdoughs; Jules Gunderson; Tony Polet. Dog mushers; world's greatest musher, Leonhard Seppala; "Nome Sweepstakes;" "Serum Run of 1925"; Earl Norris. Alaskan bush pilots; Jack Jefford crash and rescue; Noel Wien: the daring flight; Archie Ferguson: "make smoke." Kotzebue; Eskimo dances; Eskimo Abraham Lincoln; whale fairy tale. Pribilof Islands; seals; fighting bulls; lost pup; Russian Orthodox chants. Lake George breakup; giant ice falls. Anaktuvuk Eskimos; animal and bird calls; raven song; children's song. Fort Yukon; Athabascan Indian songs; worship; sourdough Ed Curtiss. Climbing Mt. McKinley; "Operation White Tower"; Bradford Washburn; Barbara Washburn. Juneau; Ed Keithahn; Tlingit Indian tomtoms, rattles; Ahgupuk: conclusion.