Bluegrass Airlines, January 2008

Pacific Alaska Airways

By Allan Lowson

 

(image copyright Bjorn Larsson www.timetableimages.com)

Pacific Alaska Airways

Pan Am bought Alaskan Airways in 1932 from North American Aviation and renamed it Pacific Alaska Airways, initially to provide services from Juneau to Fairbanks and then on to Nome and Bethel. These services linked with the Alaska Steamship Co. steamer service from Seattle to Juneau up to 1940 when authorisation for a flight link to Seattle was given. Pacific Alaska Airways used Lockheed 10A aircraft for these services. The original intention had been for Alaska to be part of a Great Circle route to the Orient. Landing rights could not be obtained for Siberia and Japan, so the long-range flying boat service across the Pacific had to be continued.

 

The flights below came from the May to October ’38 timetables, but we can be bold and fly them through the winter gloom. Alternatively you can shift the calendar forward or back a month or two to get more daylight for the flight across Alaska.

 

Pacific Alaska Routes

These routes were taken from the Official Aviation Guide Pan American timetables for May to October 1938. Flat is the only field that lacks night-lighting, so aim to be there between 1100 and 1500 at this time of year.

Times in this timetable are based on Meridian times of 15O intervals or one hour; 135O being one hour earlier than Pacific Standard Time, 150O being two hours earlier etc. So check your map co-ordinates before setting out for the airfield.


Juneau-Fairbanks (Route 114)

 

Heading

Distance

Down (Tue/Sat)

City Name

ICAO

Up (Sun/Thu)

Heading

Distance

326

0

1300

Juneau

PAJN

1400

-

143

281

143

1420

Whitehorse

CYXY

1130

144

427

-

427

1630

Fairbanks

PAFA

0730

092

0

 

Fairbanks-Nome (Route 114 Wednesdays)

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

244

0

0800

Fairbanks

PAFA

2000

-

195

-

195

0930 arr

Ruby

PARY

1830 dep

062

0

248

0

0950 dep

Ruby

PARY

1810 arr

-

257

-

257

1230

Nome

PAOM

1330

066

0

 

Fairbanks-Bethel (Route 114 Thursdays)

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

217

0

0800

Fairbanks

PAFA

1930

-

234

224

234

1030

McGrath

PAMC

1630

036

72

-

72

1130 arr

Flat

FLT

1530 dep

043

0

208

0

1145 dep

Flat

FLT

1515 arr

-

149

-

149

1300

Bethel

PABE

1400

028

0

 

 

 

Flight Simulator Files

The Lockheed Electra 10-A is available as L104NWA.zip at avsim.com. There is a Pan Alaska (an error in the airline name!) scheme somewhere on the web as L104PAA.zip, but it may have been lost with the closedown of FS Berlin as an operating site.


Map