Pan American World Airways teacher, Vol. VII, No. 3, January - February 1951

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Jan.-Feb., 1951
Published by Pan American World Airways

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VOL. VII, No. 3
ALASKA
By Lou A. Phillips
Few countries owe so much to air transportation as does Alaska. A large portion of its past development, present prosperity and hope for future progress can be attributed directly to the era of flight. The airplane has become a vital necessity in every day living, a valuable asset in commerce and industry and a traveler’s key to a spectacular vacationland.
Successful development of Alaska depends on ready access to productive areas. But the Territory is one-fifth as large as the United States and its size and difficult terrain present many barriers to building a unified transportation system. A large part of the burden of transportation falls on the airplane. Only four of Alaska’s seven large cities are on all-year ocean routes; only two on the railroad. Nome has no convenient method of land transportation, and water transportation is possible only during the summer months.
The airplane is also the most inexpensive way of traveling long distances. It is so cheap that even an Eskimo, who owns his own dog team and to whom time is of no value, cannot afford to travel by sled between Nome and Fairbanks. Lodging fees en route and the cost of food for himself and his dogs, would amount to several times the price of an airplane ticket.
Alaskans probably fly more per capita than any other people in the world. With only one railroad of consequence and few roads, a traveler must often choose between dog team and plane. In the interior of the country flying conditions are especially good, averaging better for the whole year than the northern half of the United States. There are good airfields constructed by the United States Government and by Pan American World Airways.
One of the first demonstrations of the feasibility of airplane travel was a flight of four Army planes from Mineola, New York to Nome, Alaska and return. Four years later the Post Office Department shipped a plane to Alaska in order to determine the practicability of air mail service. Air mail routes linking Territorial cities cut mail time from weeks to a few hours. Today other Government Agencies in Alaska also use air transportation. The Weather Bureau uses planes for obtaining meteorological data and the Coast Guard uses planes for law enforcement and the protection of life and property.
One of the most famous groups of airmen in Alaska are the local pilots or bush fliers. Among their ranks are to be found some of the best pilots on earth, who fly year after year piling up hundreds, even thousands, of hours without serious mis-
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JUNEAU-The Clipper Gem of the Sky, ready to load at Juneau Airport. At the
right is the foot of Mendenhall Glacier.
EDUCATIONAL AIR TRAVEL 1951
Student and teacher exchanges are regarded by the Government as a major factor in the “Campaign of Truth” through which the peoples of other lands are learning more about the American way of life. From this point of view, plans for educational travel during the 1951 vacation season are more significant than ever before.
What effect mobilisation and economic controls will have on travel plans, no one can predict at this point. But travel organisers are proceeding with their plans, and offer some of the best “packages” ever put together for educators.
Those planned for Flying Clipper travel are described below:
Summer Sessions In Europe
The Sorbonne American Institute of Summer Sessions, and the Richelieu Institute of University Studies, have arranged package tours for attendance at the Sorbonne, the University of Lille, the University of Toulouse and the University of Barcelona.
Complete details as to the academic offering are presented elsewhere in this issue of World Airways Teacher.
The package for Sorbonne, including passage by Flying Clipper, tuition, lodgings and breakfast at the Cite Universitaire plus
sightseeing in Versailles and Fontainbleau will be offered by the Sorbonne American Institute of Summer Sessions and Exprinter Travel Service, Inc. at around $890.00. The others will be slightly more than that.
Inquiries regarding Sorbonne may be sent to the Sorbonne American Institute of Summer Sessions, Michael A. Otero, Director General, 231 Peck Drive, Beverly Hills, California.
For information regarding Lille, Toulouse and Barcelona write to the Richelieu Institute of University Studies, Michael A. Otero, Director General, 231 Peck Drive, Beverly Hills, California, or communicate with Exprinter Travel Service at 500 Fifth Avenue, New York 18, New York, or your own travel agent.
Scholastic Magazine Short Courses Abroad
Scholastic Magazine has announced a program of tours for 1951 to enable educators to know, as well as see Europe. Each tour will provide “short course” introductions to four or five nations. At major university centers and en route, tour members will meet authorities and teachers. They will visit famous places by means of talks and side trips, and they will be acquainted (.Continued on Page 6)