Skip to Main Content

Aviation archival collections

Guide to collections related to Alaska aviation held by Archives & Special Collections.

Subject Guides

1930s collections

1964 Alaska earthquake 

1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill

Advocacy

African American history in Alaska

Alaska before 1900

Alaska Constitutional Convention and statehood

Alaska Highway construction

Alaska Native collections

Alaska state legislators and legislation 

Alaskan leadership 

Anchorage charter commissions

Anchorage Community Councils

Anchorage history 

Anchorage Winter Olympics bids

ANCSA, ANILCA, and D-2

Anthropology

Archives in Alaska

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Arctic research

Aviation

Birding and bird conservation

Businesses, clubs, and organizations

Canol Pipeline 

Capital move 

Christianity in Alaska

Cold War era (1945-1992) 

Communications systems

Cooking and nutrition

Creative writing

Education

Engineering

Fairbanks, Alaska

Fine arts

Fishing, fisheries, and canneries

Fur Rendezvous

Fur trading, trapping, and farming

Gardening and botany

Geography and environmental studies

Geology related

Gold rush

Governors of Alaska

Greenspace collections

Hatcher Pass area 

Homer, Alaska

Hope and Sunrise, Alaska 

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

International 

Jesse Lee Home

Journalism and broadcasting 

Labor 

Law 

LGBT related collections

Mapping and surveying 

Matanuska Colony 

Medicine and health 

Miners and mining collections

Natural disasters

Non-English language collections

Nursing 

Oral histories

Performing arts

Permanent Fund Dividend

Petroleum and natural gas

Poetry

Railroads

Senior Citizen issues and advocacy

Seward, Alaska

Skiing and mountaineering

Steamships 

Student newspapers, Anchorage Community College and University of Alaska Anchorage

Tourism in Alaska

United States. Air Force

United States. Coast Guard 

Women’s organizations and women’s issues

World War II in Alaska 

Bob's plane in high tide at Mudville with Ford car, 1938. Russ Dow papers, HMC-0396

Four men standing in front of an airplane of Umnak Island in the Aleutians. Benjamin B. Talley papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

View of a Collins Air Service plane.

Collins Air Service plane, owned by Grenold Collins. Dorothy and Grenold Collins papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Aviation collections

Below are examples of collections in the Consortium Library’s Archives and Special Collections which relate to aviation in Alaska. This list is not comprehensive. Follow the links to collection descriptions and inventories. You can keyword search all of our collection descriptions and inventories by using the search box available on each of the pages below.

Hal Beery photographs; undated, 1942. HMC-1207. Photographs of a pilot with 404th Bombardment Squadron who served in the Aleutian Islands during World War II.

Ted Buszek photographs; undated, 1943-1986. HMC-1209. Photographs of a member of the 404th Bombardment Squadron, who served in the Aleutian Islands during World War II. From 1944 to 1945 Buszek served as a pilot with the 404th Bombardment Squadron on Shemya in the Aleutian Islands.

John J. Cape, Jr. papers; 1941-1942, 1944. HMC-0812. Papers of an 11th Fighter Squadron pilot killed in action near Dutch Harbor. He enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet at New York, New York, on February 7, 1941. Cape then served with the 11th Fighter Squadron in the Aleutian Islands under Major John S. Chennault.

Cliff Cernick papers; circa 1949-2002. HMC-0607. Research and personal files of an Alaskan aviation historian and journalist. The collection primarily consists of Cliff Cernick’s writing and research files for a variety of book and article projects. Cernick’s papers include subject files of specific pilots in Alaska.

Hakon Christensen film; 1939-1950. HMC-0089. Motion picture film from an Alaskan bush pilot. The collection consists of thirteen reels or 102 minutes of Hakon Christensen’s 16mm silent color motion picture film from his life and work in Alaska. Notable subjects include footage of Hakon Christensen and a military cargo plane flying in a Mount McKinley expedition, led by Henry Bradford Washburn, Jr., onto a glacier; planes landing and taking off from Merrill Field in Anchorage.

Dorothy and Grenold Collins papers; undated, 1907-2002. HMC-0422. The papers of an Alaskan bush pilot, sportsman, and business owners. During World War II, Collins was a pilot for the Morrison-Knudsen construction firm. Following the war, he formed the Gren Collins Charter Airplane Service and Big Game Guide Service.

Russ Dow papers; 1917-1992. HMC-0396. Papers and photographs of an Alaskan heavy equipment operator and photographer. Included in the collection are photographs and materials relating to pilot Bob Reeve.

Eleventh Air Force Reunion. World War II History Project records; 1940-1990. HMC-0365. Documents collected relating to the history of the United States Air Force in Alaska.  

Frank C. Fox photographs; 1946-1993. HMC-0708. Photographs of a pilot with the U.S. Air Force who served at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. The collection consists of the aviation photographs of U. S. Air Force officer and helicopter pilot, Frank C. Fox. The photographs primarily relate to Fox’s U. S. Air Force career flying helicopters in Germany (1953-1956), in the Washington, D.C. area (1957-1962), and Alaska (1962-1966).

William H. Francis photograph album; 1941-1942. HMC-0943. Photograph album of a U. S. Army Air Corps officer who served in the Aleutians with 343rd Fighter Group.

Henry K. “Hank” Frese papers; 1942-2003. HMC-0862. The photographs include images of soldiers, aircraft and facilities at Shemya Air Base, as well as those of Attu Island, Japanese bombing targets, aerial subjects, and veterans reunions. The videocassettes are of the Shemya Veterans Reunion in 1991, and the Eleventh Air Force Association and Navy Patwing Four Airdales Reunion in 1995.

Burton J. Good photographs; 1943-1993. HMC-1210. Photographs of a pilot with the 344th and 11th Fighter Squadrons who served in the Aleutian Islands during World War II. Subjects of the photographs include aerial views of locations in the Aleutian Islands; airplanes flying bombing missions.

John F. Lhotka, Jr. papers; 1942-1946. HMC-0928. Papers and photographs of a Chemical Warfare Service officer who served at Fort Richardson and Adak Army Air Field. Subjects of the photographs and negatives include: John Lhotka and fellow soldiers at Fort Richardson, 11th Air Force facilities at Adak Army Airfield (headquarters, chapel, mess, etc.); a group photo of graduates of the Second Special Aviation Course at the Chemical Warfare School; aerial photos of Adak Army Airfield (U.S. Army Air Force Photos).

Manley and Mayer Architects Anchorage International Airport Expansion blueprints; undated, 1961. HMC-0860. Proposed blueprints for an addition and remodel of the Anchorage International Airport. The plans were made for the State of Alaska Division of Aviation.

Thomas J. Merrick World War II papers; 1944-1945. HMC-0902. The collection consists of the World War II era papers and photographs of Patrol Bombing Squadron Forty Three flight crewman John J. Merrick. The collection contains: Merrick’s aviator’s flight log book; two copies of a Patrol Bombing Squadron Forty Three memorandum.

Richard C. Rivett papers; 1943-1945. HMC-0580. Papers of a communications officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps who served in the Aleutians during World War II. The photographs are official U.S. Army Air Forces photographs from Adak. They show a radar receiver and soldiers launching balloons, possibly to test radar equipment.

James H. Sample photographs; undated, 1945. HMC-1204. Photographs of a member of the 404th Bombardment Squadron who served at Shemya Air Base dueing World War II. The collection contains 44 prints depicting airplanes, aerial views of locations in the Aleutians, and scenes of military life on Shemya.

Jack Scavenius papers; 1920-1976. HMC-0491. Papers of a pilot and diplomat in Anchorage. Scavenius served as an Alaskan bush pilot from 1938-1942, and served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1945. From 1946 to 1950, Scavenius served as the owner and operator of McKinley Airways, in Anchorage.

Allison Stoars papers; 1937-1963. HMC-0757. Papers of an 807th Engineer Aviation Battalion soldier who served at Yakutat Landing Field.

Benjamin B. Talley papers; 1925-2002. HMC-0241. Papers of a U. S. Army Corps of Engineers officer in Alaska and elsewhere. Talley pursued a career as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, receiving his commission in 1926 and supervising Army and Air Corps construction in Alaska from 1940-1943.

Manila D. Talley papers; 1919-1990. HMC-1240. Papers of a pilot who lived in Alaska and elsewhere. This collection consists of materials pertaining to Manila Talley’s career as a pilot, as well as her personal life. The papers include correspondence between Talley and friends and family; travel diaries and other materials; materials relating to Talley’s membership in the Civil Air Patrol; USAF and Air War College correspondence course materials; materials related to pilots’ organizations; and photographs of Talley.

Robert Wickman papers; circa 1944-1945. HMC-0498. Photographs and papers of a B-24 pilot in the 404th Bombardment Group, 11th Air Force, who served in the Aleutians. This collection contains photographs from a scrapbook and the combat itinerary of Captain Robert Wickman.

Subject Guide

Profile Photo
Staff Archives and Special Collections
Contact:
3211 Providence Drive
Anchorage AK 99508
907-786-1849
https://archives.consortiumlibrary.org/
Website