2005, 1st edition. 176 pages, 170 color and B&W photos. This photographic history of aviation in Denali National Park documents aviation’s influence on the development of the Park and includes historical and contemporary photographs of many aviation firsts in that region.
Author Bruce McAllister interviewed many of the old timers of the Denali region and found some rare historical aviation photographs. There are chapters on the first flights over Denali, the daring glacier pilots who fly the mountain, search and rescue operations, mechanics who repaired aircraft in the bush, and memorable aerial photographs of Denali. Larger hardcover with DJ, New.
Lowell Thomas, Jr. recalls, “One experience I'll never forget was while on a high altitude search for a missing solo climber, cruising at twenty thousand feet along the north side of Denali. The air was smooth and cold, minus twenty degrees. There were no snow streamers off the summit, no cloud cap or any sign of wind. But just as I reached the mountain's east side, the bottom fell out. The plane and I went into a freefall, still flying but in a plunging air mass that in less then thirty seconds delivered us out over the northwest fork of the Ruth Glacier at 14,000 feet; an incredible rate of descent of at least 12,000 feet per minute! Plane and I had experienced an aerial Niagara Falls!”
