Klondike Classic Aviation
There are many virtual airlines out there that fly in Alaska. It is an area of the world that is very dependent on aviation, and is also one of the most desirable places for sim pilots develop their skills. KCA is a salute to the classic propliners and airlines that helped build Alaska in the years following the Second World War, and may be seen as a kind of "feeder" VA to the modern Alaska Airlines VA run by FS Hub staff. These are the carriers, planes and routes worth remembering, and the receipts are here, as well. When it's time to escape the Arizona heat for some old-school fun in the far north, this is the place. What follows here are route maps intended to illustrate where certain types flew, as the aggregate route map at the FS Hub portal is quite crowded. Pack your parkas, and get ready to fly the last frontier.
AIR NORTH 1993 DC-3 & DC-4 and 1998 A748
Yukon's own airline is a relative newcomer. Our flights harken back to the early days, when the un-pressureized Douglas pistonliners ferried passengers from Juneau to Whitehorse, and further points north. The early schedule is here. After a few years, the airline began to acquire the Hawker Siddley 748 turboprop, which was the type that opened up the Inuvik service. The occasional charter to Watson Lake is also included. Air North would proceed to add jet services in the twenty-first century.
REEVE ALEUTIAN L-188 & DC-6B
Reeve and the Electra II have become synonymous legends. It's tough to replicate in a VA context, but meticulous research pays off. 1975 and 1997 timetables are replicated. The Attu runway was closed in '75, meaning that the issue of leaving the engines running while unloading and loading the aircraft is an issue that is avoided. 1997 saw the short-lived Cold Bay-Seattle service, which was flown in Electra combi aircraft. The DC-6B served the Cold Bay-St Paul-Anchorage run exclusively.
REEVE ALEUTIAN DC-3 & YS-11A
These two types served similar roles, with the Japanese turboprop combi model eventually replacing the Douglas workhorse entirely. There's some commonality, and some differentiation between the types, as airfields came online and went offline over the years. Many stops on these runs "down the chain" were at small military outposts. PAAL shows as Cold Bay on the map, but was known as Cape Sarichef. Reeve also flew the C-46, but there's very limited timetable information out there. Only a cargo shuttle between Dutch Harbor and Cold Bay is here.
PACIFIC NORTHERN DC-4 & B720
This 1955 schedule and 1954 flyer show an airline beginning a transition from the DC-4 to the L-749 Constellation as a flagship aitcraft. Alas, FS Hub does not allow for tracking the Connie. We've got the DC-4 flights, and the Boeing 720 flew very similar routes, thus covering this carrier's signature flights from the early days, and the final days of 1967, before the merger into Western Airlines. Check the 1967 timetable here.
WIEN ALASKA AIRLINES DC-3
The Wien name was synonymous with aviation in the Arctic for decades. 1947 and (mostly) 1956 timetables show scheduled services to the far flung corners of the Arctic from Fairbanks. Many of the flights were circuits, carrying passengers, mail and cargo north of the Arctic Circle. Some destinations, like Umiak were only served on the return trip from Barrow to Fairbanks. The Kotzebue airport is named in honor of Noel Wien. There are some photos (and paints) of a Wien C-46, but no sufficient routing/timtable information has surfaced.
WIEN AIR ALASKA F-27
The routes depicted here are from 1967, on the eve of Wien becoming the launch customer for the Boeing 737, and developing an Anchorage base. Once again, the receipts are here, with a specially truncated timetable image showing all F-27 services of the time. Wien had retired the DC-3s by the time the 737 arrived, and the Twin Otter was serving a lot of the bush routes of 1967. As always, pilot interest determines whether or not the Twotter becomes an expansion.
