My grandad crashed in the winter and they went back in the next summer and disassembled the plane and floated it to Riggins I believe.









These were all taken in the forties.

That's some good shit there, Sierra Victor!

Cigarette in the cockpit, no life jackets on the sweep boat drivers, and it looks like they were roping it through Big Mallard.

I also love the four-digit phone number on the advertisement. A great time to be alive, so long as you didn't have to go to the dentist...

Ha! No kidding! Dental work woulda sucked.

The horse was named Cisco and his owner there is Marv Hornbeck. He had a ranch on the Salmon and would bring his horses out each fall. Cisco gave him the slip and by the time Marv found him the snow was too deep to get him over the pass.
Marv kept a rifle pointed at him the whole flight out. They hit a bumpy patch and the horse went airborne, while airborne, and Marv said he was sure he was gonna go through the fabric.
He didn’t and I imagine Cisco died of old age.
The story was written up in the newspaper at the time.
I’ve got a ton of albums that I still need to go through.
I think I’ve mentioned this before but the Stag is sitting in McMinville under the wing of the Spruce Goose.
Only D17a in existence supposedly.

His Do’s and Donts used to be printed in the Idaho Aeronautical Handbook.

pete51577 wrote:

Zzz wrote:

pete51577 wrote:PA-12 and T-Craft...

This is a gorgeous shot. Trying to determine if it was underexposed during the midday and the reflected light from the snow lighted the planes? Or if it was late in the day and that's an accurate look.

I'd also love to know the answer to that. I think it was certainly underexposed....I had to brighten it a bit with software.
Another thing of note.....the PA-12. At some point in Piper's -12 production run they did a batch of planes in that yellow/red combo....trouble getting the cream color usually seen on the standard red/cream PA-12 schemes.

That's a winter shot, with a very low sun angle at relatively high latitudes, which tends to reflect off the snow and light up subjects from a different angle than we're used to. Note the shadows and how long they are. This was probably taken close to sunrise or sunset mid winter.

MTV

[quote="Flyhound"]At last year's AOPA fly-in in Missoula, there was a Beech Stagerwing present that supposedly flew into the Idaho Backcountry strips in the old days. I'd love to see pictures of that plane in one of those remote grass strips surrounded by mountains. I'd REALLY like to be there when a Staggerwing arrived. What a sight! It's pretty amazing what pilots did in the past with the equipment they had.[/quote

That was the Staggerwing flown by Sierra Victor's Grandfather, and now owned by Bob Hoff, owner of Aero Mark, in Idaho Falls.

Note in that STOL demo at MSO that Bob sure didn't use up much runway with that Staggerwing.

MTV

Edit to add: I mis-stated in an earlier post of the pic of the Stag at cabin creek that it now belonged to Bob Hoff.
That’s not correct.
My grandfather had two: NC50959, and N114H. The Stag at Cabin Creek and the one pictured above are 50959.
It is at Evergreen.
I have several pics of 14H, which Bob is now the caretaker of, as well and will post them.

MTV that picture of yours gives me goose bumps it looks so cold!
Did they have engine covers back then? I don’t think so.
Drives home the fact that the guys that flew way back when were tuff mofos!!
No communications meant if u couldn’t get it started u might just die, or wish u did!

Here is N114H





This one I love!
This was his mechanic Evelyn and her husband Butch. I believe she was the first female A&P. He was her helper!


And him and my mom

Sierra Victor wrote:Edit to add: I mis-stated in an earlier post of the pic of the Stag at cabin creek that it now belonged to Bob Hoff.
That’s not correct.
My grandfather had two: NC50959, and N114H. The Stag at Cabin Creek and the one pictured above are 50959.
It is at Evergreen.
I have several pics of 14H, which Bob is now the caretaker of, as well and will post them.

MTV that picture of yours gives me goose bumps it looks so cold!
Did they have engine covers back then? I don’t think so.
Drives home the fact that the guys that flew way back when were tuff mofos!!
No communications meant if u couldn’t get it started u might just die, or wish u did!

They all carried engine covers and fire pots to pre heat. Those weren’t my pictures though. Some of those pics of the SuperCubs look like they may have been taken during the polar bear hunting days. Lots of cubs got left out on the ice to litter the bottom of the Bering Strait.

Won’t start? No problem, make camp and spend the night or longer. Or walk to the nearest civilization.

I’ve slept out at -45. I’d rather not do it again, but I know I could if I had to. And those old timers were ten times tougher than me.

Read “Winging It” by Jack Jefford. He describes a lot of stuff from those days.

And, read any of the books about Noel Wien......when he first came into the country, he was the only pilot. Search and rescue? Not likely. His grandson Kurt posts here.

MTV

North Cascades Smoke Jumper Base in Winthrop, WA. Photo taken by Rod Snider in the 1950's.



Photo taken in the 1950's at the Nine Mile Ranger Station strip west of Missoula, MT. Before the Smoke Jumper base was built in Missoula, the Jumpers were trained and housed at Nine Mile, the Johnson Flying Service aircraft would fly to the Nine Mile strip and pick them up for a fire run. And we thought Bushwheels were new. Photo by Rod Snider

Wow, N8419, that is the airplane my grandfather, Noel Wien, owned and flew all over Alaska in the 30's and 40's. This airplane is now at the Airzoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The photos of the staggerwings and the Trimotor are very cool. To have people here that have a connection to these airplanes and know their history is priceless. Does anyone have any more photos?

I have a book called "Tall Timber Pilots", it is the story of the Johnson Brother's flying service and is fantastic reading. I also have a photo copy of "Aviation History of the Central Idaho Wilderness" by Jim Larkin and Bud Filler. Also a very good read.

My Dad flew into Moose creek ranger station in Ford Tri-motors several times to fight forest fires and to build trails. He said they rattled like a tin shed in a hail storm.

Shane

I really enjoy this stuff. It is impressive how old photos have lasted, I wonder what the latest thinking on preserving digital photos is. Lots more images, but will they last as long.

My dad in India after the war. L5 Stinson Sentinel.

shorton wrote:I have a book called "Tall Timber Pilots", it is the story of the Johnson Brother's flying service and is fantastic reading. I also have a photo copy of "Aviation History of the Central Idaho Wilderness" by Jim Larkin and Bud Filler. Also a very good read.

My Dad flew into Moose creek ranger station in Ford Tri-motors several times to fight forest fires and to build trails. He said they rattled like a tin shed in a hail storm.

Shane

"Fly the Biggest Piece Back" is the story of Johnson Flying Service. Great book.

https://www.amazon.com/Fly-the-Biggest- ... B003UHREAE

MTV

daedaluscan wrote:I really enjoy this stuff. It is impressive how old photos have lasted, I wonder what the latest thinking on preserving digital photos is. Lots more images, but will they last as long.

My dad in India after the war. L5 Stinson Sentinel.

Couldn't agree more. These photos are amazing. That's a pretty wild shot.

If anyone here has similar shots and needs help digitizing them, reach out. Better to scan and preserve for all time than let them get thrown out when you croak.

tcj wrote:The photos of the staggerwings and the Trimotor are very cool. To have people here that have a connection to these airplanes and know their history is priceless. Does anyone have any more photos?

Yes, a few more.

robertc wrote:

tcj wrote:The photos of the staggerwings and the Trimotor are very cool. To have people here that have a connection to these airplanes and know their history is priceless. Does anyone have any more photos?

Yes, a few more.

I started working summers fueling and then flying at Johnson Flying Service in 1960 when I was 15 and continued until it's closure in the mid 70's. A few of us that are still around and have been collecting photos and videos of Johnson Flying Service, but most the sources have "croaked" as ZZZ would say. I have some interesting videos that have been converted from 8mm but the quality is very poor from being copied so many times. There are some of those that are floating around in the YouTube universe if you can find them. This is one that Dick Karr posted of a Johnson DC-3 landing at Flying B ranch. Those of you that have flown in for breakfast will recognize the approach.

https://youtu.be/6qUGyDXo5z0

Jim Larkin was a great friend of my grandfather. Story was Jim was the guy that found him after he crashed in the winter on the banks of the Salmon. That crash precipitated the disassembly of the plane and the raft trips downriver.
Anyway snow was so deep he had to pick up his dog Tags and throw him then crawl to him.


Edit to add: snow doesn’t look so deep in the pic. Maybe the newspaper elaborated a bit.

I believe this is the repair process of the river crash




The rest of these are just random.
Y’all asked for more!!!