Hello All,
Maybe there will be some interest here for this or not. We'll see!
For the last many years I have gotten pretty deep into collecting vintage airplane photos and color slides (the red border Kodachrome slides from the 40s-50s are real gems!). I'm heavily engaged in aviation history research, especially New York State/Northeast aviation history, and in that process I found that photos are essential "documents" (as we say in the history trade). In the process of working to find photos and slides of my research topics, I began finding more and more interesting stuff in general. I've ended up getting ahold of a good amount of photos and slides of airplanes in backcountry and bush environments, and, well, it's nice to share them! I'm particularly into the color slides. You really see how colorful the flightlines were back in the 40s and 50s. It's also cool to see how the "bush planes" of that older generation were essentially stock machines. Anyway, enough babble. I'll post what I have over the coming days/weeks. If anybody knows anything deeper about them, please post! So...here goes.....a trip back in time.....Enjoy!

(P.S.: if anybody has vintage photos and slides to share, PLEASE DO! My stuff will run out....so lets get the goods out and post!)
(Also, let me know if you have any New York State/Northeast stuff!)

It's probably appropriate to start with a Super Cub, right?

I really dig the original Piper schemes and colors. More Super Cub. This time early 50s SC.

Gotta give Aeroncas some love:

Gotta love the Sedans....

Bone stock Stinson in the era....slide labeled Alaska, 1956...

PA-12 and T-Craft...

You had better add a 170 quickly or the fur is gonna fly

Thank you! The Sedan pics are great, so seldom do we get to see pics of the greatest 4 seater of it's day!

So here is a cool one. Down deep I'm a short wing guy (had a Clipper project, now have a couple Vagabond projects, think Pacers are awesome.....you know..) This slide is from the early 1950s. Its a late-model PA-20S Pacer that was flying for Alaska Coastal Airways. Some interesting things of note....thats a late Pacer paint scheme (1953), and thats a factory float-kit fin as well. Also, you'll note the factory-option seaplane side cowlings that were part of the seaplane package...cool looking for sure. The N# is hard to make out but the FAA lists a PA-20, serial number 20-1028, N8864C as being with Alaska Coastal.....8864C is likewise a late model, 1953 Pacer. They also show a Tri-Pacer with Alaska Coastal, N4342A. This photo is a pure PA-20 however...note "Pacer" on the nose. Any further info on Alaska Coastal Pacers would be great. I posted this photo over on the Shortwing Piper forum awhile back and nobody knew anything.....hmmm. Anyway, cool stock, per-factory working Pacer.
(I brightened this slide up substantially via software and this is as good as it got!)

Here is Pacer N2358A. Slide labeled "Alaska." 2358A is a 1952 year model Pacer. Its still registered in AK. From my experience searching through records and aircraft histories, if a plane winds up in Alaska, it tends to remain there! I dig this photo because its just simply a stock Pacer with no adornments or heavy mods, doing its thing...likewise with the Apache. A "bush plane" before "bush planes" were a thing!

This is a really cool thread !! What it’s all about I’m my book . Make mostly your own rules and get the job done ! A lot of “pilots” aren’t like this anymore unfortunately .Lots of look how cool I am stuff floating around these days . Sooo nice to see old pics like these with folks just doing what they do . Thanks for putting these up for us to enjoy . ....Vail

Cool pictures. I appreciate the photos and even more so the detailed captions. Keep them coming.

Good stuff, keep em coming!

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.

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.

Here's some my friend Bill Linder had from his days as a Mission and Mining pilot on Hudson Bay. Flew Pacer, Stinson 108, Super Cub and 180.

This Trans Air PBY once landed on the ice gear up and filled the airplane with ice shavings like a snow cone.


Fixing a busted Super Cub in the bush



Preheating the Cub





Honda 3 wheeler out in the Bay with the 180







driving on Eskers with planks in the back to cross gaps:







no GPS...





water rudders down!


RCMP Beech 18 landing on the sea ice





Ol Shaky

pete51577 wrote:So here is a cool one. Down deep I'm a short wing guy (had a Clipper project, now have a couple Vagabond projects, think Pacers are awesome.....you know..) This slide is from the early 1950s. Its a late-model PA-20S Pacer that was flying for Alaska Coastal Airways. Some interesting things of note....thats a late Pacer paint scheme (1953), and thats a factory float-kit fin as well. Also, you'll note the factory-option seaplane side cowlings that were part of the seaplane package...cool looking for sure. The N# is hard to make out but the FAA lists a PA-20, serial number 20-1028, N8864C as being with Alaska Coastal.....8864C is likewise a late model, 1953 Pacer. They also show a Tri-Pacer with Alaska Coastal, N4342A. This photo is a pure PA-20 however...note "Pacer" on the nose. Any further info on Alaska Coastal Pacers would be great. I posted this photo over on the Shortwing Piper forum awhile back and nobody knew anything.....hmmm. Anyway, cool stock, per-factory working Pacer.
(I brightened this slide up substantially via software and this is as good as it got!)

AK-floatpacer-50s.jpg

Huge shortwing fan here as well.

Interesting cooling ducts on the cowl cheeks on this one! Does anyone know if that was part of the PA-20S factory set-up?

"Huge shortwing fan here as well.

Interesting cooling ducts on the cowl cheeks on this one! Does anyone know if that was part of the PA-20S factory set-up?"

Yes....the side cowling with the ducts were factory for any PA-20 that was a PA-20S or by order. There was a photo for the cover of Flying Magazine with Lee Wulff, the famous fly fisherman and his kids in front of his new Pacer. It had the side cowls like this. It was probably an S from factory. Over on the shortwing forum someone mentioned a parts place that has some. Cool stuff.

BRD,

FANTASTIC photos! Thanks for posting them here. They really capture a sense of what things were like then. The Super Cub slides look a lot like a couple of the early SC slides I posts. Wonder if they are the same plane?

One of the best threads in awhile.

I like the picture of the 3 guys looking at the globe. I can imagine one of them saying, we got to get the "F" out of here in the winter. It's way to cold.

I have some plaid shirts just like those in the pictures.

I was reminded how very tough the people who live there are.

Cheers...Rob