Chronology

Highlights of History
  The Air Forces in Alaska

  Part 1

1867 - 1939

18 Oct 1867: Brigadier General Lowell H. Rousseau, representing the United States, took possession of Alaska from Russia in a ceremony at Sitka.

15 Sept 1900: U.S. Army Signal Corps competed the first segment of  the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS), a long line communications system that would ultimately link Alaskan communities with the rest of the United States.

4 Jan 1902: Lieutenant William "Billy" Mitchell and his party began work on the Fort Egbert to Valdez  WAMCATS segment.

15 Jul 1920: Captain St. Clair Streett and his flight of four Army Air Service DeHaviland DH-4s departed Michel Field, New York, on a round trip to Nome, Alaska.

13 Aug 1920: Alaska  linked with the rest of the U.S. for the first time when the Black Wolf Squadron of DH-4s landed at Wrangell en route to Nome.

24 Aug 1920: Captain St. Clair Streett and his flight landed at Nome.

20 Oct 1920: The Black Wolf Squadron returned to Mitchel Field after covering 9,000 miles in 112 flying hours without serious mishap.

Apr-May 1924: The Douglas World Cruisers transited Alaska on the first around-the-world flight.

Jul 1929: Captain Ross G. Hoyt attempted a long-distance round trip flight from Mitchel Field, NY, to Nome in a Curtis XP-6B Hawk.

13 Jan 1933.  Captain Hugh M. Elmendorf died near Wright Field OH while testing an experimental Y1P-25 twin seat pursuit aircraft.  (Ithaca Journal News, Jan 14, 1933)

Jul-Aug 1934: Lieutenant Colonel Henry  “Hap” Arnold led a flight of ten YB-10 bombers on a round-trip flight from Bolling Field, Washington DC, to Alaska.

22 Apr 1939: Presidential Executive Order 8102 withdrew 43,490 acres of land, most public domain, for construction of a military post and air field near Anchorage.

Spring 1939: Congress appropriated $4,000,000.00 to construct an Army cold weather test station for aircraft, equipment  and material near Fairbanks, Alaska

1 Dec 1939: The cold weather test station near Fairbanks was named Ladd Field in honor of Maj Arthur K. Ladd, killed in an aircraft accident near Dale, SC on 13 December 1935.
 

Part 2    1940 - 1941

Part 3    1942 - 1943

Part 4    1944 - 1945
 

Courtesy of:   The United States Air Force Office of History

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