“Flagship” of Wien Alaska Airlines
An artist's con
ception of how the
Wien Alaska Air
lines Boeing 247
transport will ap
pear in flight with
new Boeing-design
ed markings. Vet
eran of nearly three
mil lion miles of
flying, the Boeing
is being modernized
at the Boeing plant
in Seattle. Four ad
ditional gas tanks
will increase the
247's operating
range from 580 to
nearly 1.200 miles.
1
A Boeing 247-D commercial
transport, property of the Wien
Alaska Airlines and veteran of
nearly 3,000,000 miles of flying,
many of them over the rugged
wastelands of the Arcitc slope, is
at the Boeing Aircraft Company
in Seattle this week for modern
ization.
The 10-passenger transport is to
be fitted with four additional
wing gas tanks, latest automatic
radio direction finder equipment
and will be painted with new
Boeing-designed markings. The
new tanks, two of which will fit
In each outboard wing, will in
crease the 247’s range from 580
to nearly 1,200 miles.
The project is typical of the
type of customer service offered
by Boeing’s newly integrated
sale s-engineering organization,
which is designed to work closely
with operators and prospective
operators of all Boeing equipment.
“Now that the wartime pres
sures are off,” explained Well
wood E. Beall, vice-president en
gineering-sales, “Boeing is again
in a position actively to assist all
operators of Boeing aircraft, in
cluding owners of earlier models
such as the 2A7, as well as the 314
Clipper and the 307 Stratoliner.
Such assistance will include not
only the routine supplying of data
on operations and maintenance.
>
but also design of structural re
visions to suit new uses and in
some cases actual factory modifi
cation and special overhaul of de
livered aircraft.”
Built in 1933 and. like the other
247’s, a forerunner of present day i
airliners, the Boeing has logged
more than 16,000 hours flying
l time during the past 15 years. Or-;
• iginally purchased by United Air
; lines, the Boeing transport was I
drafted at the start of the war by
j the Army Air Forces It was later
loaned by the AA to the Sperry |
Gyroscope Company for a pro-1
gram of instrument tests and ex- j
periments. Since 1943, it has been
: serving as “flagship” of Wien’s
, fleet of 16 airplanes.
Wien Airlines operates over;
some 7,000 miles of scheduled
routes, including a main trunk
line from Fairbanks to Nome. It
was one of the first commercial
' airlines in Alaska, inaugurated in
1927 by Noel Wien. Currently op
erating north of 64° latitude, it is
the only scheduled airline serving
Point Barrow and scores of lonely
villages along the Yukon, Colville
and Anaktuvik rivers and in the
bleak interior of the Arctic slpoe.
The Wien transport is the first
j of a pair of Boeing 247’s scheduled
; for modernization in Seattle, ac
j cording to Charles V. West, the
airline’s 31-year-old traffic man
ager.
“We have to have one Boeing
operating for our long over-water
hops to the St. Lawrence and Dio
mede islands,” West explained.
“As soon as the first one is com
pleted, we’ll fly it back and bring
down the second. I guess the one#
in Alaska now must be the ‘grand
daddy’—in point of service—of all
247’s. It has covered about 4,000,
000 miles in some 22,000 hours of
flying time—and is still going
strong.”
The 247’s, with their rugged re
tractable landing gear and char
acteristic high-lift wing, are ideal
ly suited for the bush-type flying
encountered in Northern Alaska,
according to West.
“Because the 247 was designed
to take off with the tail down, it
is ideally suited for the short
fields we use,” West explained.
ALASKA TELEPHONE &
\
TELEGRAPH CO.
LOCAL AND LONG DISTANCE SERVICE
MINING, CONTRACTING
And INDUSTRIAL
EQUIPMENT
LOMEN
Commercial Co.
PARIS, Feb. 27, (/P)—Foreign
Minister Bidault reportedly told
the foreign affairs commission
constituent assembly that he re
quested American and British
support to the French effort to
bring Spain before the United
Nations security council on charg
es of endangering international
peace and security. The Cabinet
yesterday decided to close the
French-Spanish border to trade
i effective midnight Friday, mean
while popular outcry for outright
diplomatic rupture increased.
“To take off, we turn up the en
gine with the brakes on, pull the
wheel back and then give her full
power. We’ve taken off 1.200 foot
fields this way.”
C. J. TANNER TO STATES
ON BUSINESS ]
C. C. Tanner, city attorney,
left for the States on a business
trip and expects to be gone sev
eral weeks.
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