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Archives at The Museum of Flight


Alaska Airlines

 Organization

Historical Note

Alaska Airlines traces its start back to several smaller regional airline, beginning with McGee Airways which was established in Anchorage, Alaska in 1932. The airline was sold to Star Air Service in 1934, In 1937 SAS bought Alaska Interior Airlines and changed their name to Star Air Lines.

In 1941 the airline was bought by businessman Raymond Marshall. He also purchased Lavery Air Service, Mirow Air Service, and Pollack Flying Service and rebranded to Alaska Star Airlines. The airline became known as Alaska Airlines (AA) on May 2, 1944. Additional smaller airlines became part of AA over the years, including Collins Air Service, Al Jones Airways, Alaska Coastal Airways, and Cordova Airlines.

Alaska Airlines continues as an active airline.

Found in 5 Collections and/or Records:

Robert Dempster Airline Ephemera Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2012-03-28
Contents of the Collection The Robert Dempster Airline ephemera is a small collection comprised of assorted airline schedules/timetables and safety cards ranging from the 1950s through the 1980s. The collection also contains a poster for a parade for Astronaut Dick Gordon through Seattle, Washington in 1966.

The James H. Dilonardo Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2006-01-21
Abstract James H. Dilonardo was a local aviation enthusiast strongly tied to Boeing Field and The Museum of Flight. His collection consits of photographs, textual materials, sound recordings, and film largely related to aviation in Seattle, Washington and the Pacific Northwest.

Jerry L. Hart Photograph Collection

 Collection — Folder: 1
Identifier: 2017-00-00-1
Contents of the Collection The Jerry L. Hart Photograph Collection is a small collection consisting of ten black-and-white 8x10-inch photographs of Boeing aircraft from circa the 1940s. Five images depict the wreckage of a crashed Alaska Airlines "Starliner" aircraft at Bow Lake airport, now known as Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, in SeaTac, Washington, taken November 30, 1947. One image depicts an American Airlines aircraft with a Boeing mechanic working on it. Two images depict a variety of commercial airliners,...

Esther (Hutchings) Hebrew Western Airlines Flight Attendant Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2021-12-10
Contents of the Collection The Esther (Hutchings) Hebrew Western Airlines Flight Attendant Collection consists of textual and visual materials gathered by Hebrew during her career as a stewardess for Western Airlines (WAL) in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The materials illuminate the work and life of flight attendants in the mid-twentieth century. The collection is organized in two series: Western Airlines career-related materials and other airlines. There are several files of textual materials related to...

Paine Field first flights poster

 Collection — oversize: folder
Identifier: 2019-00-00-7
Contents of the Collection This small collection contains two copies of a 12x18" color poster commemorating the first passenger flights at Paine Field [Snohomish County Airport] in Everett, Washington, March 2019. The poster is printed in various shades of blue as well as grey, white, and green and depicts the tail of an Alaska Airlines jet to the right of an air traffic control tower. All of the text on the posoter is in white. "PAE" is printed in large white letters along the top of the poster with "Paine...

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