Warplanes to Alaska (Hardcover - by Blake W. Smith)
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Could a subarctic wilderness airway traversing northwestern North America and the breadth of Russia be used to deliver thousands of warplanes? The needs of the beleaguered Second World War ally demanded the attempt, despite the brutal climate, primitive facilities and wild terrain.
Warplanes to Alaska describes the delivery of 8,000 aircraft to Russia over a little-known airway that extended from the United States through northwestern Canada to Nome, Alaska. The airway was cruel on man and machine as the twisted wreckage of fallen warplanes littering the forests and muskeg bear testament. Warplanes to Alaska is a tribute to the hundreds of men and women who toiled in the harshest of climates to help decide the outcome of the Second World War. The author interviewed scores of Canadian, Russian and American veterans and acquired hundreds of photos in an effort to fully recount this amazing part of history.
Details of the Russian portion of the airway and their military operations, long hidden by an impenetrable veil of official secrecy, are revealed here for the first time. Warplanes to Alaska will engage anyone interested in Second World War, aviation or northern history.
By the author of Wings Over the Wilderness.