Down the rabbit hole on flying boat history, looking to re-create some Pan Am clipper flights, I found a blurb discussing Pan Am's first visit to Ketchikan. They brought a Sikorsky S-43 into the harbor on August 7th, 1938. However, Pan Am was already looking ahead to the use of land airports where possible. This was the statement on the Pan Am Historical Society's article:
"During the visit Pan Am and government officials also took time out to look at Bostwick Inlet on Gravina as the possible site for a land airfield, according to local aviation historian Don Dawson."
...Which, of course, is where you guys put the current Misty's Place. Great minds think alike? ;-)
But while still in the planning stages, WWII intervened, and by the end of the war, there was a handy AAF airport on Annette Island. Pan Am used this to serve the Ketchikan area, and folks were shuttled to Ketchikan harbor by Grumman Gooses (Geese?) operated by Coastal Ellis, one of the operators to form the modern day Alaska Airlines.
Your dose of history for the day. Maybe it's common knowledge around here... I thought it was cool though. ;-)
The full article:
http://www.panam.org/explorations/534-pan-am-in-alaska-the-view-from-ketchikan-2
