Table Of ContentNavy Combat to Flying 
Stebithern Wilderness
A MEMOIR:  james "Andy" Anderson as told to Jim Rearden
I've never read a book that 
so skillfully puts the reader 
into a bush pilot's head and 
so compellingly captures 
the drama, adventure, and 
misadventure of Arctic flying 
—Cliff Cernick, 
Flyer magazine
ISBN 0-945397-83-6  $16.95
BACKED BY WIEN AIRLINES, former Navy combat pilot 
“Andy” Anderson pioneered post-World War II bush service to 
Alaska’s vast Koyukuk River region serving miners, Natives, 
sportsmen, geologists, adventurers, and assorted bush rats.
He flew mining equipment, gold, live wolves and sled dogs, 
you name it—anything needed for life in the bush. He sweated 
out dozens of dangerous medical-emergency flights, “always at 
night and in terrible storms.”
Illustrated with 50 historical photo's and co-authored by one 
of Alaska’s most popular writers, ARCTIC BUSH PILOT is an 
exciting and sometimes nostalgic account of a pioneer pilot and 
his special place in Alaska aviation history.
ARCTIC BUSH PILOT brings alive the beauty 
of the Koyukuk region and its people.
—Paul Haggland, pilot, Fairbanks, Alaska
I’d have died of pneumonia one winter if Andy Anderson hadn’t 
flown me from Huslia to the Tanana Hospital in rotten weather.
—Sidney Huntington, Galena, Alaska
ISBN  O-BMSaBV-flB-b
9 780945 397830
FROM  NAVY COMBAT TO  FLYING 
ALASKA'S NORTHERN WILDERNESS
A MEMOIR:
James "Andy" Anderson 
as told to Jim Rearden
EPICENTER PRESS
Epicenter Press Inc. is a regional press founded in Alaska whose interests 
include but are not limited to the arts, history, environment, and diverse 
culrures and lifestyles of the North Pacific and high latitudes. We seek both 
the traditional and innovative in publishing nonfiction tradebooks and 
giftbooks featuring contemporary art and photography.
Text © 2000 Jim Rearden
Photos © 2000 Jim Rearden unless otherwise credited
Publisher: Kent Sturgis 
Editor: Don Graydon 
Mapmaker: Russell Nelson 
Proofreader: Sherrill Carlson
Cover and text design, typesetting: Elizabeth Watson
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or 
on a computer disk, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, 
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written 
permission of the publisher. Permission is given for brief excerpts to be 
published with book reviews in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and 
catalogs.
ISBN 0-945397-83-6
To order single copies of ARCTIC BUSH PILOT, mail $16.95 (WA residents 
add $1.46 sales tax) plus $5 for Priority Mail shipping to: Epicenter Press,
Box 82368, Kenmore, WA 98028; phone our 24-hour order line, 800-950- 
6663; or visit our website, EpicenterPress.com.
Booksellers: Retail discounts are available from our distributor,
Graphic Arts Center Publishing, Box 10306, Portland, OR 97210.
Phone 800-452-3032.
Printed in Canada
First printing May 2000
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
My thanks to every Indian and Eskimo villager, every miner and trap
per, and every bushrat who lived in the Koyukuk Valley and Brooks 
Range where I flew, for in one way or another each contributed to 
the development of scheduled air service there.
Frank Tobuk and Warren “Canuck”  Killen, Wien Airlines 
employees at Betties, kept me flying; Canuck was my right arm. 
Neither of these fine men ever failed me.
The Wien brothers, Noel, Sig, and Fritz, and the next genera
tion of Wiens—Richard, Merrill, and Bob—all contributed whole
heartedly to my bush operation at Betties. The Wiens taught me 
much about the fine art of Alaska flying.
Russell “Mac” McConnell, although he was a Betties FAA main
tenance employee, contributed much to my flying program; Mac 
could do anything.
My heartfelt appreciation goes to my first wife, Hannah, who 
did a superb job of overseeing the Betties roadhouse operation and 
raising our children. My thanks to our children, Mary, David, and 
Phil, for their acceptance of a difficult situation.
To my wonderful parents, my thanks for a responsible Christian 
upbringing. To my brothers Carl and Louis and my sister Hope, my
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ARCTIC  BUSH  PILOT
thanks for a lifetime of moral support. And to Betty, my wife ol three 
decades, at my side in sickness and health, in good times and bad, 
goes my deepest appreciation. My thanks to her three children, 
Cheryl, Julie, and Jay, for their understanding and steadfast faith in 
both of us.
Thanks too to Cliff Cernick, of Anchorage, for his professional 
on-the-mark line editing. William O. Seymour, professor of journal
ism at the University of West Virginia, made helpful comments on 
the manuscript. Thanks to Ernest N. Wolff for permission to use bio
graphical details on men of the Chandalar that appeared in his book
let Frank Yasnda and the Chandalar. Last, my appreciation to Jim 
Rearden for producing a lucid, accurate record of my aviation career.
—JLA
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Half a century ago I participated in a tiny part of the aviation history 
of Alaska. When I established scheduled flights in the Koyukuk River 
valley, which straddles the Arctic Circle, I wasn’t thinking of history 
or of being a pioneer. I simply filled a need and took advantage of an 
economic opportunity. But eventually the satisfaction of serving 
became as important to me as the economics.
I  was fortunate to arrive at Betties, where I was based, at a period 
when there was a great need for aerial transportation. At first, my 
small, inefficient planes could only haul freight of limited size. As my 
business grew, I flew increasingly larger and more dependable freight
carrying airplanes. When I ended my seventeen-year bush flying 
career, my planes were delivering some of the bigger stuff: refrigera
tors, 4-by-8 sheets of plywood, entire dog teams.
At first, most villages I served had no airport; when I left, most 
of these villages had an airport that could handle twin-engine planes. 
By then these villages also had good radio communication.
At first, villagers rushed to meet my plane whenever I landed, 
much as pioneers of the early west gathered at a depot to greet the 
train. By the time I left, only those who had business at the airport 
met my flights; airplanes had become commonplace.
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ARCTIC  BUSH  PILOT
8
PREFACE
I enjoyed being a bush pilot. I enjoyed flying. I enjoyed the 
magnificent wilderness land over which I flew. I enjoyed the people I 
served. For these reasons my years at Betties seemed almost like a 
paid vacation.
Remembering these pleasures, and reliving my experiences by 
writing about them, has given me much satisfaction. I would like 
to believe that this review of my time as an arctic bush pilot will 
contribute in a small way to the history of Alaskan aviation.
James L. “Andy"Anderson
Dr. Edward Wiegand of Sandusky, Ohio, fishes in Agiakhake 
above the timberline in The Brooks Range, jim rearden photo
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