“observer” or, more exactly, as a publicity attraction. The plane was a tri-motor Ford which boasted “upholstered wicker chairs, windows that can be opened and closed, heating, lighting, ventilating and lavatory service.”

            “From Bismarck the plane flew west to Billings and Helena. It was a day-to-day proposition. Each night the crew met in one of the hotel rooms at the various stops, spread maps on the floor and plotted their route for the next day. Despite inclement weather, the plane was kept out-of-doors at night. Its wingspread was too long for the hangars at the airports. Wahlstrom would stake the plane down at night “to keep it from being blown away” by the furious, raw winds. Each morning the crew found the tri-motor covered with snow and ice. They brushed off the snow and beat the ice off with a broom.

            “Leaving Billings the plane dropped off the edge of the rimrock airstrip and, for several seconds, flew precariously below the airport before gaining altitude. Then came the mountains, never before traversed by a commercial plane. Flying by landmarks and instinct, Rueschenberg steered his ship through passes and over peaks at treetop level. “We were so low,” Wahlstrom recalls, “that I could have opened the cabin door and hit the gosh-darn trees with my hands.”

            Hair-raising experiences came with regularity on the Helena-Spokane leg of the trip. Wind currents played tricks on the plane. Near Stampede Pass a sudden updraft carried the tri-motor over a peak and dropped it abruptly 1,800 feet on the other side. Rueschenberg flew over Missoula, north up the Clark Fork River, across Lake Pen Oreille in Idaho and, through a snowstorm, into Spokane. For two days the party weathered in there before it was able to proceed t its destination, Seattle. Its mission accomplished, the group was feted at a huge dinner party.

            The one way trip had taken six days, about one day for every hour it now takes. The return flight was completed in two days. Eleven months later the airline started regular service into Seattle after other pilots, flying open cockpit Wacos, had been familiarized with the route. Twenty years later, NWA is operating 14 flight daily over the not-so-awesome Rockies. But the way was paved by the bunch of “Swedes” who couldn’t be cowed by either unknown or bitter warnings.”

            THE HISTORY CENTRE NOTES – We can’t figure out how many flights NWA operates over Rockies now-a-days, as flight schedules are no longer in print format.

DID YIOU KNOW

            Chicago Midway Airport welcomed its first arrival in 1927. Northwest Airlines was one of its first airlines to use Midway. Before 1927, Northwest used Checkerboard Field located about 12 miles northwest in Maywood, Illinois. Midway was first known as Chicago Municipal Airport. It was renamed after World War II to commemorate the U.S. naval and air victory at Midway Island in the Pacific. Northwest moved its operations to O’Hare when it opened in 1955 and suspended operation as Midway. Several years later NWA returned to Midway and continues today with service at both airports.