HISTORY MATTERS

The Newsletter Publication of NWA History Centre, Inc.
8101 – 34 th Ave., So. – Bloomington, MN 55425
(952) 997-8000 – Ext. 8-6102       www.NWAHistory.org
H.V. “Pete” Patzke, Editor

Vol. 4 - No. 3                                                                                         September, 2006

Preserving The Past

            Thanks to many, we reached our goal - finding copies of all NWA newsletters. Actually we don’t have a couple in our possession, however the missing issues have been located and copies are being made to complete our files. We have begun the process of scanning all issues to develop an electronic file of these historical documents. An index of article subjects and personnel involved is being developed to enable ready reference. Now we need your help!
            What for??? – Well, we want to expand the file to include the newsletters and/or house organs of the twelve or thirteen other airlines that were merged into NWA. Through the efforts of Directors Al Carriveau and Bruce Kitt we have just about a complete record of when and which newsletters were published, but we have very few copies. If you have some of those old newsletters and are willing to give them to us, it would be much appreciated. If you want to keep your copies we would appreciate the opportunity to make copies of them. We will take extra care in preserving your material and having it returned to you as fast as we can. Thanks for your help.
             Then there’s other stuff!! The predecessor airlines are an integral part of Northwest. Artifacts relating to those carriers are an integral part of our museum. We have a number of Republic and North Central items and a few from Southern and Hughes Air West, but practically nothing from the others. In a way this is understandable as the names Wisconsin Central and Empire have been gone for more than fifty years; Pacific, Bonanza and Air West for almost forty.
            We know there is a lot of desired material out there. If you have some of that stuff and want to get rid of it, we’ll be happy to take it off your hands. We’d like to suggest, that if you have material relating to those other airlines, that you advise your family that when you are no longer around and they have no interest or use for those items please don’t throw them out, but rather send them to us. We’ll keep whatever has historical interest and/or can enhance our exhibits and find a home for the excess.

Boy!…Were We Wrong!

            A couple of months ago History Matters reported an article from a Miami newspaper from back in May 1943. The article reported the use of some fifteen NWA pilots to help ferry thirty C-46 cargo planes from Miami to India. It went on to report that the planes flew off into the west. From that description we assumed the flights went up the inside route over Canada, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands a piece of the USSR and then south over Tibet. We only missed the flight path by about 180 degrees.