Robert Campbell Reeve
Encyclopedia
Robert Campbell Reeve (March 27, 1902 – August 25, 1980) was the founder of Reeve Aleutian Airways
.
, Wisconsin
on March 27, 1902. He was one of twins, his brother was Richard. Their parents were Hubert and Mae Reeve. Mae died in 1904, and their father remarried, leaving the boys to fend for themselves. Bob and Richard went their separate ways early in life. Bob was fascinated by aviation
from an early age, and studied all he could on the subject. He enlisted in the US Army aged 15 in 1917. Discharged from the Army at the end of the war, Bob had reached the rank of sergeant. He wanted to re-enlist, but his father was against this so Bob returned to school, but dropped out after a few months and went to San Francisco. From there he got passage as an ordinary seaman to Shanghai
, where he took a job in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, serving on the Yangtze and Taku rivers. In 1921, Bob was working in Vladivostok
, USSR, but returned home as a result of his father's pleading.
Bob finished high school, and then entered the University of Wisconsin–Madison
in 1922, his brother already being there. A picture of the aviator Carl Ben Eilson was on the wall at the fraternity house, this inspired Bob Reeve, George Gardner, Monk MacKinnon and Ora McMurray to skip classes to spend time at Madison airfield, where Cash Chamberlain had a Curtiss Jenny. Six months short of graduation, all four were expelled from the university. This pushed them further into aviation, with Gardner and MacKinnon becoming President and Vice-President respectively of Northwest Airlines
.
, then to Beaumont, Texas
where he joined a pair of barnstormers
- "Hazard" and "Maverick". In exchange for two months' work at the airfield, Bob got three hours flying instruction (which was called five) and soloed
. When the Air Commerce Act of 1926
came into force, he got one of the first Engine and Aircraft Mechanic's License
s and his Commercial Pilot's License
. Reeve joined the Army Air Corps
at March Field, but was discharged after a short time.
By the late 1920s, barnstorming wasn't a viable way to make a living. Pan Am teamed up with W. R. Grace and Company
to bid for an airmail
contract in South America
. The new airline, Pan American-Grace Airways
(Panagra) flew weekly airmail from the US to Lima
, Peru
via the Canal Zone
. A Ford Trimotor
was purchased and Reeve trained with the Ford Motor Company
on these aircraft, delivering the first to Lima in August 1929. Panagra offered Reeve the chance to fly Airmail Route 9 from Lima to Santiago, Chile
, at this time the longest aviation route in the world at 1900 miles (3,057.7 km). In 1930 the route was extended to Montevideo
, Uruguay
.It was during this time that Reeve learned about bush flying, developing techniques to avoid coastal fog which would later serve him in Alaska
and mountain flying skills. He established a speed record between Santiago and Lima, covering the 1,900 miles in 20 hours. In January 1932, he crashed a Lockheed Vega
of Panagra at Santiago, and quit before he was fired.
came as the result of unrelated incidents. He had met a Klondike
prospector, "Swiftwater Bill" Gates
, in Chile
, who had told him of the Gold Rush thirty years earlier. He had also talked to Eddie Craig, a mining engineer at the Kennicott Copper Mine in Alaska in the early 1900s. These stories, and the idea that there was new country to conquer pulled Reeve north. He returned home to Wisconsin, where he suffered a slight attack of polio which affected one of his legs slightly.
Reeve stowed away
on a steamship, arriving in Alaska with $2 in his pocket, and Valdez, Alaska
with 20¢. At Valdez airfield
, Owen Meals had a wrecked Eaglerock
aircraft with a Wright J-5 engine that had been a spare for Sir Hubert Wilkins when he made his flight across the North Pole
to Spitsbergen
.
Reeve worked for a month at $1 an hour repairing the plane, and then leased the plane from Meals at $10 an hour. Having created a landing strip, Reeve was in business. His first charter was to Middleton Island, where the beach looked fine to land on, but the aircraft sank up to its wheels in the soft sand. An old block and tackle was found and used to rescue the aircraft from the incoming tide. Reeve managed to take off, and attempted to fly back to Valdez, but was forced to land at Seward
owing to a storm. When he eventually got back to Valdez his tanks were almost empty, and he hadn't earned a cent. Reeve said this trip was worth $1,000 in experience. Reeve quickly learnt that the bush pilot's biggest worry was paying for gas, which could be 25¢ a gallon in one place, and $1.50 in another.
That winter, Reeve was hired to fly supplies to Chisana at 20¢/lb, his base for this was at Christochina, where a small airstrip had been created with high obstacles each end of the runway. Oil in the aircraft engines had to be drained each night, and warmed up on a stove each morning before being returned to the engine, as it was so cold that the oil would freeze. Reeve made a $2,000 profit on the Chisana route and had heard of a Fairchild 51 for sale in Fairbanks
. This was the type of aircraft he had used in the Andes
. He bought it for $3,500, with $1,500 down and the balance within two years.
. Just out of McGrath
, they ran into dense ice-fog
, a complete white out
, so Reeve landed on the frozen Kateel River and the made camp. After 25 hours, conditions had improved sufficiently for them to continue as far as Shaktoolik. It took three days to get to Nome, and another ten days before he could leave for Valdez, picking up a medical emergency in Shaktoolik on the way. Again Reeve had to land because of the weather, this time landing on the Skwentna River
. Reeve flew the patient to Seward the next day, and when he eventually returned to Valdez, Reeve found that stories of his outward trip were in the newspapers. He was officially initiated into the ranks of the Heroic Bush Pilots.
. He and his passenger used snowshoes to walk the 20 miles (32.2 km) to the Nabesna Mine, where owner Carl Whitham assisted them. They returned to Valdez for help, got the spare parts to repair the engine and flew back to the plane, where the three men repaired the engine, using a tree to hoist it clear of the aircraft.
During the Great Depression
, there was constant talk of reopening the gold
mines. One of the biggest was the Big Four Mine on the Brevier Glacier, only 30 miles (48.3 km) from Valdez, but at and elevation of 6000 feet (1,828.8 m). Clarence Poy of San Francisco said he would buy the mine if Reeve flew his supplies and men in. Reeve took the current owner, Jack Cook to the mine to inspect it. The landing spot turned out not to be as good as had been claimed, but although the aircraft was partially buried in soft snow, no damage was done. Reeve later marked out a landing strip with flags and lamp black.
Reeve's success with supplying the Big Four Mine let to further contracts with other mines; the Mayfield, Little Giant and Ramsay Rutherford. During this time, Reeve learned more about assessing suitability of landing sites from the air, and developed the technique of dropping supplies by air. Miners being so keen on getting their supplies that they would pay for another load if supplies were damaged when dropped. In 1934, the price of gold almost doubled under the New Deal
Gold Reserve Act
and Valdez boomed. In the summer of 1934, Reeve's exploits, including landing on mudflats (having manufactured skis from stainless steel to fit to his aircraft) regularly reached the papers. He received some fan letters, including one from Miss Janice Morisette, who asked if he needed an extra hand. Janice lived about 30 miles from Reeve's hometown. They corresponded for a few months and Janice flew to Valdez in June 1935. Reeve left on a prospecting trip to Canada
, but his curiosity got the better of him and he returned within a month. When he first saw her she reminded him of "Tilly the Toiler
" and thus the nickname stuck.
Reeve tried his hand at mining, and joined with prospector Andy Thompson to prospect the Ruff & Tuff Mine. He went to Canada in 1936 to try placer mining to finance the Ruff & Tuff. The mining didn't pay, so Reeve returned to Valdez flying supplies. He earned enough money to buy basic equipment for the Ruff & Tuff and later he and Thompson sold the mine, with Reeve getting the contract to supply it. Tilly had returned to San Francisco in the meantime, but she returned in April 1936. Reeve decided that despite his sporadic income, he would marry Tilly and so they were married in Fairbanks. Reeve bought another plane, a Fairchild 71
to celebrate.
Reeve received a letter from Bradford Washburn
in January 1937 asking if he could fly a party of climbers to the glacier at the base of Mount Lucania
in Canada. Reeve agreed to undertake the task. In April, the bulk of the supplies were flown in. When he flew Washburn and Robert Bates
to the site, the weather had turned unseasonably warm and the plane sank up to its belly in slush. It was over a week before Reeve could take off, after the temperature had dropped sufficiently for a crust of ice to form over the slush. The trip was described by Reeve as the "most hazardous" of his career, but he had set a new world record of 8750 feet (2,667 m) for the highest landing on skis, more than 1800 feet (548.6 m) higher than any in either the Arctic
or Antarctic
.
The day after the Washburn trip, the engine of the Fairchild 51 quit. Reeve spent eight months repairing the Wright Whirlwind
engine, but never put it back in the aircraft. He was now back to only one. Reeve made his last glacier landing in 1938, when he flew Brad Washburn to the Mount Marcus Glacier
. His brother Richard was killed in a plane crash in 1938 and in the spring of 1939 a storm overturned the Fairchild 71. He spent all summer repairing it, only for the hangar to burn down with the aircraft inside. Reeve bought another Fairchild 71 and spent a further month repairing it. At this time, the CAA
came in to regulate flying in Alaska. Pilots were assigned routes under a "grandfather rights" scheme based on the territory they had served for four months prior to August 22, 1938. Reeve was given a small area around Copper River
. The work available wouldn't support a growing family (at this time they had two children, Richard and Roberta) so they left Valdez in January 1941 for Fairbanks.
gave Reeve his first charter, and a life-long friendship was formed. In April 1941, Reeve was one of a few pilots in Alaska without a certified route, and was hired by the CAA to survey the many new airfields planned to be built as part of Hap Arnold's master plan for Alaska's defense. Whilst the Army and Navy concentrated on building bases at Anchorage and in the Aleutian Islands, the CAA was responsible for constructing the airfields in the interior.
The first to be built was the airfield at Northway, 100 miles (160.9 km) east of Fairbanks. The contractors were the Morrison-Knudsen company (M-K). Supplies were trucked via the Richardson Highway
and a summer trail to the Nasbena Mines, 60 miles from the airfield site, and then flown by Reeve to Northway
, where an airstrip had been hacked out of the woods. Some items had to be cut into two or three pieces and re-welded at the destination as they were too big or heavy for the Fairchild.
Although Reeve was working from dawn to dusk, he couldn't keep up with demand for supplies at Northway, and a backlog built up at Nabesna. M-K ordered a Boeing 80
A and Reeve was sent to Seattle to collect it. It took five weeks to modify the plane, and when he returned with it to Northway, found a 3000 feet (914.4 m) runway at what was now Reeve Field. The 80A was designed to haul 4000 pounds (1,814.4 kg) but Reeve soon found he could haul 7000 pounds (3,175.1 kg) in it. Reeve was again flying from dawn to dusk, sometimes on only two engines.
With the money earned from the CAA contract, Reeve ordered three more aircraft. He bought another Boeing 80A, a Hamilton Metalplane
and another Fairchild 71. The army wanted him to survey a route for a railroad from Prince George, BC, to Nome. Reeve took the surveyors along the route but on the homeward trip the aircraft - a Fairchild - broke through the ice on the Kluane Lake
. The aircraft was abandoned but the mission successfully completed. The pass was named Reeve Pass, it is located between Francis Lake and the Salmon River. The Fairchild was left at Burwash Landing, and Reeve hired a pilot to fly the Hamilton from Washington to Alaska. The plane crashed in Washington, killing the pilot and Reeve was broke again, not having enough money even to buy the fuel to fly the Boeing to Alaska. He managed to borrow money from the Pacific National Bank despite them having a rule never to lend to bush pilots.
Reeve flew back to Juneau unannounced, and was almost shot down because he didn't identify himself. He returned to working for the CAA, now earning $80 an hour with fuel supplied flying supplies, materials and workers to the new airfields being constructed at Big Delta, Tanacross
, Galena
, Moses Point and Nome, doing all the flying and maintenance himself and regularly working 15 hour days. In November 1942 Reeve signed a contract with the Alaska Communications System (ACS) and moved his family to Anchorage. The contract with ACS involved flying all over Alaska, the Aleutians and western Canada. On July 5, 1943 Reeve was flying radar equipment and four technicians from Cold Bay to Amchitka
when he ran into zero-zero visibility conditions. During 1942 Reeve purchased a Fairchild FC-2W-2. A forced landing was made 20 miles east of Cold Bay. Reeve managed to salvage his radio, but the uninsured plane was written off. The delay in the delivery of the radar parts allowed the Japan
ese to evacuate Kiska
undetected, which may have saved American lives, as when US forces landed on Kiska they found it deserted. Previously the Battle of Attu had cost 500 lives.
Reeves thoughts turned to post-war activities. He knew he would need bigger, faster planes and thought his best hope would be to pick an area that no-one else wanted. Reeve bought a hardware store on Fourth Avenue, Anchorage. An old friend, Carl Whitham came to Anchorage, and they formed a partnership to develop some of Whitham's old prospects. Whitham died of cancer in the spring and Reeve's prospecting days were over.
In 1946, Reeve formed Reeve Aleutian Airways and was its President until his death in 1980. He allowed his pilots license to lapse in 1948 after he caught himself missing an item on a checklist. Reeve was invited to run for territorial governor of Alaska in 1952, but decided against this due to a conflict of interests. Reeve received an honorary Doctor of Science degree at the University of Alaska in 1963. Reeve was named "Alaskan of the Year" in 1972 and inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame
in 1975. He was made honorary Mayor of Shemya
in 1978. He died on August 25, 1980 and in that year was inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame. The Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum inducted Reeve into the Alaska Aviation Pioneer Hall of Fame on February 25, 2005. The Bob Reeve High School in Adak, Alaska was named after him.
The post war formation and history of Reeve Aleutian Airways
is told on that page.
Reeve Aleutian Airways
Reeve Aleutian Airways was an airline headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. It ceased operations on December 5, 2000.-Founding:...
.
Childhood
Bob Reeve was born in WaunakeeWaunakee, Wisconsin
Waunakee is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States . The population was 12,097 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. Waunakee bills itself as "The Only Waunakee in the World." The village was named as #78 in CNN Money's "Top 100 Best Places to...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
on March 27, 1902. He was one of twins, his brother was Richard. Their parents were Hubert and Mae Reeve. Mae died in 1904, and their father remarried, leaving the boys to fend for themselves. Bob and Richard went their separate ways early in life. Bob was fascinated by aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
from an early age, and studied all he could on the subject. He enlisted in the US Army aged 15 in 1917. Discharged from the Army at the end of the war, Bob had reached the rank of sergeant. He wanted to re-enlist, but his father was against this so Bob returned to school, but dropped out after a few months and went to San Francisco. From there he got passage as an ordinary seaman to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, where he took a job in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, serving on the Yangtze and Taku rivers. In 1921, Bob was working in Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
, USSR, but returned home as a result of his father's pleading.
Bob finished high school, and then entered the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
in 1922, his brother already being there. A picture of the aviator Carl Ben Eilson was on the wall at the fraternity house, this inspired Bob Reeve, George Gardner, Monk MacKinnon and Ora McMurray to skip classes to spend time at Madison airfield, where Cash Chamberlain had a Curtiss Jenny. Six months short of graduation, all four were expelled from the university. This pushed them further into aviation, with Gardner and MacKinnon becoming President and Vice-President respectively of Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines, Inc. was a major United States airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines by a merger approved on October 29, 2008, making Delta the largest airline in the world...
.
Barnstorming days
Reeve headed to FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, then to Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
where he joined a pair of barnstormers
Barnstorming
Barnstorming was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s in which stunt pilots would perform tricks with airplanes, either individually or in groups called a flying circus. Barnstorming was the first major form of civil aviation in the history of flight...
- "Hazard" and "Maverick". In exchange for two months' work at the airfield, Bob got three hours flying instruction (which was called five) and soloed
First solo flight
The first solo flight of a new pilot comprises that pilot completing a take off, and usually a short flight and safe landing, by him or herself...
. When the Air Commerce Act of 1926
United States government role in civil aviation
Governments have played an important part in shaping air transportation. This role began as early as 1783, when the king of France summoned the Montgolfier brothers to demonstrate their balloon. In 1892, the French War Ministry backed an attempt to build a heavier-than-air flying machine...
came into force, he got one of the first Engine and Aircraft Mechanic's License
Aircraft Maintenance Technician
Aircraft maintenance technician, as used in the United States, refers to an individual who holds a mechanic certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration; the rules for certification, and for certificate-holders, are detailed in Subpart D of Part 65 of the Federal Aviation Regulations ,...
s and his Commercial Pilot's License
Pilot certification in the United States
Pilot certification in the United States is required for an individual to act as a pilot of an aircraft. It is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration , a branch of the Department of Transportation...
. Reeve joined the Army Air Corps
United States Army Aviation Branch
The Aviation Branch of the United States Army is the administrative organization within the Army responsible for doctrine, manning and configuration for all aviation units....
at March Field, but was discharged after a short time.
South America
W. R. Grace and Company
W. R. Grace and Company is a Columbia, Maryland, United States based chemical conglomerate.The company has two main divisions, Davison Chemicals and Performance Chemicals. The Davison unit makes chemical catalysts, refining catalysts, and silica-based products that let other companies make...
to bid for an airmail
Airmail
Airmail is mail that is transported by aircraft. It typically arrives more quickly than surface mail, and usually costs more to send...
contract in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. The new airline, Pan American-Grace Airways
Pan American-Grace Airways
Pan American-Grace Airways, better known as Panagra, was an airline formed as a joint venture between Pan American World Airways and Grace Shipping Company.-History:...
(Panagra) flew weekly airmail from the US to Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
via the Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
. A Ford Trimotor
Ford Trimotor
The Ford Trimotor was an American three-engined transport plane that was first produced in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and that continued to be produced until June 7, 1933. Throughout its time in production, a total of 199 Ford Trimotors were produced...
was purchased and Reeve trained with the Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
on these aircraft, delivering the first to Lima in August 1929. Panagra offered Reeve the chance to fly Airmail Route 9 from Lima to Santiago, Chile
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
, at this time the longest aviation route in the world at 1900 miles (3,057.7 km). In 1930 the route was extended to Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
.It was during this time that Reeve learned about bush flying, developing techniques to avoid coastal fog which would later serve him in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
and mountain flying skills. He established a speed record between Santiago and Lima, covering the 1,900 miles in 20 hours. In January 1932, he crashed a Lockheed Vega
Lockheed Vega
|-See also:-References:NotesCitationsBibliography* Allen, Richard Sanders. Revolution in the Sky: Those Fabulous Lockheeds, The Pilots Who Flew Them. Brattleboro, Vermont: The Stephen Greene Press, 1964....
of Panagra at Santiago, and quit before he was fired.
Alaska
Reeve's move to AlaskaAlaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
came as the result of unrelated incidents. He had met a Klondike
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
prospector, "Swiftwater Bill" Gates
Bill Gates (frontiersman)
"Swiftwater" Bill Gates was an American frontiersman and fortune hunter, and a fixture in stories of the Klondike Gold Rush. He made and lost several fortunes, and died in Peru in 1935 pursuing a silver strike....
, in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, who had told him of the Gold Rush thirty years earlier. He had also talked to Eddie Craig, a mining engineer at the Kennicott Copper Mine in Alaska in the early 1900s. These stories, and the idea that there was new country to conquer pulled Reeve north. He returned home to Wisconsin, where he suffered a slight attack of polio which affected one of his legs slightly.
Reeve stowed away
Stowaway
A stowaway is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as an aircraft, bus, ship, cargo truck or train, to travel without paying and without being detected....
on a steamship, arriving in Alaska with $2 in his pocket, and Valdez, Alaska
Valdez, Alaska
Valdez is a city in Valdez-Cordova Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 4,020. The city is one of the most important ports in Alaska. The port of Valdez was named in 1790 after the Spanish naval officer Antonio Valdés y...
with 20¢. At Valdez airfield
Valdez Airport
Valdez Airport , also known as Pioneer Field, is a state-owned public-use airport located three nautical miles east of the central business district of Valdez, a city in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska....
, Owen Meals had a wrecked Eaglerock
Alexander Aircraft Company
The Alexander Aircraft Company was an aircraft manufacturer in Colorado in the 1920s. The company began life as the Alexander Film Company, under the brothers J. Don and S. Don Alexander. The company specialized in film advertising, but when the younger J...
aircraft with a Wright J-5 engine that had been a spare for Sir Hubert Wilkins when he made his flight across the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
to Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...
.
Reeve worked for a month at $1 an hour repairing the plane, and then leased the plane from Meals at $10 an hour. Having created a landing strip, Reeve was in business. His first charter was to Middleton Island, where the beach looked fine to land on, but the aircraft sank up to its wheels in the soft sand. An old block and tackle was found and used to rescue the aircraft from the incoming tide. Reeve managed to take off, and attempted to fly back to Valdez, but was forced to land at Seward
Seward, Alaska
Seward is a city in Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 3,016....
owing to a storm. When he eventually got back to Valdez his tanks were almost empty, and he hadn't earned a cent. Reeve said this trip was worth $1,000 in experience. Reeve quickly learnt that the bush pilot's biggest worry was paying for gas, which could be 25¢ a gallon in one place, and $1.50 in another.
That winter, Reeve was hired to fly supplies to Chisana at 20¢/lb, his base for this was at Christochina, where a small airstrip had been created with high obstacles each end of the runway. Oil in the aircraft engines had to be drained each night, and warmed up on a stove each morning before being returned to the engine, as it was so cold that the oil would freeze. Reeve made a $2,000 profit on the Chisana route and had heard of a Fairchild 51 for sale in Fairbanks
Fairbanks
Fairbanks may refer to:Places in the United States*Fairbanks, Alaska, city*Fairbanks, California, unincorporated community in El Dorado County*Fairbanks, Mendocino County, California, former settlement*Fairbanks, Indiana, unincorporated community...
. This was the type of aircraft he had used in the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
. He bought it for $3,500, with $1,500 down and the balance within two years.
Reputation earned
Reeve's first trip in the Fairchild was to fly Mr and Mrs Ole Hay and their two children, aged 4 and 4 months, to NomeNome, Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...
. Just out of McGrath
McGrath, Alaska
As of the census of 2000, there were 401 people, 145 households, and 99 families residing in the city. The population density was 8.2 people per square mile . There were 213 housing units at an average density of 4.4 per square mile...
, they ran into dense ice-fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...
, a complete white out
Whiteout (weather)
Whiteout is a weather condition in which visibility and contrast are severely reduced by snow or sand. The horizon disappears completely and there are no reference points at all, leaving the individual with a distorted orientation...
, so Reeve landed on the frozen Kateel River and the made camp. After 25 hours, conditions had improved sufficiently for them to continue as far as Shaktoolik. It took three days to get to Nome, and another ten days before he could leave for Valdez, picking up a medical emergency in Shaktoolik on the way. Again Reeve had to land because of the weather, this time landing on the Skwentna River
Skwentna River
The Skwentna River is a river in the southwestern part of Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska.-History:Tanaina Indian name reported in 1898 by Spurr , USGS, as "Skwent River."-Watershed:...
. Reeve flew the patient to Seward the next day, and when he eventually returned to Valdez, Reeve found that stories of his outward trip were in the newspapers. He was officially initiated into the ranks of the Heroic Bush Pilots.
Tilly
In March 1933, Reeve took an order into Chisana. On the way back to Valdez his engine quit and he made a forced landing by Mount WrangellMount Wrangell
Mount Wrangell is a massive shield volcano located in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in southeastern Alaska, United States. The shield rises over above the Copper River to its southwest. Its volume is over , making it more than twice as massive as Mount Shasta in California, the...
. He and his passenger used snowshoes to walk the 20 miles (32.2 km) to the Nabesna Mine, where owner Carl Whitham assisted them. They returned to Valdez for help, got the spare parts to repair the engine and flew back to the plane, where the three men repaired the engine, using a tree to hoist it clear of the aircraft.
During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, there was constant talk of reopening the gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
mines. One of the biggest was the Big Four Mine on the Brevier Glacier, only 30 miles (48.3 km) from Valdez, but at and elevation of 6000 feet (1,828.8 m). Clarence Poy of San Francisco said he would buy the mine if Reeve flew his supplies and men in. Reeve took the current owner, Jack Cook to the mine to inspect it. The landing spot turned out not to be as good as had been claimed, but although the aircraft was partially buried in soft snow, no damage was done. Reeve later marked out a landing strip with flags and lamp black.
Reeve's success with supplying the Big Four Mine let to further contracts with other mines; the Mayfield, Little Giant and Ramsay Rutherford. During this time, Reeve learned more about assessing suitability of landing sites from the air, and developed the technique of dropping supplies by air. Miners being so keen on getting their supplies that they would pay for another load if supplies were damaged when dropped. In 1934, the price of gold almost doubled under the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
Gold Reserve Act
Gold Reserve Act
The United States Gold Reserve Act of January 30, 1934 required that all gold and gold certificates held by the Federal Reserve be surrendered and vested in the sole title of the United States Department of the Treasury....
and Valdez boomed. In the summer of 1934, Reeve's exploits, including landing on mudflats (having manufactured skis from stainless steel to fit to his aircraft) regularly reached the papers. He received some fan letters, including one from Miss Janice Morisette, who asked if he needed an extra hand. Janice lived about 30 miles from Reeve's hometown. They corresponded for a few months and Janice flew to Valdez in June 1935. Reeve left on a prospecting trip to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, but his curiosity got the better of him and he returned within a month. When he first saw her she reminded him of "Tilly the Toiler
Tillie the Toiler
Tillie the Toiler was a newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Russ Westover who initially worked on his concept of a flapper character in a strip he titled Rose of the Office...
" and thus the nickname stuck.
Fairchild 71
-Bibliography:* Donald, David, ed. The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada: Prospero Books, 1997. ISBN 1-85605-375-X.* Milberry, Larry. Aviation In Canada. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd., 1979. ISBN 0-07-082778-8....
to celebrate.
Expedition
Reeve made several modifications to his plane, which he tried to keep from the local inspector. When questioned about these, his answers resulted in official approval from the inspector for the modifications.Reeve received a letter from Bradford Washburn
Bradford Washburn
Henry Bradford Washburn, Jr. was an American explorer, mountaineer, photographer, and cartographer. He established the Boston Museum of Science, served as its director from 1939–1980, and from 1985 until his death served as its Honorary Director .Washburn is especially noted for exploits in four...
in January 1937 asking if he could fly a party of climbers to the glacier at the base of Mount Lucania
Mount Lucania
Mount Lucania is the third highest mountain located entirely in Canada. A long ridge connects Mt. Lucania with Mount Steele , the fifth highest in Canada. Lucania was named by the Duke of Abruzzi, as he stood on the summit of Mount Saint Elias on July 31, 1897, having just completed the first accent...
in Canada. Reeve agreed to undertake the task. In April, the bulk of the supplies were flown in. When he flew Washburn and Robert Bates
Robert Bates (mountaineer)
Robert Hicks Bates was an American mountaineer, author and teacher, who is best remembered for his parts in the first ascent of Mount Lucania and the American expeditions to K2 in 1938 and 1953.-Early life:...
to the site, the weather had turned unseasonably warm and the plane sank up to its belly in slush. It was over a week before Reeve could take off, after the temperature had dropped sufficiently for a crust of ice to form over the slush. The trip was described by Reeve as the "most hazardous" of his career, but he had set a new world record of 8750 feet (2,667 m) for the highest landing on skis, more than 1800 feet (548.6 m) higher than any in either the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
or Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
.
The day after the Washburn trip, the engine of the Fairchild 51 quit. Reeve spent eight months repairing the Wright Whirlwind
Wright Whirlwind
The Wright R-975 Whirlwind was a series of nine-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by the Wright Aeronautical division of Curtiss-Wright. These engines had a displacement of about 975 in³ and power ratings of 300-450 hp...
engine, but never put it back in the aircraft. He was now back to only one. Reeve made his last glacier landing in 1938, when he flew Brad Washburn to the Mount Marcus Glacier
Mount Marcus Baker
Mount Marcus Baker is the highest peak of the Chugach Mountains of Alaska.It is located approximately 75 miles east of Anchorage. This peak is very prominent because of its proximity to tidewater and is only 12 miles north of the calving face of Harvard Glacier.When ranked by topographic...
. His brother Richard was killed in a plane crash in 1938 and in the spring of 1939 a storm overturned the Fairchild 71. He spent all summer repairing it, only for the hangar to burn down with the aircraft inside. Reeve bought another Fairchild 71 and spent a further month repairing it. At this time, the CAA
CAA
-Arts:*China Academy of Art, the highest university of art in China which founded in 1928*College Art Association, a professional association in the United States for scholars of art, art history, and art criticism...
came in to regulate flying in Alaska. Pilots were assigned routes under a "grandfather rights" scheme based on the territory they had served for four months prior to August 22, 1938. Reeve was given a small area around Copper River
Copper River (Alaska)
The Copper River or Ahtna River is a 300-mile river in south-central Alaska in the United States. It drains a large region of the Wrangell Mountains and Chugach Mountains into the Gulf of Alaska...
. The work available wouldn't support a growing family (at this time they had two children, Richard and Roberta) so they left Valdez in January 1941 for Fairbanks.
The war years.
Reeve arrived in Fairbanks and had to borrow $65 to pay his first month's rent. Noel WienNoel Wien
Noel Wien was an American pioneer aviator. He was the founder of Wien Air Alaska, Alaska's first airline.-Biography:...
gave Reeve his first charter, and a life-long friendship was formed. In April 1941, Reeve was one of a few pilots in Alaska without a certified route, and was hired by the CAA to survey the many new airfields planned to be built as part of Hap Arnold's master plan for Alaska's defense. Whilst the Army and Navy concentrated on building bases at Anchorage and in the Aleutian Islands, the CAA was responsible for constructing the airfields in the interior.
The first to be built was the airfield at Northway, 100 miles (160.9 km) east of Fairbanks. The contractors were the Morrison-Knudsen company (M-K). Supplies were trucked via the Richardson Highway
Richardson Highway
The Richardson Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska, running 368 miles from Valdez to Fairbanks. It is marked as Alaska Route 4 from Valdez to Delta Junction and as Alaska Route 2 from there to Fairbanks. It is also connects segments of Alaska Route 1 between the Glenn Highway and the...
and a summer trail to the Nasbena Mines, 60 miles from the airfield site, and then flown by Reeve to Northway
Northway, Alaska
Northway is a census-designated place in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 95 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Northway is located at ....
, where an airstrip had been hacked out of the woods. Some items had to be cut into two or three pieces and re-welded at the destination as they were too big or heavy for the Fairchild.
Although Reeve was working from dawn to dusk, he couldn't keep up with demand for supplies at Northway, and a backlog built up at Nabesna. M-K ordered a Boeing 80
Boeing 80
-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Bowers, Peter M. Boeing Aircraft since 1916. London: Putnam, 1989. ISBN 0-85177-804-6.* Davies, Ed. "Boeing's Airline: The Life and Times of Boeing Air Transport, Part One". Air Enthusiast, No. 127, January/February 2007, pp. 64–74. Stamford, UK:Key...
A and Reeve was sent to Seattle to collect it. It took five weeks to modify the plane, and when he returned with it to Northway, found a 3000 feet (914.4 m) runway at what was now Reeve Field. The 80A was designed to haul 4000 pounds (1,814.4 kg) but Reeve soon found he could haul 7000 pounds (3,175.1 kg) in it. Reeve was again flying from dawn to dusk, sometimes on only two engines.
With the money earned from the CAA contract, Reeve ordered three more aircraft. He bought another Boeing 80A, a Hamilton Metalplane
Thomas F. Hamilton
Thomas Foster Hamilton was a pioneering aviator and the founder of the Hamilton Standard Company.Since 1930, Hamilton Standard was involved with revolutionizing propulsion technology of propeller-driven aircraft, prior to World War II...
and another Fairchild 71. The army wanted him to survey a route for a railroad from Prince George, BC, to Nome. Reeve took the surveyors along the route but on the homeward trip the aircraft - a Fairchild - broke through the ice on the Kluane Lake
Kluane Lake
Kluane Lake is located in the southwest area of the Yukon. At approximately , and long, it is the largest lake contained entirely within the territorial border....
. The aircraft was abandoned but the mission successfully completed. The pass was named Reeve Pass, it is located between Francis Lake and the Salmon River. The Fairchild was left at Burwash Landing, and Reeve hired a pilot to fly the Hamilton from Washington to Alaska. The plane crashed in Washington, killing the pilot and Reeve was broke again, not having enough money even to buy the fuel to fly the Boeing to Alaska. He managed to borrow money from the Pacific National Bank despite them having a rule never to lend to bush pilots.
Tanacross, Alaska
Tanacross is a census-designated place in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 140...
, Galena
Galena, Alaska
Galena is the largest city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2000 census the population was 675.-History:...
, Moses Point and Nome, doing all the flying and maintenance himself and regularly working 15 hour days. In November 1942 Reeve signed a contract with the Alaska Communications System (ACS) and moved his family to Anchorage. The contract with ACS involved flying all over Alaska, the Aleutians and western Canada. On July 5, 1943 Reeve was flying radar equipment and four technicians from Cold Bay to Amchitka
Amchitka
Amchitka is a volcanic, tectonically unstable island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The island is about long, and from wide...
when he ran into zero-zero visibility conditions. During 1942 Reeve purchased a Fairchild FC-2W-2. A forced landing was made 20 miles east of Cold Bay. Reeve managed to salvage his radio, but the uninsured plane was written off. The delay in the delivery of the radar parts allowed the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese to evacuate Kiska
Kiska
Kiska is an island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska located at . It is about long and varies in width from - Discovery :...
undetected, which may have saved American lives, as when US forces landed on Kiska they found it deserted. Previously the Battle of Attu had cost 500 lives.
Reeves thoughts turned to post-war activities. He knew he would need bigger, faster planes and thought his best hope would be to pick an area that no-one else wanted. Reeve bought a hardware store on Fourth Avenue, Anchorage. An old friend, Carl Whitham came to Anchorage, and they formed a partnership to develop some of Whitham's old prospects. Whitham died of cancer in the spring and Reeve's prospecting days were over.
In 1946, Reeve formed Reeve Aleutian Airways and was its President until his death in 1980. He allowed his pilots license to lapse in 1948 after he caught himself missing an item on a checklist. Reeve was invited to run for territorial governor of Alaska in 1952, but decided against this due to a conflict of interests. Reeve received an honorary Doctor of Science degree at the University of Alaska in 1963. Reeve was named "Alaskan of the Year" in 1972 and inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame
National Aviation Hall of Fame
The American National Aviation Hall of Fame is located at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, east Dayton, Ohio...
in 1975. He was made honorary Mayor of Shemya
Shemya
Shemya or Simiya is a small island in the Near Islands group of the Semichi Islands chain in the Aleutian Islands archipelago southwest of Alaska, at . It has a land area of 5.903 sq mi , and is about 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska.The Russian vessel Saint Peter and Paul wrecked at...
in 1978. He died on August 25, 1980 and in that year was inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame. The Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum inducted Reeve into the Alaska Aviation Pioneer Hall of Fame on February 25, 2005. The Bob Reeve High School in Adak, Alaska was named after him.
The post war formation and history of Reeve Aleutian Airways
Reeve Aleutian Airways
Reeve Aleutian Airways was an airline headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. It ceased operations on December 5, 2000.-Founding:...
is told on that page.
Children
Bob and Tilly Reeve had five children. Richard, Roberta, Janice, David, and Whitham. Richard would become President of Reeve Aleutian upon the death of his father. Janice remained as a Vice President of the airline. Roberta married famed bush pilot Don Sheldon. Whitham formed his own engineering business. David became Senior Vice President of Midwest Airlines and President/CEO of Skyway Airlines in Milwaukee, WI.Boeing 80A.
- NC224M c/n 1082. Ex Boeing Air Transport (United Air Lines). Rebuilt as an 80A-1 in 1930. To Monterey Peninsula Airways in 1939, then via Charles H Babb to M-K. Accident on March 21, 1943 at Anchorage, repaired with parts from NC229M. Given to Bob Reeve in 1946, sat outside Reeve's hangar until 1960 when hauled to the Anchorage landfill. Rescued before being buried and passed to Boeing Management Association. Aircraft and spares flown to McChord Air Base near Seattle and stored. Eventually restored by Pacific Northwest Aviation Historical Foundation at Auburn and displayed at the Museum of FlightMuseum of FlightThe Museum of Flight is a private non-profit air and space museum at King County International Airport , south of downtown Seattle, Washington. It was established in 1965 and is fully accredited by the American Association of Museums...
, Seattle. It is the sole surviving Boeing 80.
- NC229M c/n 1087. Parts from this aircraft were used to repair NC224M after that aircraft had been involved in an accident on March 21, 1943 at Anchorage.
- NC793K c/n 1081. Purchased 1942, written off near Cold Bay, Alaska July 5, 1943.
Hamilton Metalplane.
Reeve purchased a Hamilton Metalplane, but it crashed on the delivery flight.Lockheed Vega 5B
- N9424 Reeve flew a Lockheed Vega when with Panagra in South America. An accident at Santiago led to his resignation and move to Alaska. He is pictured in front of N9424 in Flying Beats Work.
Fairchild 71.
- NC119H c/n 675. Ex Marine Airways. Bought in the winter if 1939/40 to replace NC9745.
- NC9745 c/n 611. This was the aircraft that was blown over, then destroyed in a hangar fire when repairs were nearly complete.
Fairchild FC-2W-2
- NC7034 c/n 136. Ex Utah Oil Refining Company. Bought by Bob Reeve in 1941/42, the frame of the fuselageFuselageThe fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
is currently on display at the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum.