Alaska Star Airlines Lockheed Vega 5B  NC162W             (c/n   128)

                                       

                                           Quite a number of Lockheed Vegas were employed in Alaska.  (Pacific Alaska Airways had
                                           several).  The two rare shots in this entry are from the William Fike Collection, Museum of
                                           Alaska Transportation & Industry, and shows that Alaska Star had at least one of these racy
                                           machines.  When one stops to consider that this fully cantilever high wing monoplane was first
                                           flown in 1929 it is not difficult to believe that it was responsible for writing much of the history
                                           of speed and distance in the air in the early 1930s.   Not only that, but it was rugged,as can be
                                           seen from the nice location image below.    NC162W was involved in an accident in August
                                           1944, but whether this resulted in its being withdrawn from use is not known.