Mirow Air Service  Stinson A  NC15154     (c/n  9114)

                                 

                                       Mirow Air Service ran scheduled services in Alaska from about 1935 until it was absorbed into
                                       Alaska Air Lines in the early 1940s.  The rare shots of their two Stinson As on this page are from
                                       Lars Opland.  On the bottom of the page I will enlarge the fuselage and tail section of the machine
                                       depicted above, wherein the operator name and registration may be faintly discerned.  Both aircraft
                                       were ex-American Airways machines.  The narrative regarding these photographs can best be
                                       covered by reporting Lars' own accompanying remarks verbatim as follows:                                  

                                       "My grandfather, Alfred Opland, was hired by the government to travel up & down the Bering Sea
                                        coast, checking in on the domestic reindeer herds which had been established at several villages
                                        as an economic experiment, encouraging husbandry of the herds & reporting progress. The domestic
                                        reindeer was an alien concept to people who were accustomed to the annual food surplus already
                                        provided by the caribou migrations they knew so well, & the reindeer themselves tended to wander
                                        off with their wild brethren once met, so only a couple of villages even bothered with this.  

                                        Grandpa had told me about catching rides up & down the coast with fishermen & the Coast Guard to
                                        complete the assigned task, & what a hassle that was. At one point the parent agency (The Indian
                                        Commission; now The Bureau of Indian Affairs or BIA) chartered Mirow's Stinsons (NC15154 & NC16110)"

                                        Mirow Air Service was acquired by Alaska Star Airlines in May 1942.

                                       Stinson A  NC16110                  (c/n  9129)