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Timeline / Citizenship, Services, and Sovereignty / 1928: Airplane transports rural patients to Anchorage

1928: Airplane transports rural patients to Anchorage

The first air transport service for the sick and injured begins in Alaska. Its first flight brings patients from Bethel to Anchorage.

Theme
Medicine Ways
Region
Arctic, Subarctic

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Two planes parked in a field, Fairbanks, Alaska, ca. 1929–1935. Because of the vast distances in Alaska and the lack of roads in many areas, aircraft are essential to transport the sick and injured to medical care.

Courtesy Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks

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Alaskan Airways delivery of diptheria antitoxin to Point Barrow, Alaska

Courtesy Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks