05/20/2026
Fairbanks has always been known for taking care of its own. But most people don’t realize the community once helped crowdsource the birth of aviation in Alaska.
You can take the man out of aviation, but you can’t take aviation out of the man.
After World War I, Carl Ben Eielson tried settling into a quieter life teaching math in Fairbanks. Flying had become part of him during his Army training, but there was one problem, teachers didn’t make enough money to buy airplanes.
So Eielson started talking to people around town.
Nobody knows exactly what he said, but somehow he convinced miners, merchants, and locals across Fairbanks to chip in money so he could buy an airplane. And in the summer of 1922, crates began arriving at Weeks Field containing a Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny,” the same type of trainer aircraft used during World War I.
At the time, airplanes were still a novelty in Alaska. People came out just to watch him assemble it. As soon as the plane was ready people were standing in line for a ride. Locals were coming to him asking for rides to surrounding communities or for him to carry packages.
They didn’t know it at the time, but the people of Fairbanks had helped to create Alaska’s first bush pilot, Carl Ben Eielson.
