Adak Alaska Photography (original) (raw)

"Birthplace of the Winds" The Adak Military Adventure

Photos and Stories

CLICK HERE for photos and stories

CLICK HERE for Adak Eagle's Call newsletters

Adak Topographic Map; 1:250,000 Scale, GIF. 3 megabytes, 6000 pixels wide.

Books

• The Rescue of Alfa Foxtrot 586 by Andrew C.A. Jampoler. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. 2003. ISBN: 1 59114 412 4. An exciting, comprehensive tale of the ditching (crash at sea) of a Navy P3 surveillance aircraft. This is a true story told by an aviator stationed on Adak at the time of the event.
  • Buy from US Naval Institute
  • Buy from Amazon.com (Amazon has an availability (release) date of 31 May 2003 but you can pre-order)
  • Buy from Barnes and Noble
• Prisoners of the Williwaw by Ed Griffin . This is a captivating story suggesting the re-use of Adak for a prisoner community.
  • Trafford Publishers See the book.
  • Amazon.Com link to the book

Movies

• 
  Electra! Queen of the Aleutian Islands(DVD, 55 Minutes). A documentary by Bill Schulz. Music by John Rich (see info and music samples: http://www.jrich.com/history.html).
  • Bill Schulz' Electra Website with a Quicktime sample clip from the movie.
  • Available from Flight One Software:http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=TCC-ELDVD-01
  • Comment by Michael Gordon: I am nearly certain that you will treasure this movie, especially if you are fond of the hum of a big four-engine perfectly synchronized turboprop OR you admire the hard beauty of the Aleutian Islands. If you happen to have fond memories of both, this one will bring tears to your eyes. I loved it. The technical quality is first rate, crystal clear and without the editing artifacts (noise, snow, smearing) of analog video -- in other words, DVD digital quality from the moment it was photographed in 1998 and 1999 (I think).
    Outline: A brief history of Eastern Airlines' use of the Electra, followed by demise of Electra at Eastern then demise of Eastern Airlines. The author discovers Electras in Alaska: Reeve Aleutian Airline or Airways (It was Airways when I was on Adak but I think it became Airlines later) He goes to Alaska to photograph and experience the Electra, but is captivated by the awesome beauty and terrible power of Alaska. We watch ground operations briefly, yet leaving nothing significant out of the preflight, start and takeoff of a four engine turboprop. You'll love the whine of the engine starts, changing to a powerful hum when all four props are synchronized.
    What we see: We fly to Sand Point on a sunny day, and the runway will amaze you -- Adak has a luxurious runway compared to Sand Point (or Dutch Harbor for that matter). We do Sand Point again on a winter day and it is quite a bit more intense and then we do Dutch Harbor on a really horrible day. All these approaches are photographed through the front of the aircraft so what the pilots see, you see. Finally you have an approach at Anchorage and a reprise music video and throughout the movie, top quality still photographs as needed.
    Style: imagine that a friendly man with a passionate yet gentle voice came to your home, and he had something he wanted you to see, which he loves and he thinks you will too. In fact, he is sure of it. No doubt many viewers have flown on this very airline and have tales of their own (I do!) but do we tire of telling about the time the Reever was sliding sideways down the runway at Cold Bay? How about the time Pat Kelly landed at Adak in a white out with the runway closed and asked the tower to turn on the lights so he would not collide with the tower? Well, here you go: A tale of Alaska and the best aircraft ever made to fly the Aleutian Islands, but this time with visual proof and beautiful music!
• Adak Movie clipsin RealVideo® and MPEG formats.

Links