We Flew in the Same Sky

As authorized by the Lend-Lease Act of 1941, American planes were flown from the continental United States via Alaska to Siberia to support the defense of the United States and the Soviet war effort. Between 1942 and 1945, pilots delivered nearly 8,000 warplanes along the Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease Airway, carrying them more than halfway around the world across more than 12 time zones from Great Falls, Montana, to the Russian warfronts. Much of the route crossed remote, roadless wilderness, and pilots traveled in stages from one hastily built airfield to the next. Alaska served as the exchange point: United States Army Air Corps pilots of the 7th Ferrying Squadron flew aircraft from their factories in the U.S. to Great Falls and then across Canada to Ladd Field near Fairbanks, Alaska, now Fort Wainwright, where pilots of the USSR Air Force took them over western Alaska and across Siberia to the front. Severe weather and mechanical problems caused 133 airplane crashes in North America and 44 in Siberia along the airway, and the heroism of the American and Soviet pilots and all who took part in this undertaking is remembered.

Farmers Loop, Alaska · United States