Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail - Polar Winds: A Century of Flying the North

Acknowledgements

To write this book, I drove two thousand kilometres along the Alaska and Dempster Highways in winter, mostly in a rental car without snow tires. I flew another 1,200 kilometres along the Big Dipper Route from Whitehorse, to Dawson, to Old Crow, and to Inuvik aboard Air Norths turboprop airliners. I also got amazing aerial views of Yellowknife and Great Slave Lake in a 1930s Norseman bush plane and Buffalo Airways Douglas DC-3 both times with Buffalo Joe McBryan at the controls. These travels gave me a great sense of this amazing region: the span of the Mackenzie Delta, ice fog in November, and the endless days of July. Even more importantly, they allowed me to meet a number of people connected to northern aviation in the air and on the ground.

These research trips would not have been possible without grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Edmonton Arts Council, and the Fox Moth Society of Yellowknife. The Writers Trust of Canada also provided three months at the Berton House Writers Retreat in Dawson City, Yukon. My time there afforded me the chance to immerse myself in the North and to access communities, archives, and libraries across the Western Arctic and Subarctic. It also allowed me to soak up inspiration from two of my historical heroes, Pierre Berton and Charlotte Gray, the latter of whom has since become a wonderful source of encouragement.

During my jaunts, I relied on a lot of northern hospitality. Thank you to Yvonne Quick, Bruce Barrett, and Judy Forrest-Barrett for putting me up, and putting up with me, and to Deb Nehring, Betty and Dan Davidson, and Michael and Kathy Gates for their help along the way. Thanks to the following people for coffees, beers, and meals in addition to great information and contacts: John Chalmers, Doug Davidge, Don Klancher, Jack Van Norman, Sherron Jones, Murray Biggin, Garry MacLean, George Balmer, David Neufeld, Bill Kendrick, Isaaq Appaqaq, Chris Lennie, Paul Laserich, John Zigarlick, and Jimmy Essery. Some of these people passed away during the creation of this book, and several far too soon, but not before they contributed to northern aviation in important ways.

In addition to those whose names appear in the rest of the book, I would like to thank the knowledgeable members of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society who were generous with their assistance: George Fuller, Hugh Halliday, Rod Digney, Roger Beebe, Leo Kohn, Tony Hine, and Alan Rust. Lech Lebiedowski, Rod MacLeod, and Tom Hinderks at the Alberta Aviation Museum were very helpful, as were the following people and institutions: Cheryl Charlie at the Yukon Archives; Leighann Chalykoff at the MacBride Museum; Robin Weber and Ian Moir at the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre; Laura Mann at the Dawson Museum Archives; Casey McLaughlin at the Yukon Transportation Museum; Megan Williams, the heritage manager at the Government of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation; Braden Cannon at the Provincial Archives of Alberta; Monika Sjue at the Preus Museum; and the many people who helped me at the various branches of the Yukon and Edmonton Public Libraries.

Thanks also to my agent, Carolyn Forde at Westwood Creative Artists, as well as Michael Melgaard and Margaret Bryant at Dundurn, for their help bringing this book into the world. And thanks to David and Rose Scollard for brunches, editorial insights, and their early encouragement.

I am also grateful to Robin Brass for creating the map for the book, and to Neil Taylor of Edmonton who was kind enough to read the entire manuscript and offer his valuable feedback.

Then there are the wonderful friends and writers who have seen me through this long journey: Caitlin Crawshaw, Ashley Dryburgh, Erinne Sevigny, S.G. Wong, Caterina Edwards, Jean Crozier, Marce Merrell, Lorie White, Debby Waldman, and Jessica Kluthe. Your critiques and support have been invaluable.

A huge thanks to my incredible husband, Doug, who always believed in me and this project (and subsidized my writing habit), and to my son, Andre, who has been connected to this book from the beginning, and shows every indication of loving aviation as much as his namesake.

Finally, this book began on the shelves of my parents curio cabinets and bookcases. There, I found my fathers Inuktitut lesson books and the soapstone carvings my mother brought back from business trips to the Arctic. Thank you and merci for looking north and nurturing my dreams I dedicate this book to you.