Alaska Fly-In Lodge Pioneer Dies

Ray Petersen, an Alaska aviation pioneer who in the 1950s built some of the first fly-in fishing lodges in Alaska, died at age 96 on Tuesday. “In 1947 he formed Northern Consolidated Airlines, merging his Bethel-based air service, Ray Petersen Flying Service, with several other small airlines. In 1950 he brokered a deal with the National Park Service to build lodges in what was then Katmai National Monument. The five lodges launched a new era of fishing tourism in rural Alaska. Julia O’Malley in the Anchorage Daily News

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