Star Air Service
Star Air Service was formed in April 1932, when mine owner Wesley "Earl" Dunkle loaned money to pilots Steve Mills, Charlie Ruttan, and Jack Waterworth. Their plan was to offer flight instruction and charter service from Anchorage using their Fleet biplane. Flying lessons weren't paying all the bills; Ruttan joined the Anchorage Fire Department so he could sleep for free in a fire hall bunk.
On July 4, 1932, Star's only plane was hired for $100 to help celebrate Independence Day. But the black powder they used to leave a trail of dark smoke as the plane flew over the crowd exploded, badly damaging one of the biplane's wings. Shortly after that incident, Star went out of business temporarily when another pilot crashed the plane on a charter flight. Ruttan, Mills, and Waterworth got jobs shoveling gravel and worked on their plane at night. By the time the biplane was fixed, an investor loaned them the money to buy a Curtiss Robin and they were suddenly a two-plane airline.
Star Air Service commercial operations began in earnest in 1933. In 1935, Star Air Service bought McGee Airways from Mac McGee, who would later return and manage Star Air Service twice.
In 1937, Star Air Service purchased Arctic Airways from Chet Browne, and Alaska Interior Airways from Oscar Winchell and Don Goodman, renaming the company Star Airways. In November of that year, Don Goodman, David Strandberg, and Warren N. Cuddy formed Star Air Lines, Inc. and purchased assets from Star Airways.
In 1943, Star Air Lines, operating as Alaska Star Airlines, acquired Mirow Air Service, Pollack Airways, Lavery Airways, and Alaska Airmotive, and changed its name to Alaska Airlines. Then, in 1944 Star Airlines filed amended articles of incorporation, officially switching to the name we use today—Alaska Airlines Inc.