Aviation / "The Flying Baritone" - Fairbanks AK - Alaska Historic Markers on Waymarking.com

This marker is located along First Ave near Cushman Street in downtown Fairbanks AK. The marker reads as follows:

"HISTORIC FAIRBANKS

AVIATION

In 1913 Fairbanks merchants invited Lilly and James V. Martin to bring their airplane to Fairbanks. The Martins shipped their crated airplane from Seattle. When it reached Fairbanks, Martin and his wife, who was England’s first woman aviator, assembled their airplane (photo above). On July 3rd Martin took off from the local ball park, reaching an altitude of 200 feet and speeds of up to 45 miles per hour. Alaska’s love affair with aviation had begun.

Alaskan aviation took another leap forward in 1922 when high school teacher Carl Ben Eielson arrived in Fairbanks to teach mathematics and science. The 24-year-old believed in the future of aviation. His enthusiasm was catching and in 1923 Fairbanks businessmen underwrote the purchase of a plane for Eielson’s use. The plane, a “Jenny,” was shipped to Fairbanks on the newly completed Alaska Railroad.

In 1924 Eielson (right) went to Washington to lobby for government air service in Alaska. By 1929, when Eielson became vice president and general manager of Alaskan Airways, he was generally recognized as one of the foremost pilots in America. That same year Eielson and his mechanic Earl Borland died in Siberia when their plane crashed during a relief expedition to the ice-bound American trading vessel NANUK near the village of North Cape, Siberia.

[photo caption] Right: in the fall of 1923, Carl Ben Eielson persuaded the United States Post Office Department to award him an air-mail contract. The inaugural flight took off from the Fairbanks field in February 1924.

[photo caption] Carl Ben Eielson

[photo caption] 1924 Feb Col Carl Ben Eielson by coplt left D. H. Mail plane Fairbanks Alaska

"THE FLYING BARITONE"

There are a few songs so widely known as the music and exhilarating words of the Air Force Song, “off we go into the wild blue yonder, climbing high into the sun.” Yet, few people know that Robert Crawford, the man who wrote the song, grew up in Fairbanks.

Crawford, the son of early pioneers, was born in Dawson in Yukon Territory. Ronald Crawford moved with his wife, Mable, and son to Fairbanks in 1904 to open a real estate and mining brokerage. At the time, many Fairbanks residents enjoyed cultural events and played musical instruments. Robert loved music with the passion and in 1915, at the age of sixteen, he composed “My Northland” which became popular. Young Crawford left Alaska to continue his education elsewhere, but he never forgot Fairbanks and the thrill of seeing his first airplane flight in 1913. Crawford learn to fly and in 1932 Time magazine dubbed him “The Flying Baritone.” That year Crawford returned to Alaska, flying his own plane, for the first of many concert tours.

In 1938, Liberty magazine announced a contest for a new official Army Air Corps song. Crawford's submission was the winning entry. Then came Pearl Harbor, and “Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder” became part of America’s musical heritage.

After Pearl Harbor, “The Flying Baritone” worked for the war effort. In 1948 he continued his musical career at the University of Miami School of Music. He continued to compose and wrote many songs with a northern theme until his death in 1961."

Marker Name: Aviation / The Flying Baritone Marker Type: City Addtional Information: located along First Avenue near the Key bank at Cushman Street Date Dedicated / Placed: unknown Marker Number: n/a

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/20/2022 Benchmark Blasterz visited it