On the Beam

Two Families in Wartime Alaska

Michael Dobrin and Jerry Eppler

Ordering Information

Initial distribution and sales of this title are in book stores, museums, tourist centers in Alaska. For sales outside of Alaska, contact Farallon Ligtht Press, 2067 Stonefield Lane, Santa Rosa, CA 95403, or email us at farallonlightpress@gmail.com.

Book Profile

On the Beam is a memoir of two families who served with the fledgling Civil Aeronautics Administration in the Territory of Alaska during World War II. Culled from letters, photographs, government documents and memorabilia On the Beam describes CAA life at stations as distant as Moses Point and St. Lawrance Island to CAA headquarters in Anchorage, the perils of air travel in about the Territory and then primitive CAA communications operations.

GALLERY

(Top) Yakutat Runway, longest in the Territory, 1943.
De-icing Lend Lease C-47s at
Nome’s Marks Field, October 1944.
In Moses Point, the Epplers lived with local Inuit people. Jerry with local chief Mischaw Charles, his wife and youngest son.
Author Dobrin on a day outing with family (and a happy, energetic companion) in Girdwood, 1945.
Both the Dobrins and the Epplers flew many times with CAA Chief Pilot Jack Jefford, one of Alaska’s most celebrated pioneer pilots. Photo courtesy Jefford family.
19th Century Yukon River sternwheeler “Aksala” on Tanana River under midnight sun, summer, 1945
De-icing Lend Lease C-47s at Marks Field, Nome Alaska, October, 1944