(Photo | Courtesy of Arcadia Publishing)
This book will take readers back in time to the pioneering days of Central Oregon, when birdmen and barnstormers crisscrossed the skies in their Wright Flyers, Curtiss Jennys and Ford Trimotors. In the early days, the dusty high desert airfields were home to flimsy airplanes. As air travel evolved from utilizing seat-of-the-pants construction to becoming a new mode of mass transportation, the Central Oregon region developed along with the technology. Over the next century, a dedicated group of visionaries — aviators and city officials — built a thriving economy around Redmond Municipal Airport. Today, this transportation hub, also known as Roberts Field, sees an average of one million passengers each year. It is complemented by smaller general aviation airports that are home to private and corporate pilots, as well as a flourishing aviation industry.
Local historian Tor Hanson has lived in Bend for more than 30 years. He holds a degree in information and public relations from Skurup Folkhögskola in Sweden. Hanson did his military service in the Swedish Air Force (telecommunications) and later worked for Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) in Malmö and Stockholm. He has written aviation-related articles for both Swedish and American magazines during his more than 40-year career as a freelance journalist.