Film Friday:
Camera: Rolleiflex 3.5MX; Film: Kodak 120, Ektar 100
Tag Archives: medium format
Lend-Lease Monument
Camera: Rolleiflex 3.5MX; Film: Kodak 120, TMax100
The Lend-Lease Monument is located in Griffin Park, downtown Fairbanks, near Golden Heart Plaza, alongside the Chena River.
The Lend-Lease Act was originally passed in March 1941, with the Soviet Union being added to the program in October of the same year. The Northwest Staging Route, from the mainland of the U.S. through Canada and into Alaska, was extended into the Soviet Union with the Alaska-Siberian Airway (ALSIB).
Map of ALSIB; cell phone photo
Planes were ferried from locations like Buffalo, NY; Minneapolis, MN; St Louis, MO; and Oklahoma City, OK to Great Falls, MT. Airfields were carved out of the wilderness from Montana through Canada and on to Ladd Field in Fairbanks. Most airfields were built 100 miles apart, with the longest being between Fort Nelson, BC and Liard River, which was 140 miles. The Alaska Highway would soon be completed linking the airfields together by road.
The first Soviet pilots landed in Nome on 14 August 1942. The Soviets took over the aircraft at either Ladd Field in Fairbanks or at Nome, then flew across the Bering Strait to Krasnoyarsk in Siberia.
Over 8000 aircraft flew through Ladd Field in Fairbanks on their way to the Soviet Union. Between October 1941 and the end of May 1945 the U.S. provided the USSR with nearly a half-million vehicles other than aircraft, 2 million tons of gasoline and oil, and close to 4.5 million tons of food. Of the 8000 aircraft, 133 were lost. The average time to ferry an aircraft to the Soviet Union was 33 days.
Some of the aircraft ferried:
The Bell P-39 Airacobra, followed by the P-63 Kingcobra its successor, the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, and Rebublic P-47 Thunderbolt. Bombers ferried included the Douglas A-20 Havoc and North American’s B-25 Mitchell. Most of the transports ferried were the Douglas C-47 Skytrain.
“The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one nation… it must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world.”
—Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Air North
Beechcraft Model 18
This Beechcraft Model 18 aircraft was manufactured in 1943, and used as a military trainer during the latter years of WWII. After the war, it was bought by Air North for both cargo and passenger transport in Interior Alaska. The aircraft is now on display outside the Pioneer Air Museum in Fairbanks.
Camera: Rolleiflex 3.5MX; Film: Kodak 120, Ektar 100
Resurrection Bay in B&W
Sailboat heading out to the gulf
Fishing for pinks at the mouth of Lowell Creek
Abandoned pier
Camera: Agfa Billy-Clack 74; Film: Kodak 120 TMax 100
Unexpected Selfies
The Rover Dash: I must be going downhill
When I sent in the film from the Billy-Clack, I had one roll of 120 black & white film that I could not remember when I had shot it. Somehow, a roll of film had been forgotten in a pack pocket during one of my travels. It sat around for a bit more, as I waited to get some more 120 used up.
The roll does have some history to it, and it has been a while. It’s from the last time The Rover was down in the Lower 48. Probably right after I swapped out the motor, because there are a few shots of San Antonio.
There was also a shot of some young punk, riding alongside me in the Land Rover, taking a picture of himself as he stuck out his tongue at the camera. He also took this shot of the Rover dash, probably scared at how fast we were moving.
I must have been concentrating on traffic, because I do not remember him sticking his tongue out at me or the camera.
Camera: Agfa Clack (not the Billy-Clack); Film: Kodak 120 TMax 100; Photographer: Minnesota “Moose” Matthew
Miller’s Landing
Seward, Alaska; Camera: Agfa Billy-Clack, Film: Kodak 120 T-Max 100
I’ve had this Agfa Billy-Clack #74 camera sitting on the shelf for a while now, but had never sent a roll of film through it.
The Billy-Clack was produced prior to The Second World War, so it’s an 80+ year old piece of equipment. I believe the exact years of production ran from 1934 to 1940.
I had no idea what I was going to get out of it, but I kind of like the results. I shot a roll of black & white film while in Seward, and followed that up with a roll of color in Fairbanks.
The Agfa Billy-Clack #74
The Billy-Clack has a definite “Art-Deco” look to it. The camera itself is as basic as one can get. It has the option of two shutter speeds (1/50, Bulb), three apertures (11,16,22), two view finders (a portrait, and a landscape), and it does have a built in yellow filter that you can slide in place if you so desire. It also has one of the most awkward shutters I have ever used. Still, it was fun to get out and shoot.
Fisherman at Miller’s Landing; Camera: Agfa Billy-Clack, Film: Kodak 120 T-Max 100
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