Author: Rudy Billberg

Lindbergh’s flight from New York to Paris in 1927 cemented Rudy Billberg’s determination to fly. He learned to fly in a Curtiss Robin in 1934. He then flew as a professional pilot for 46 years. Born in Roseau, Minnesota, in 1916, Billberg’s first plan ride in 1927, was in an open-cockpit Travel Air biplane powered by a Curtiss OX-5 engine. In Minnesota he flew as a barnstormer and instructed student pilots in a pre-war federal civilian pilot training program. During World War II, he flew C-47’s in Alaska and northwestern Canada for the Air Transport Command. Before and after the war, he was an Alaska bush pilot. An adventurer at heart, Billberg, often with his wife, Bessie, explored wilderness Alaska by riverboat, amphibious plane, and snowmobile. While Rudy flew the bush, the Billbergs lived in Nome, Fairbanks, Galena, Bethel, Anchorage, and Homer. Billberg died in 2007.