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Art Staymates

Arthur Staymates was born in 1925 in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, 20 miles east of Pittsburgh. He grew up in the small town in rural Pennsylvania. His father was a carpenter. Times were rough but he felt well taken care of by his parents. Staymates was not affected much by the Depression. He attended school, played sports. Staymates was a junior in high school when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. Until he reached draft age, he was content to just play ball in school. There was not much discussion of the war at school. Two of Staymates' coaches voluntarily entered the Navy V-12 program as officers advising on military physical training and exercise methods. The coaches were both great guys who kept up with Staymates and committed to assisting him in obtaining athletic scholarships or starting professional sports after his graduation.

Staymates never paid much attention to the war or its progress. Staymates turned 18 years old in March 1943 and received a draft notice in June after his high school graduation. He took the notice to Greensburg, Pennsylvania where the induction center was. He saw a friend who was a recruiter there. His friend asked Staymates where he wanted to go. Staymates wanted to go into the Army Air Force. His friend said that it was overbooked. Consequently, they would not accept him. The recruiter advised instead that Staymates sign up for the infantry. No one wanted the infantry but it was to be a ruse for Staymates to complete basic training successfully and afterward request a transfer to the Air Force from his company commander. Staymates agreed but thought afterward that he was perhaps naïve for doing so. After basic, Staymates told the company sergeants that he would like to request a transfer from the company commander. The non-commissioned officers all laughed at Staymates for his idea. The company commander heard the laughter and wanted to know what was so funny. When the sergeants revealed Staymates' request to the commander, he laughed and told Staymates that he had better just get back to work. The way that Staymates now sees things, that was the best that could have happened. There are things that are experienced and learned about life that can never been taught or understood unless you experience combat as an infantryman. An infantryman sees things that are a matter of life or death, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. [1]

==

Staymates had a typical, hard basic training at Camp Shelby in Mississippi. He excelled in weapons, and rated expert in rifle and pistol (?!). After completing his training he was assigned squad leader for a 12 man training unit that was sent to train for Air Force personnel Miami, Florida. Staymates was tasked with familiarizing the airmen in firing the Colt 45 for self-defense in case they were shot down. Over the ensuing five weeks Staymates and his men trained hundreds of airmen in the use of the weapon. Next, he and his squad were sent to Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington to train medics on the use of the Colt 45, especially important for those medics serving in the Pacific theater, where the Japanese did not constrain themselves to the Geneva convention. After that assignment, Staymates returned to Camp Shelby, but the 69th Division had shipped out, so Staymates was sent to New York as a replacement for units which had suffered loses in the North African and Sicilian campaigns. In April 1944 he arrived in England and was assigned to the 1st Division. It was always cold and wet and miserable during his two months in England. That made good training for his future in the infantry. While in England, the training mostly involved maintaining physical fitness. There were long marches every day. Right before D-Day, exercises in the English Channel involved climbing down ropes to the Landing Craft Infantry (LCI). Men were hurt when they accidentally fell or slipped while climbing down from one vessel to another. It was good training for future use of the LCI to attack the beach. It was nasty weather during that time.

D-Day

Arthur Staymates was too young to be frightened by the impending D-Day invasion [Annotator's Note: on 6 June 1944]. When General Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: Supreme Allied Commander US Army General, later President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower] sent the message about the assault potentially resulting in serious casualties, the men became nervous about the prospect of being killed. They managed to convince themselves that it would not be so bad, but it was. The 1st Division lost 2,000 men alone on D-Day. It was a terrible experience that made him grow up quickly. He had no choice. It was not very good. He first got off the larger ship into an LCI [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft, Infantry]. It was made to hold 31 men, but with the added gear, only 24 could fit in one vessel. That split Staymates' platoon of 48 men in half. It was rough to gather his men together after reaching the beach. The water was rough on the trip in and tossed the small vessel. Everyone seemed to be sick. The boat was a mess. It was unworldly. They learned a lot about each other in that tight condition. There were no atheists on the front line. Some men were actually scared stiff. They had to be dragged forward. Fear treats each individual differently. A man had to accept the fact that as an infantryman, he was going to be hit or killed. Everything was thrown at them 24 hours a day. There was no place to hide on the beach. If they stood on the beach, they would be killed. If they fought forward, they stood a chance of surviving. In the infantry, they had the risk of being killed at any time. When they were getting off the LCI, there were machine guns up on the cliffs that raked the ramps back and forth [Annotator's Note: Staymates gestures and simulates the sound of incoming automatic weapon fire]. The men had to make a decision what to do. Staymates chose to get off the ramp to avoid the fire. He and others leapt over the side into water over their heads. They had to shed their heavy packs to be able to make it through the deep water. Some men drown. The ones who were scared stiff did not make it either. Those who stayed on the ramp were killed. The troops tried to help each other by dragging men out of the water until they could help themselves. It quickly taught them that they had each other's back. It was something that they had to do. They were not in the midst of a game. The fighting was for keeps. Staymates had to do his share to get the enemy before they got him. He started to become a soldier when he learned that. After hitting the beach, there were problems. The Air Force had been ordered to bomb the beach the day and night before the assault. That would have resulted in bomb craters that would provide some cover for the incoming troops. Bad weather prevented the bombers from flying. There were no bomb craters, just flat beach. The men could not hide from the machine gun fire. The survivors learned the cadence of the fire of the machine guns and managed to go slightly forward when the guns were aiming away from them. They would then dive into the sand and hope the fire would miss them again before they scrambled forward another five or ten steps. It took the men all day to make the 250 to 300 yards between the water's edge and the cliffs they had to scale to reach the Germans. The distance seemed a mile long. They advanced eight or ten yards at a time. It was a bad time all around. Some of the men managed to get through it. While aboard the LCI, a good friend of Staymates named Larry Brown said he did not want to be hit and become a burden to his family back home. They both agreed that if one were seriously wounded, the other man would terminate their life. After hitting the beach and initially surviving the heavy German fire, Brown called out to Staymates by his nickname, Lucky, that the bet was off. Staymates was glad [Annotator's Note: he chuckles]. Only five of those hitting the beach for the 1st Division were still alive in Czechoslovakia at the end of the war. Many replacements came in and survived along with them and became friends. All five of the men were wounded during the war. Now, only Wally Morgan and Staymates are still alive. Morgan is 94 and in a wheelchair. He is getting a little forgetful, but he says he is ok. His daughter lives with him, but he no longer has his wife. Having gotten through combat, life is beautiful for Staymates. Nothing could be worse than wartime. Staymates is happy. During the beach assault, his world as an infantryman was 120 yards to the left and right and in front. Nothing was noticeable behind because he was advancing. It is always necessary for the unit to stay split up and not stay together. When he talked to Brown about calling off the bet, they were close to one another. Brown, or Brownie as Staymates refers to him, was hit later that day. There is nothing nice to talk about concerning going through combat. It is just war. After the experience, anything else can be handled.

Staymates was with the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division that assaulted Omaha Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944. He had crossed the beach and made it to the cliffs, thinking he had reached safety when he made it to the cliffs. He knew the Germans could not shoot their machine guns down toward him any longer. (Staymates uses his hands to simulate a downward crossfire from the machine gun positions on the cliffs above the landing beaches). The Germans began dropping grenades down on the Americans. Mortar fire was also used against the American assault troops. The salvation for the troops on the beach was the Navy ships which fired at the Germans. The ships fired rounds that exploded above the German machine gun nests on the cliffs. Additionally, the 101st Airborne had jumped the night before and although they were sustaining heavy casualties, they managed to keep the Germans pinned down from behind. Going up the cliffs was hard to get started. Grappling hooks were used to climb the cliffs. The Germans soon cut the ropes. Someone came up with the idea of using something that looked like a booby trap on the ropes to prevent the Germans from cutting them. That worked for a while, but the real aid came from the offshore naval fire that forced the Germans out of their fixed positions. Some men came up the side of the cliffs. Other specially trained men reached the top. That was what all the training was about. The next hill was some 30 yards away. It was protected by six feet of barbed wire. The engineers had given the troops bangalores to blow up the wire. The men advanced upon the small rise, but they had to go through mine fields that included Bouncing Bettys. Those mines would fly up after activation and explode at a man's waist and blow him in half. Mines had also been installed on the obstacle posts on the beach used to keep the ships out. One of Staymates' buddies was hanging on a post to get his breath after getting through the water when a bullet hit the post and exploded the mine on it. There were no remains of the man left. Not even a dog tag could be found. Another pal was running with Staymates when the machine gun fire approached them. They hit the ground, but Staymates' buddy fell on a mine. The explosion completely obliterated the man. Nothing but blood was left. Mines were terrible. The troops hated them. The Germans were great at setting up mines. When an American soldier was killed, the Germans learned to set a booby trap under the dead man so that if he was moved an explosion would kill the individual moving him. The Germans had been at war since 1936 [Annotator's Note: since the Spanish Civil War] and knew some of the dirty tricks. It made the Americans cautious about moving a dead friend in order to get his dog tags. The Americans learned the tricks as they went along. They soon learned to play the same game with the enemy. It was uncomfortable not being able to handle a dead buddy to obtain his dog tags. Mines were everywhere right up to the end. They unexpectedly caused many deaths. A man stepping on a mine usually meant the end of the individual. No matter how much a medic tried, there were just too many wounded. On D-Day there were bodies flying everywhere. The medics were wonderful young men. They tried to save as many as they could, but there were just too many wounded. Staymates never talked much about these experiences to his children. They did not ask and he did not offer the details of what he had seen.

The first taste of combat in Europe was not what he anticipated. He was shot at and then instinctively shot back according to his training. The young man that he shot was as young as Staymates. It made him a nervous wreck for a few hours. He was not taught to take a life but his training took over. It never got easy shooting others but he learned to accept it.

Hedgerow country

Staymates was a squad leader in Company B, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division

Staymates' division approached Germany from Luxembourg, they encountered the Siegfried Line of defense established by Germany. It ran 400 miles north to south across the western border of Germany. After penetration of that line of defense, the objective was Aachen. Göring committed to changing his name to Snikelgruber.

The taking of Aachen was door to door fighting. The city was taken street by street and apartment by apartment. Some of the apartments were three floors high. It was a tough battle because it was Germany's first major city to fall. The Americans lost a lot of people. The German colonel in charge of the city's defense wanted to surrender to General Eisenhower. The Americans rejected that request saying that Eisenhower was too busy in England to come up and take the surrender of Aachen. The German ultimately decided to surrender to those American officers in place at Aachen. Staymates was so certain of victory that he told his men that they should be home by Christmas. His men were joyous, but little did Staymates know that his prediction would not hold.

Later, Staymates was commander of the guard at the Nuremburg Trials for war criminals. Remembering the broadcast, he teased Göring by calling him Snikelgruber.

Winter war and the Battle of the Bulge

Arthur Staymates was presented the Bronze Star for actions performed early in his combat. He earned his first Bronze Star while trying to move forward on a blown out building. He and his men [Annotator's Note: Staymates was a platoon leader in Company B, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division] were being fired upon by an unseen sniper. Several men were wounded before the sniper was spotted about a mile away. Staymates was the leader of the shorthanded platoon. The men wanted to rush the sniper, but Staymates decided it was a one man job. Not wanting to send any of his men into harm's way, he decided to trade his Thompson submachine gun for his buddy Wally Brown's BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle] which had fewer rounds in the magazine but was far more accurate than the submachine gun. The Thompson had a good rate of fire but the rounds would fall short compared to the trajectory of a round fired from a BAR. Staymates had been a good athlete so he ran from one cover position to another toward the sniper avoiding being seen. He went behind and through buildings and woods. He had to get within a 100 to 150 yards to accurately fire on the German rifleman. He crossed a river and got wet but he was wet all the time so it did not matter. He encountered no Germans though he knew the woods were full of them. He felt he would be killed at any time. As he got near enough, he spotted the shooter peering out of the window enough that he could get an aim on his head. The next time the sniper looked outward, Staymates pulled the trigger and got the enemy soldier. Staymates ran back to his men. Not a German shot at him. They must have thought he was crazy running through the two miles or so. When he reached his men, he was physically and mentally whipped. He had to take a break and have some time to himself. He asked Brown to give him some time to pause. Instead, Staymates' friend went inside and returned with a camera and took a picture of him. The men then gathered to plan their next move since the sniper had been eliminated. They carried on. Later, after the war, Wally Brown sent Staymates the picture he had taken of him at rest after taking out the sniper [Annotator's Note: Staymates becomes emotional]. The photograph reflected Staymates still alive with the BAR. It's a great picture. He received the Bronze Star for that action. As the platoon leader, he could not have asked anyone else to take the risk under such perilous conditions. It furthered the respect his men felt for him. They were his buddies prior to the incident, but they were not going to let anything happen to him after he did what he did. Just 30 minutes afterward, Staymates was wounded for the first time. A German mortar round exploded and shrapnel hit him. He was hospitalized despite his desire not to go back. The wound was such that he had to have it treated. When he returned to his men after hospital, the platoon was still in the same general area as when he was wounded. Progress was slow in that area prior to the Battle of the Bulge. The men moved forward slowly on foot. The speed accelerated when they could get aboard tanks. In Verviers, Belgium was a repple depple [Annotator's Note: GI slang for replacement depot] where he was picked up after the hospital. He was given a lift on a truck only part of the way. He traveled the remainder of the distance on foot. It was a good feeling to be away from the front. He had dry clothes, slept in a clean bed with a roof over his head. After a brief period, he realized that he belonged back with his men. He knew he would like to go home but something made him want to finish the job. The platoon did well at that. After returning from the hospital, the truck stopped near Aachen so some of the recruits could take a bathroom break. While the truck was stopped, Staymates took a walk around Aachen. While doing so, he discovered one of his buddies who had gone missing in action. The man had been shot and was dead, but Staymates feared taking his dog tags because he might be blown up [Annotator's Note: the Germans were notorious for placing bobby traps on American dead in an attempt to cause additional casualties among those recovering bodies]. Staymates put the bayonet on the man's rifle and stuck it into the ground. He placed the man's helmet on top of the rifle with a dog tag. He returned to the truck and informed Graves Registration [Annotator's Note: military units assigned to recover remains along with personal affects so that temporarily internment of the corpse away from combat zones could be accomplished] where the body was located. Staymates experienced a series of contradictory feelings. At first he did not want to return to the front, but then he changed his mind and wanted to return to his men. While on the way back, he discovered a dead buddy and was not certain of his decision, but he knew he had to rejoin his platoon. The deceased buddy had been missing since he fell while it was snowing. He probably had been covered until near the time Staymates discovered his remains. Funny things happen in war, but it is great when it is all over. Nowhere else could one experience those things. Staymates is happy he made it through those difficult times.

History

Ketchikan waterfront ca. 1918

Ketchikan Creek served as a summer fish camp for Tlingit natives for untold years before the town was established by Mike Martin in 1885. He was sent to the area by an Oregon canning company to assess prospects. He established the saltery Clark & Martin and a general store with Nova Scotia native George Clark, who had been foreman at a cannery that burned down.

Totem poles

Ketchikan has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles, found throughout the city and at four major locations: Saxman Totem Park, Totem Bight State Park, Potlatch Park, and the Totem Heritage Center. Most of the totems at Saxman Totem Park and Totem Bight State Park are recarvings of older poles, a practice that began during the Roosevelt Administration through the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Totem Heritage Center displays preserved 19th-century poles rescued from abandoned village sites near Ketchikan.

Geography

Ketchikan's GPS geographic coordinates are latitude 55.342 (slightly south of both Copenhagen, Denmark at 55.676 and Glasgow, Scotland at 55.864) and longitude -131.648. The city is located in southernmost Southeast Alaska on Revillagigedo Island, 700 miles (1,100 km) northwest of Seattle, Washington, 235 miles (378 km) southeast of Juneau, Alaska, and 88 miles (142 km) northwest of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada. It is surrounded by the Tongass National Forest, which is managed by the United States Forest Service from its headquarters in the Ketchikan Federal Building downtown, and to the south by the Tongass Narrows, a narrow east-west saltwater channel, which is part of the Inside Passage.

Due to its steep and forested terrain, Ketchikan is long and narrow with much of the built-up area being located along, or no more than a few city blocks from, the waterfront. Elevations of inhabited areas range from just above sea level to about 300 feet (91 m). Deer Mountain, a 3,001-foot (915 m) peak, rises immediately east of the city's downtown area.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.9 square miles (15.3 km²). 4.4 square miles (11.3 km²) of it is land and 1.5 square miles (4.0 km²) of it (29.14%) is water.

The half-mile (800 m) wide channel called the Tongass Narrows separates Ketchikan from Gravina Island, where Ketchikan International Airport is located.

A panorama of downtown Ketchikan and surrounding terrain from the peak of Deer Mountain in October 2004. Pennock Island divides the Tongass Narrows on the left, and Gravina Island lies on the distant side of the Narrows.

Climate

Ketchikan has a mild maritime or oceanic climate, characterized by heavy cloud cover and high humidity through much of the year and abundant rainfall throughout the year (even in the driest month). This location's climate is classified as (Köppen Cfb or Marine West Coast), which is likened to the cities of Aberdeen and Inverness in northern Scotland and Stavanger and adjacent coastal areas, such as Askøy, in Western Norway, though with much more rain, earning it the nickname of the "Rain Capital of Alaska". Winters are cool but milder than its latitude alone may suggest: January has a 24-hour average of 33.6 °F (0.9 °C) with an average daytime high of 38.9 °F (3.8 °C) and overnight low of 28.6 °F (−1.9 °C). Summers are mild, as August's temperature averages 58.4 °F (14.7 °C) with an average daytime high of 65.2 °F (18.4 °C) and overnight low of 51.6 °F (10.9 °C). Rainfall averages 153 inches (3,893 mm) per year, falling more heavily in autumn and winter. On average, the growing season (non-freezing temperatures) lasts about 6.3 months or 191 days, extending from about April 19 to about October 27.

Ketchikan receives a great deal of rainfall, and is the third wettest city in the United States, bested only by fellow Alaskan cities of Yakutat and Whittier. The Whittier receives the most annual precipitation, at 197.8 inches (5.02 m).

Further east and away from moderating maritime influence, winters on these parallels in inland North America are much colder.

The record high temperature in Ketchikan was 96 °F (36 °C) on June 25, 1913. The record low temperature was −7 °F (−22 °C) on January 23, 1916. On January 14, 2018 Ketchikan recorded a high temperature of 67 °F (19.4 °C) which is the highest recorded temperature in Alaska in the month of January. The wettest year was 1949 with 202.55 inches (5,145 mm) and the driest year was 1995 with 88.45 inches (2,247 mm). The most rainfall in one month was 42.69 inches (1,084 mm) during October 1974 and the most rainfall in 24 hours was 8.71 inches (221 mm) on October 11, 1977. The most snowfall in one month was 45.1 inches (115 cm) in January 1971.

Climate data for Ketchikan, Alaska
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	67 (19)	63 (17)	69 (21)	75 (24)	93 (34)	96 (36)	92 (33)	89 (32)	80 (27)	72 (22)	65 (18)	62 (17)	96 (36)
Mean maximum °F (°C)	49.5 (9.7)	50.2 (10.1)	53.4 (11.9)	62.3 (16.8)	71.7 (22.1)	76.4 (24.7)	78.1 (25.6)	77.5 (25.3)	70.8 (21.6)	60.5 (15.8)	54.3 (12.4)	50.5 (10.3)	81.6 (27.6)
Mean daily maximum °F (°C)	38.9 (3.8)	41.8 (5.4)	44.0 (6.7)	50.0 (10.0)	56.4 (13.6)	61.5 (16.4)	64.9 (18.3)	65.2 (18.4)	59.9 (15.5)	51.8 (11.0)	44.5 (6.9)	40.5 (4.7)	51.6 (10.9)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C)	28.6 (−1.9)	31.1 (−0.5)	32.1 (0.1)	36.0 (2.2)	41.4 (5.2)	47.3 (8.5)	51.2 (10.7)	51.6 (10.9)	47.3 (8.5)	40.8 (4.9)	34.5 (1.4)	31.1 (−0.5)	39.4 (4.1)
Mean minimum °F (°C)	13.1 (−10.5)	17.1 (−8.3)	20.4 (−6.4)	27.8 (−2.3)	33.0 (0.6)	39.6 (4.2)	44.4 (6.9)	44.2 (6.8)	37.7 (3.2)	30.2 (−1.0)	23.4 (−4.8)	16.5 (−8.6)	7.3 (−13.7)
Record low °F (°C)	−7 (−22)	0 (−18)	3 (−16)	10 (−12)	25 (−4)	32 (0)	36 (2)	34 (1)	28 (−2)	17 (−8)	5 (−15)	−1 (−18)	−7 (−22)
Average precipitation inches (mm)	13.88 (353)	12.74 (324)	11.28 (287)	11.19 (284)	9.25 (235)	7.37 (187)	7.43 (189)	10.80 (274)	14.22 (361)	22.17 (563)	17.26 (438)	15.65 (398)	153.24 (3,893)
Average snowfall inches (cm)	13.3 (34)	8.9 (23)	5.4 (14)	0.8 (2.0)	0.1 (0.25)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0.1 (0.25)	2.3 (5.8)	8.6 (22)	39.5 (101.3)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 inch)	20	18	20	19	17	16	15	16	19	24	23	22	229
Source:

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1890	40		—
1900	459		1,047.5%
1910	1,613		251.4%
1920	2,458		52.4%
1930	3,796		54.4%
1940	4,695		23.7%
1950	5,305		13.0%
1960	6,483		22.2%
1970	6,994		7.9%
1980	7,198		2.9%
1990	8,263		14.8%
2000	7,922		−4.1%
2010	8,050		1.6%
2019 (est.)	8,284		2.9%
U.S. Decennial Census

Ketchikan first appeared on the 1890 U.S. Census as the unincorporated village of "Kichikan." Of its 40 residents, 26 were Native, 9 were White and 5 were Creole (Mixed Russian & Native). It returned as Ketchikan beginning in 1900 and in every successive census. It incorporated as a city also in 1900.

The Ketchikan Misty Fjords Ranger station.

As of 2010, there were 8,050 people, 3,259 households, and 1,885 families residing in the city. As of 2017, The population density was 1,829.5 per square mile (714.1/km²). There were 3,731 housing units at an average density of 848.0 per square mile (330.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 60.7% White, 16.7% Native American (8.3% Tlingit-Haida, 1.9% Tsimshian), 10.8% Asian (9.4% Filipino), 10.0% from two or more races, 0.8% Black or African American, 0.3% Pacific Islander, and 0.7% some other race. 4.4% of the population were Hispanic or Latino (2.6% Mexican) of any race.

St John's Episcopal Church and a mission hospital, August 1904

There were 3,259 households. 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.6% were headed by married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.0% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41, and the average family size was 3.07.

The population was spread out, with 23.9% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 29.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.5 males.

In 2017, the ACS-estimated median and average annual incomes for a household in the city were $56,372 and $70,490, respectively. The median and average incomes for a family were $68,438 and $84,518, respectively. The per capita income for the city was $30,474. About 12.4% of the population, including 19.8% of those under 18-years old, were below the poverty line. 90.0% spoke English, 5.98% Tagalog, 1.81% Spanish, and 0.7% Tsimshian as their first language.

Media

Ketchikan sign, which arches over Mission Street. Front Street is in the immediate foreground.

Ketchikan is home to four radio stations: KTKN-AM 930, KGTW-FM 106.7, KFMJ-FM 99.9, and community-owned NPR-affiliated KRBD-FM 105.3.

Ketchikan has one over-the-air broadcast television station, KUBD (TV), Channel 13 digital and 4 visual, a CBS network affiliate.

Ketchikan also houses the publishing offices of the Ketchikan Daily News.

The region has local cable television programming provided by Ketchikan Public Utilities, including public meetings, Southeast Alaska programming, Ketchikan High School sports and events, local history, gardening and scenes, and a calendar of upcoming local events; local television signals carried on the cable system are also translations of Seattle and Anchorage stations.

Government and infrastructure

The City of Ketchikan operates under a council-manager form of government. In 2018, Robert Sivertsen replaced Lew Williams III, who had served 28 years, as mayor of the City of Ketchikan. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough includes both the City of Ketchikan and the City of Saxman and encompasses more than 6,000 square miles (16,000 km²) from the Canada–US border to just south of Wrangell. Rodney Dial is the current Mayor of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska. The Alaska Marine Highway System has its headquarters in Ketchikan.

Undated photo of a baseball game in Ketchikan by John Nathan Cobb

Ketchikan has long loomed heavy in Alaska's political landscape, though increasing population in Southcentral Alaska has led to a diminishment of its influence since the 1980s. Following a round of redistricting, the convening of the 28th Alaska State Legislature in January 2013 marked the first time in the state's history that no residents of Ketchikan or the surrounding area serve as members of the Alaska Legislature. Ketchikan is represented in the Alaska Senate by Bert Stedman, who lives in Sitka, and in the Alaska House of Representatives by Independent politician Dan Ortiz (politician), a former schoolteacher who taught at Ketchikan High School.

Over the decades, Ketchikan has produced a number of political figures of note to Alaska in general. In territorial days, Norman Ray "Doc" Walker, a Canadian-born pharmacist practicing in Ketchikan, was arguably the first career member of the Alaska Legislature. Walker served in the territorial Senate for 16 years before losing reelection in 1948 following a feud with territorial governor Ernest Gruening. During the first governorship of Walter Hickel in the 1960s, two members of his cabinet (Frank Murkowski and Robert W. Ward) held strong ties to Ketchikan. Following Hickel's resignation, Ward ascended to the office of secretary of state when Keith H. Miller became governor. Ketchikan native Walter L. Kubley, deputy commissioner of commerce under Hickel, became commissioner of the department under Miller. Another Ketchikan native, Terry Gardiner, was notable as the youngest person elected to the Alaska House of Representatives (at age 22), as well as the youngest person elected Speaker of the House (at age 28).

The United States Coast Guard maintains a large shore installation, Coast Guard Base Ketchikan, south of the downtown area, which serves as a homeport to three cutters and as a regional maintenance base for Alaska.

According to the U.S. Postal Service, one of Ketchikan's two zip codes, 99950, is the highest-numbered in the United States.

Economy and industries

A main street in Ketchikan, September 1908

Fishermen dressing and packing halibut at a dock in Ketchikan, October 1910

A major and first port of entry into Alaska, Ketchikan's economy has been based on fishing industries, canneries in particular, tourism, government, and forestry. Average annual civilian employment in 2017 was 4,070, with a substantial seasonal work force peaking in July.

The area near the mouth of Ketchikan Creek earned Ketchikan a measure of infamy during the first half of the 20th century for a red-light district known as Creek Street, with brothels aligned on either side of the creek.

Ketchikan's economy is currently based upon government services, tourism and commercial fishing. Civic boosters have dubbed the community the "Salmon Capital of the World."

Ketchikan also receives a large number of tourists, both by air and sea, due to its popularity as a cruise ship stop. In 2018, Ketchikan Harbour saw 40 different cruise ships making more than 500 stops in the harbour and bringing more than 1,073,000 visitors to Ketchikan.

The Misty Fiords National Monument is one of the area's major attractions, and the Tongass National Forest has long been headquartered in Ketchikan, mostly in the city's historic Federal Building. For most of the latter half of the 20th century, a large portion of Ketchikan's economy and life centered on the Ketchikan Pulp Company pulp mill in nearby Ward Cove. The mill closed in 1997 in the wake of the passage of the Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990, which reduced timber harvest targets in the national forest.

Downtown Ketchikan, with seasonal storefronts along Front Street shown in the foreground. Cruise ship tourism drives a large part of the local economy from May to September each year.

Lumber

Ketchikan Pulp Company (KPC), a subsidiary of Louisiana-Pacific Corp., was headquartered just outside Ketchikan's city limits on the shores of Ward Cove. The company's pulp mill opened in the cove in 1954. A 1995 joint EPA and FBI investigation of the company revealed it had dumped contaminated wastewater and sludge in the waters around Ward Cove, leaving them classified as "impaired" by the EPA. KPC plead guilty to the charges and agreed to pay a $3 million fine.

In 1996, following the Clinton Administration's refusal to reinstate the original terms of KPC's timber contract, Louisiana-Pacific Corp. announced it would be shutting down the timber mill, and did so in March 1997. A total of 514 direct year-round jobs and more than 500 indirect jobs were lost as a result.

Marine

Salmon travel up the creek during spawning season to lay their eggs.

The Ketchikan Shipyard consists of two dry-docks (10,000 ton and 2,500 ton) owned and operated by Alaska Ship & Drydock, a subsidiary of Vigor Industrial. It successfully launched the M/V Susitna in April 2010. A prototype ferry craft for use by Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the Susitna is the result of planning by Admiral Jay M. Cohen, former chief of the Office of Naval Research, and former Navy captain Lew Madden, then working as a project manager for Lockheed Martin.

Dubbed E-Craft (for Expeditionary use), the Susitna will serve as the engineering and feasibility platform for a Navy vessel of approximately double the size to assist troops in landing at undeveloped beaches around the world.

Fishing Fleet at Ketchikan June 29, 1911

The contract for two new Alaska-class day ferries in the Alaska Marine Highway was awarded to the shipyard on September 20, 2014 at a cost of $101 million.

Power and telecom

Companies involved in power and telocommunication include Ketchikan Public Utilities (KPU), which is city-owned, as well as GCI and Alaska Power and Telephone Company.

Transportation

Port of Ketchikan

Port of seaplanes, one of the main transportation means.

Looking down Creek Street, immediately outside of Ketchikan's downtown near the mouth of Ketchikan Creek. Creek Street, along with a block of Fourth Avenue in Fairbanks, were Alaska's two significant red-light districts until the passage of the Anti-Crib Laws in the early 1950s.

Ketchikan serves as both an air and marine transportation hub for southern Southeast Alaska.

The Ketchikan International Airport serves as both a gateway for Alaska Airlines nonstop jet service to and from Seattle, Juneau, Sitka and Wrangell, with direct service to Anchorage, and as a bush carrier and charter aircraft hub for destinations such as Hyder, Metlakatla and Prince of Wales Island communities. Flying time to/from Seattle, Washington is approximately ninety minutes, making Ketchikan easily accessible to travelers from the continental U.S. Delta Air Lines began operating seasonal service to Seattle in May 2015.

Ketchikan receives service from two separate ferry lines. Ketchikan is a major port along the Alaska Marine Highway System's Inside Passage route. Vessels depart northbound to Alaskan ports of call and southbound to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a six-hour trip, — where a connection can be made to the BC Ferries system — and Bellingham, Washington, a thirty-six-hour voyage. Sailings depart several times each week. Ketchikan also sees regular day service from the Alaska Marine Highway vessel M/V Lituya, a day boat that shuttles between its homeport in Metlakatla, AK and Ketchikan.

The Inter-Island Ferry Authority serves Ketchikan with daily service from its homeport in Hollis on Prince of Wales Island.

Education

Colleges and universities

The former Ketchikan Community College became the Ketchikan campus of the University of Alaska Southeast during the late 1980s restructuring of the University of Alaska System. The campus is located on the uphill side of Ketchikan's West End neighborhood and consists of two buildings, the Paul Building and the Ziegler Building. Both are named for prominent Ketchikan residents of the early and mid 20th century, William Lewis Paul and Adolph Holton Ziegler, respectively.

Public education

• Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District
  • Ketchikan High School
  • Revilla Junior/Senior High School
  • Schoenbar Middle School

Health care

The city of Ketchikan and its surrounding areas are primarily served by the PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center, which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Sister cities and twin towns

The West End (or Westend), located in the valleys of Carlanna and Hoadley creeks and across Tongass Narrows from Ketchikan International Airport, is Ketchikan's largest commercial and residential area. Shown are the city's tallest buildings, the Marine View Building and Tongass Towers. Ketchikan High School is partially visible at upper right.

Further information: List of twin towns and sister cities in the United States

• Palm Desert, California
• Kanayama, Gifu, Japan [former]

Ketchikan's former sister city of Kanayama, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, was incorporated along with four other cities into the larger city of Gero on March 1, 2004. An educational exchange program has been active between the two towns since 1986. Every year, Ketchikan and Kanayama exchange one teacher each to instruct middle-school level language classes in their respective tongues. In addition, Kanayama sends a group of students to Ketchikan during the spring, and students from Ketchikan travel to Kanayama the following summer. Ketchikan students travel across Japan, with the majority of their time spent in Kanayama with home-stay families, attending classes and touring the town.

Notable people

• Danny Edwards, professional golfer
• Nathan Jackson, Tlingit artist famous for his carving of totem poles
• Roy Jones, first person to fly commercially in Alaska.
• Jerry Mackie, Alaska state legislator and businessman, born in Ketchikan.
• Frank Murkowski, former United States Senator and Governor of Alaska. Murkowski grew up in Ketchikan, where his father was vice-president of the First National Bank of Ketchikan, which exists today as a Southeast regional bank called First Bank.
• Lisa Murkowski, second daughter of Frank Murkowski and his successor as U.S. Senator, born in Ketchikan.
• Rudy Pankow, American actor
• William Paul (Shgúndi), Tlingit statesman and leader in the Alaska Native Brotherhood born near Ketchikan. Paul was the first Alaska Native to become an attorney and first elected to the Alaska Territorial legislature.
• Ray Troll, artist famous for blending art and science in his fish-laden drawings

In popular culture

Several movies have been shot in Ketchikan, including The Silver Horde, Spawn of the North, Timber Tramps and Cry Vengeance, plus episodes of the television programs The Love Boat and Baywatch. An episode of Mythbusters where the team sees if a ship made out of ice and sawdust can really float was filmed in Ketchikan in 2009. The National Geographic Channel series Alaska Wing Men in the episode "Fatal Crash" follows a National Transportation Safety Board investigator's site visit of a July 2010 bush pilot fatal crash near Ketchikan.

In The Young Pope TV series, the character Pope Pius XIII as a punishment sends several cardinals who upset him to Ketchikan, which is depicted as a frozen wasteland. In Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, Uncle Ben must leave Willy to go to Ketchikan, where he presumably made part of his fortune.

Wikimedia Commons Gallery for Ketchikan

• 
  Clark and Martin salmon saltery, 1897
• 
  Welcome sign
• 
  Ketchikan as seen from the dock near the cruise terminal.
• 
  Ketchikan's Newtown neighborhood, between Downtown and the West End, its two largest neighborhoods. First Lutheran Church, at the right edge of this photo, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. East of the church (beyond view of the photo), three adjoining streets were named Warren, G and Harding following President Harding's visit to Alaska in 1923.
• 
  Example of the extremely steep roads in Ketchikan.
• 
  Ketchikan's Liquid Sunshine Gauge.

The town experienced record annual rainfall in 1949, with 202.55 inches (5,144.77 mm) measured.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska
• Seathwaite, Allerdale, wettest settlement in the United Kingdom

Becker

Doyle

• Alfred Becker, Baustocommando Becker, conversion of the Lorraine Schlepper.
• 39H PaK 75 24 conversions completed in Paris by Becker. All were used to supplement mobile firepower of the 21st Panzer Division in France.
• Late in 1944 Becker was sent to Ostbau Werke in Sagan, Silesia to consult on using the Pz Mk III chassis as the basis for a Flak panzer.

The death of competitive cycling: enter EPO

"Riders will play by whatever rules are there, but the rules need to be improved. The thing is to get the big massive oxygen drugs out of the sport where people can have a chance to win a race without having to dope themselves to the max."

"It’s about getting trust back into the system. It’s totally doable," he said.

"I would buy into the UCI’s part much more in the sport if they would voluntarily help set-up an independent doping agency like USADA and WADA to where there is a real body of scientists that cannot be influenced by anybody. Not anybody."

From "ESPN Films 30 for 30: Slaying the Badger" 2014, John Dower (director)

"By '92 was when I really became aware of it. Some of the riders looked like it was just a natural progression or they explained it by weight loss. You look back at it and it was all lies." G. Lemond

• Fignon, Laurent "We were young and carefree : the autobiography of Laurent Fignon" London, Yellow Jersey Press, 2010.

with William Fotheringham

"I saw EPO come in. It made phenomenal physiological changes. Could increase blood levels by 20%. I watched individuals, and then groups of individuals, and then entire teams, mop the floor with me and everyone else I knew who wasn't doping." A. Hampsten

On the speed up of the peloton in the early 90s

• Allen Piper after the first week 1992 Tour "There has been a lot of action happening in the bunch, anyway. The last few days have been just incredible pace. 46 1/2 kph yesterday average in the rain, and 48 the day before. I've never ridden so hard in my life."

• LeMond "I had a painful finish to my career. I tried everything I could to race better but I couldn't keep up. I had never seen anything like it. By '93 everybody knew what was going on" Greg LeMond interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md4jmQz3QAM

The years of transformation were 1991, 92 and 93. Average riders suddenly began to excel. You could no longer predict who a strong rider would be based upon their performances in development races.

On Riis: "That is historically in cycling, the true talent is there at 19, 20, you don't come up at 29 years old, you don't come up at 30, that's what was happening the last 20 years, guys would all of a sudden discover themselves. It doesn't happen." Greg LeMond

"For me it's not about people who are bad or good. It's about trying to allow riders that don't want to do drugs be able to compete in the Tour de France. Most of the riders just want a level playing field. I am really optimistic about the future of cycling and the Tour de France."

"It is not just money that makes motivated people do their jobs well. It is also the feeling that people know and respect their performance." - Greg LeMond Abt p. 49

• Stayed himself, did not get overwhelmed or intimidated by Europe and the cycling culture. Ate ice cream, cooked Mexican food, laughed over French concerns over the effects of certain foods on "the liver" Abt p. 30
• Wanted to compete at the highest levels, moved up out of Juniors to seek higher competition.
• Criticized for being business like, but he realized his value to a sponsor and negotiated to get reimbursed for it. Abt p. 8
• World Championship, being a one day race, was not as great a test of talent than the TDF, but it was important to Greg LeMond as all the great champions had won it. Abt p. 42
• suffering in cycling "When you have been away you forget how much cycling hurts. You really forget." Abt p. 5

Racing

"In 1986 Hinault was the best I'd seen him" G. Lemond

As a cyclist, Greg LeMond could race a single day's event and be in at the end to sprint for the win, as he did in his two World Championship victories. His strengths were best demonstrated, however, in an extended stage race over difficult terrain, as he had all the attributes needed to win the grand tours. He was an excellent climber, a very capable time trialist, and he possesed the ability to recover from a very difficult stage and be ready too ride hard the next day. Rather than wearing down, he would become stronger over the course of a three week stage race.

"Blessed with a remarkable engine, the "LeMonster" could climb, race, time-trial, and do it all over again the following day. He was a phenomenon"

http://www.calfeedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Cycle-Sport-Feature-Calfee-Design-and-Greg-Lemond.pdf Shortly before the 1991 Tour, LeMond was as confident as he’d been in years: “I had a Vespa and I’d do 80 [kph behind it]. That year I was at 85. I told my wife, ‘I’m going to win the Tour breathing through my nose.’”

The Incredible Comeback, Sam Abt

LeMond was a natural stage racer, one who grew stronger over the course of a three week race.

"The single most talented bicycle racer to have ever turned a pedal in the post-Merckx era and probably since Coppi is LeMond. As a junior he won everything and he did it with the natural ease of a born winner. That is not to say he didn't work hard. Lots of racers work hard. The ones who float to the top are the talented winners."

complete rider McGann p.156 Joined in on a sprint finish, on a lark - but had the legs for it.

Tour De Force

Laurant Fignon

1982: first professional season

In 1982, Fignon rode the 1982 Giro d'Italia. After Fignon broke away in the second stage, he became the leader of the race, and got to wear the pink jersey. He lost the lead in the next stage, but became Hinault's most trusted team mate in the mountains. In Paris–Tours, Fignon had escaped and made a break of 40 seconds, when his crank broke. During this first year as a professional, Fignon won the Critérium National.

1983: first Tour victory

In 1983, Fignon was a part of the team that helped Bernard Hinault to win the 1983 Vuelta a España. Guimard did not want to send Fignon to the Tour de France, because two grand tours could be too much for a 22-year old rider. When Hinault, winner of four of the five previous Tours, announced that he would not start due to injury, the Renault team was without a team captain. Fignon was added to the 1983 Tour de France selection for the Renault team, and the team decided to go for stage wins, with hopes of having Fignon or Marc Madiot compete for the best debutant category. After stage nine, the first mountain stage, Fignon was in second place, behind Pascal Simon, and he was allowed to be team leader. In the tenth stage, Simon crashed and broke his shoulder blade. Simon continued, and only lost little time the next stages. In the fifteenth stage, a mountain time trial, Fignon was able to win back so much time that he was within one minute of Simon. In the seventeenth stage, Simon had to give up, and Fignon became the new leader. In the next stages, Fignon was able to answer all attacks from his opponents, and he even won the time trial in the 21st stage. At 22 years old, Fignon was the youngest man to win the Tour since 1933.

Fignon later said that he was lucky to have won the 1983 Tour: if Hinault had been present Fignon would have helped him, as Hinault was the team leader.

With his round glasses and air of debonnaire, Fignon was a contrast to Hinault's hard-knocks image. He earned the nickname "The Professor", not only because of these glasses, but also because he was one of the few cyclists who had passed his baccalaureat exams.

1984: second Tour victory

In 1984, Hinault changed to the new La Vie Claire team, established by the French entrepreneur Bernard Tapie and directed by Swiss trainer Paul Koechli. Fignon stayed with the Renault team, and became team leader. In the 1984 Giro d'Italia, Fignon was in leading position near the end of the race, with Italian Francesco Moser in second place. The highest mountain stage, where Fignon could have extended his lead as the better climber, was cancelled by race organizers "due to bad weather". In one of the more outrageous actions of a major tour, on the final stage, an individual time trial, camera helicopters flew in front of Fignon, creating a headwind, and behind Moser, creating a tailwind. Though Fignon repeatedly shook his fists at the obstructing aircraft, they refused to move off. Moser ended up gaining enough time to take the overall race lead, with Fignon being moved back to second place. He later said the experience made him tougher, and prepared him for the hardships to come.

The 1984 Tour de France was a battle between Fignon and his former team captain Hinault, who was now riding for La Vie Claire. Hinault won the prologue, but Fignon won back time when his team won the team time trial in stage three. After a large escape in the fifth stage, Fignon's teammate Vincent Barteau was leading the race. In the seventh stage individual time trial, Fignon won, beating Hinault by 49 seconds. Barteau was still in the overall lead, and remained the race leader through the Pyrenées.

In the sixteenth stage, Fignon again beat Hinault in the second individual time trial, this time taking 33 seconds from Hinault. In the seventeenth stage, Hinault attacked five times on the penultimate climb, but every time Fignon was able to get back. Then, Fignon left Hinault behind, and won almost three more minutes on Hinault. Barteau was so far behind in this stage, that Fignon became the new leader. Fignon won three more stages, for a total of five that year, and won the Tour with a ten minute margin. With his air of indifference in interviews and his crushing dominance of the race he was hailed as France's newest dominant rider.

1985 and 1986: injury years

Coming into the 1985 season Fignon felt stronger than ever, but a knee injury caused him to miss the 1985 Tour. The following season his team was taken on by a new sponsor, and became the Système U cycling team. In 1986 Fignon won La Flèche Wallonne and he entered the 1986 Tour de France, but placed poorly in the first individual time trial and retired on stage 12 to Pau.

1987 and 1988: return to the top

Fignon returned to near his full strengths in 1987, when he finished third in the 1987 Vuelta a España, behind Luis Herrera. After his retirement, Fignon wrote in his biography that Herrera's team manager bribed his team not to attack, which Herrera later denied. Later that year, he finished 7th overall in the 1987 Tour de France, taking another victory at La Plagne (stage 21). In 1988, Fignon won Milan–Sanremo, but had to abandon the 1988 Tour.

1989: battle with LeMond

Laurent Fignon outsprints Maurizio Fondriest for the win, Stage 20 of the 1989 Giro d'Italia.

In 1989, Fignon overtook Sean Kelly as leader of the UCI Road World Rankings. That season included a win at Milan – San Remo and the Giro d'Italia. In the 1989 Tour de France, 1988 winner Pedro Delgado was the big favourite, with Fignon, Stephen Roche, and Erik Breukink listed together as top contenders. After Delgado inexplicably was nearly three minutes late for the start of the prologue time trial, the race was open to all contenders, and ended up a battle between Greg LeMond and Fignon. LeMond won a minute in the time trial in stage five, using aerobars which enabled a new and more aerodynamic riding position (also known as tri-bars as they had previously only been used in triathlons), a new type of teardrop-shaped aerodynamic helmet in the time trials and a rear disc wheel, Fignon used normal road handlebars and a bicycle with both front and rear disc wheels, which left him more affected by cross winds. LeMond led the general classification after that stage by 5 seconds. In the tenth stage, Fignon beat LeMond by 12 seconds, and became the new leader, 7 seconds ahead of LeMond. In the time trial of stage 15, LeMond again won time on Fignon, and took back the leading position. Fignon came back by dropping Lemond on Alpe d'Huez, taking back the lead, and after he won alone at Villard-de-Lans the next day, the margin was 50 seconds.

Before the final stage, a short time trial of 24.5 km, the time difference between LeMond and Fignon was 50 seconds, a seemingly insurmountable amount. To win, LeMond would have to take two seconds a kilometer on one of the fastest time trialists in the Tour. French newspapers prepared special editions, with Fignon's picture on the front page, in preparation for his victory. Although it was considered unlikely that LeMond would be able to win back 50 seconds on the 24.5 km, LeMond gave his best, and rode the fastest time trial to date. Fignon had developed saddle sores in stage 19, which gave him pain and made it impossible to sleep in the night before the time trial. Fignon, who rode after LeMond, lost 58 seconds during the stage. Fignon rode a very fast time trial, and came in third for the stage, but still ended up losing the overall lead to LeMond.

Throughout the 1989 Tour he was on poor terms with journalists. He did not readily give interviews and often refused to smile for photographs. He was unguarded in his comments all through his life. When interviewed during his racing days he was honest, to the point of sounding rude or excessively confident. This lack of guarding his comments speech had been taken advantage of by journalists in the past. He found the press to be annoying, and their relationship with the riders he found offensive. He did not suffer fools well, and had no compunction in calling someone up short. , and at one point spat into the lens of a cameraman who asked for an interview. For his efforts the press awarded Fignon the "Prix Citron", a prize the press awarded to whom they thought the least likable rider. The loss of the 1989 Tour was a heavy burden for Fignon. When given the question "Aren't you the guy who lost the Tour by 8 seconds?", the proud Frenchman would answer "No monsieur, I am the man who won it twice."

ponytail,

Personality and personal life

Fignon was an aggressive, attacking rider, ready to take risks for a chance at victory. Said Fignon: "Attacking is the essence of cycling." He was an intelligent, thoughtful man. He was married in to a realtionship that broke under the strain of his cycling career. He found the life of a professional cyclist to be demanding. "Living for cycling is something that takes 100% of your effort and concentration, but there is no other option." He regretted the toll it took on his family relations. "Real life passed me by."

A forthright person, he was largely unguarded in his comments to whomever he was speaking. He did not suffer fools well, and had no compunction in calling someone up short. This outspokenness sometimes got him into trouble with the press. When interviewed during his racing days he was honest, to the point of sounding rude or excessively confident. He found the press to be less interested in the truth of a matter and more concerned with generating a story. As such he found them to be annoying, and their relationship with the riders he found offensive. After his riding days had ended he enjoyed providing commentary for cycling, and would speak of race strategy and team tactics, but he was characteristically unguarded in the sharing of his opinions.

"Is it a crime to have a competitors soul and a gambler's blood?" p.

In 1984 he was unquestionable the strongest rider in the peloton.

Did not like to ride in the rain as the water fogged up his glasses. First placed his hair in a pony tail at the 1988 Paris Nice. Fellow riders teased him that he looked girlie, but the pony tail became a trademark for him.

"We knew no fear..." p. 1

"Is it not better to gamble on victory than to survive a comfortable defeat?" p. 2 On the final day of 1989 Tour: "It was a day of insane sadness." p.3

"We were young and carefree." p. 287

Lesser races bought and paid for, especially during the end of season criterium races.

On Hinault's 1984 attack on the flat before L'Alpe D'Heuz: "I had to laugh" p. 137, p. 138

Won a disappointing third overall in the Tour of Spain, but did not go to the podium to receive his accolades. This proved to be embarressing for the Tours organizers. p. 172

On LeMond: "There was no chance he would take the slightest risk. That was not his style." p. 8

Fignon designed the Castorama Jersey, designing the jersey to look like the overalls of a team mechanic. He was very proud of the jersey. p. 221

Credited his masseuse for giving him the confidence to go for the win at Milan-San Remo. In training for Milan-San Remo he often rode behind his masseus who was on a derny. Repeated the feat the following year.

Criterium International in 1990 turned out to be the last major victory of a stage race. p. 223

In 1992 he was brought over to the Italian Gatorade team as a second team leader, but in hopes that he would help rising star Gianni Bugno. Fignon was frustrated by Bugno's lack of aggressiveness, and hesitancy to take the race into his own hands. Fignon helped Bugno plan how he would attack Indurain, but the rider did not take the risk when the opportunity presented itself. For a former champion like Fignon, this was hard to fathom.

Biggest regrets: Not ever having won at L'Alpe d'Huez, letting his chance to win there slip by on Guimard's instructions in 1984. Failing to win at Leige-Bastogne-Leige, Paris-Roubais and the World Championship. p. 185 And of course, the tragic loss to LeMond of the 1989 Tour de France.

LeMond on Fignon's passing

"It's a really sad day. I see him as one of the great riders who was hampered by injuries. He had a very, very big talent, much more than anyone recognised. For me he was one of the greater champions that was not recognised. He was more recognised for his loss in the Tour de France than for his two victories."

"We were teammates, competitors, but also friends. He was a great person, one of the few that I find was really true to himself. He didn’t have an ego. He really knew himself."

"He was one of the few riders who I really admired for his honesty and his frankness. We talked about a lot of different things outside of cycling and I was fortunate to really get to know him when my career stopped. I believe he was also one of the generation that was cut short in the early nineties because he was not able to fulfil the rest of his career. But he was a great rider."

"It's a really sad day. He had a very, very big talent, much more than anyone recognised. We were teammates, competitors, but also friends. He was a great person, one of the few that I find was really true to himself. He was one of the few riders who I really admired for his honesty and his frankness. We talked about a lot of different things outside of cycling and I was fortunate to really get to know him when my career stopped. I believe he was also one of the generation that was cut short in the early nineties because he was not able to fulfil the rest of his career. But he was a great rider."

LeMond On Armstrong

http://www.purepeople.com/article/greg-lemond-l-ex-vainqueur-du-tour-de-france-durement-blesse-et-hospitalise_a114740/1

The cyclist, highly respected in the world of cycling, was recently told of Lance Armstrong's confession of doping, during which Armstrong said that "no one could win the Tour de France without resorting to doping", remarks that had angered Greg LeMond:

"I want to vomit when I hear that you cannot win the Tour de France without doping. Armstrong had taken the same products as Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton, both of whom would never have won races without them. For me, at the base, Armstrong was an average talent. Being clean, he would never have won the Tour.

I have not seen from him a real need for redemption, or the remorse of someone who is truly sorry. It gives additional light on the issue, and I think people have seen that many of these riders feel no remorse."

References

Notes

Citations

• Practice article improvement tag:

• WP:MTR dealing with maintenance tags.
• WP:IS use of independent source question
• Use of foreign language websites: Linking to non-English pages may still be useful for readers in the following cases: the webpage contains information found on no English-language site of comparable quality, and is used as a citation (or when translations on English-language sites are not authoritative) (see Manual of Style: Non-English-language sites).

Charles F. Blair

Blair was born in Buffalo, New York. He learned to fly in San Diego and made his first solo flight at the age of 19. In 1931, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Vermont, and the following year was commissioned a naval aviator in the Naval Reserve with the rank of n Ensign. His first posting was to Naval Air Station San Diego. During the course of his tour as a fighter pilot, he attained the rank of Lieutenant. He remained in the Naval Reserve in the prewar years while taking jobs as a pilot. He flew for Boeing Air Transport and stayed with Boeing for seven years. In 1940, Blair became a chief pilot at American Export Airlines, where he oversaw the training of their pilots, checked them out on the companies aircraft and developed routes. American Overseas Airlines With the start of World War II Blair was called into active duty and flew with the Naval Air Transport Service, reaching the rank of Captain. He also did work with the Air Transport Command, as well as serving as a test pilot for Grumman Aircraft. With the Naval Transport Service he flew flying boats across the Atlantic to Foynes, Ireland. On one return trip flying the Sikorsky VS-44 he passed up his refueling station on Newfoundland and continued on to New York. Arriving there after 25 hours and 45 minutes in the air, he was the first to carry passengers and mail on a non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.. As a Grumman test pilot he worked on projects that became the Grumman F6F Hellcat, Grumman F7F Tigercat, Grumman F8F Bearcat and the Martin Mars flying boat.

Cap. C. Blair's Mustang being refueled at Bardufoss Airport before taking off on the flight from Bardufoss to Fairbanks.

Following the war Blair continued to work for American Export Airlines, and was placed in charge of flight testing the Lockheed Constellation and the Boeing Stratocruiser airliners, and oversaw their introduction on the new transatlantic routes. During the immediate post-war period he started his own small transport service on the side, using a single XYZ that he had purchased to fly personnel and material on special request flights to areas in need. He called the air service Associated Air Transport, Inc. American Export Airlines became American Overseas Airlines, and in 1950 was purchased by Pan American World Airways. Blair was hired on as a chief pilot for Pan Am.

Associated Air Transport, Inc.

Antilles Air Boats started with just a single airplan It grew to 27 aircraft, flying 125 flights a day, with 165 employees. After his death O'Hara ran the airline on her own for a couple of years before selling it to XYZ. She had been the first woman to run a US commercial airline. The fleet of air boats were wiped out in a hurricane in 19 something.

Blair planned to make a record setting flight around the world. He had the aircraft modified, removing the gallon wing tanks and replacing them with tanks that filled the entire wing. This extended the aircraft's range considerably.However his plans were dashed with the outbreak of the Korean War, when the routes over China were lost to him. He set his sights instead on

He flew along a great circle route.

p. 245

• O'Hara started seeing Blair in 1967, when she was asked to cover for her brother for a dinner meeting the two routinely had when Blair was in town.

p. 246

• The whole FitzSimons clan knew Blair, and he had known and been friends with O'Hara since he first met her on a cross Atlantic flight in 1947.

p. 247

• Blair first soloed at age 19.
• He earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1930 or 1931.
• He entered the Naval Flying School in 1931.

graduated one year later as a naval aviator with the rank of ensign in the US Naval reserve. (Was a fighter pilot for the navy).

• first assignment was to the Naval air station in San Diego.
• He was released from active duty in 1933.
• He went to work for United Airlines, flying mail routes.
• In 1940 he was hired as a chief pilot for American Export Airlines, later called American Overseas Airlines.
• he was responsible for all scheduled overseas flights between the US and Ireland ... and what were the other destinations? Need to recheck that.
• Blair flew the Sikorsky S-44, christened "Excalibur", on the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic carrying passengers and mail.
• After the war Blair started a very small private carrier business. He purchased a C-46 and used it to carry personnel and material across the Atlantic to Europe and Africa.

• in his career as a pilot Blair flew over 35,000 hours and made more than 1,600 crossings of the Atlantic.

p. 248

• In 1950 Pan Am acquired American Overseas Airways and its pilots, and Blair began his career with Pan Am.

NTSB investigation

Following the wreck the National Transportation Safety Board arrived to do a crash analysis. The probe sought answers to what was the primary reason for the crash; was the pilot certified, competent and medically fit; had the airplane, and in particular the engines, been maintained properly, what was the cause of the failure of the port engine; why was the aircraft unable to stay aloft on one engine; and could the aircraft have been handled in a manner that would have resulted in all passengers and the pilot surviving the crash? The maintenance logs were reviewed, personnel questioned and the plane was recovered from the sea floor and inspected. The investigators concluded the crash was survivable. That is to say, if handled differently there was a fair chance that everyone could have survived. What then went wrong?

The investigation uncovered a number of operational problems with Antilles Air Boats. The investigation found that management at the company emphasized keeping the aircraft in service. was managed in regards to the maintenance of the aircraft, the certification for the use of engines and aircraft, the number of hours that were being flown before a thorough inspection. The starboard engine propeller had been resurfaced to deal with corrosion, but the aerodynamics of the propeller had not been maintained, resulting in a 12% loss in the propeller's activity. The bolts of the No. 5 Cylinder had all broke, two of which had been broken for sometime. These should have been picked up during an engine inspection, but had been missed, and the engine was overdue for inspection. In addition, the separated cowling on the port side caused a marked increase in drag, estimated at 10%.

• the port engine had been in use since March, but prior to that it had been sitting in storage for 10 years. It was not acceptable.
• Flying with the starboard engine at full power and running 20 to 50 feet above the water,
• hold-down studs fractured. Two of them were already broken before the flight took off. The others failed from in flight vibration.

The investigation concluded that pre-flight planning was improper because the maintenance release was falsified by a licensed mechanic. The mechanic had certified the aircraft as airworthy when, in fact, it was not. The plane was flown 22 hrs beyond the scheduled inspection time with the knowledge of certain key managers, supervisors, and licensed personnel.

• In 1978 the company had 175 employees, and had transported 266,000 passenger.(p=18) it was run on a thin margin.

The total times in the aircraft logbook had been falsified with the full knowledge of management, supervisors, and licensed personnel. Company policy and decisions were made by Blair, who violated or condoned violation of the regulations in the interest of company objectives.

• "the president would disregard, at times, in order to meet scheduling requirements" (p=18)
• "the company instructed its captains that if single-engine flight could not be maintained the aircraft could be descended to 20 feet of the water. At this point the aircraft would enter into ground effect. The aircraft would pick up a few additional knots of airspeed while being flown in ground effect. This procedure, according to the chief pilot, was in the training manual and was demonstrated on all proficiency flight checks. He stated that while it was to be used only when all else failed he had believed it to be effective regardless of the sea conditions."
• Blair's seatbelt had broken away from its seat frame from the force of the impact. It is not clear whether or not Blair was conscious after the accident.

• The NTSB concluded that all passengers and crew in the accident could have survived if the correct assessments been made and the correct measures been taken.

The left engine failed when its No. 5 cylinder and piston broke apart and separated from the engine. As it did it knocked the engine cowl separate. The engine had been in storage for 10 years prior to being installed on the accident plane in March. The engine had not been adequately inspected prior to it's being mounted on Grumman G-21 N7777V. The added drag caused by the loss of the cowling, combined with the decreased efficiency of the improperly maintained right propeller, combined with the over-weight condition of the aircraft—which resulted from a deficient FAA supplemental type certificate—made it impossible to maintain level single-engine flight.

"The probable cause of the accident was the inability of the aircraft to sustain single-engine flight and the captain's decision to attempt to fly the aircraft in ground effect rather than attempt an open sea emergency landing."

"Contributing to the accident were the company's inadequate maintenance program, the management influence which resulted in the disregard of Federal Aviation Regulations and FAA-approved company maintenance policies, inadequate FAA surveillance of the airline, and deficient enforcement procedures."

"Contributing to the fatalities in this survivable accident was the captain's failure to brief passengers properly on emergency procedures."

After the engine failed, the captain did not warn or brief the passengers concerning life vests, emergency exits, or the developing situation. Consequently, no passengers made use of the life vests stored under each seat. Additionally, the captain failed to extend the flaps and failed to turn the plane into the wind. Those failures resulted in the plane impacting the ocean with almost twice the kinetic energy that would have been otherwise generated, causing the plane to break up and rapidly sink.

• Following the accident of 2 September 1978 the NTSB levied a $100,000 fine on Antilles Air Boats. This was reduced to $10,000, with the remaining $90,000 held in abeyance.

• Wt=8,269 pounds at take-off. Rated to 8,750 pounds. Actual lift rating was 8,150 pounds (p=15)

O'Hara, Maureen; Nicoletti, John (2005). 'Tis herself : a memoir. London: Pocket.

Cite 'Tis herself : a memoir Maureen O'Hara; John Nicoletti London : Pocket, 2005.

Aviation pioneers

|- | scope="row"|[[Charles F. Blair Jr {{{last}}}|Charles F. Blair Jr {{{last}}}]] |19 July 1909
2 Sept 1978
|Buffalo, New York, United States |Aviator
|Propeller
Jet aircraft |On 31 January 1951 Blair flew non stop from New York to London, traveling 3,478 miles (5,597 km) at an average speed of 446 miles per hour (718 km/h) to complete the trip in seven hours and 48 minutes. He achieved this by taking advantage of the strong tail winds of the jet stream, allowing him to set the record for a piston engine plane. On 29 May of the same year he flew from Bardufoss, Norway to Fairbanks, Alaska flying 3260 non stop miles across the North Pole. Captain Blair was awarded the Harmon Trophy from President Truman..| group="nb"}} |-

Matthews

Trail Blazers' Wesley Matthews, with an assist from Jeff Hornacek, has become NBA's most prolific 3-point shooter.

• In high school he had rarely taken three-point shots. At Marquette he relied on size and explosiveness to either drive to the basket or post up down low.*
• Once he became a regular contributor with the Utah Jazz This was quickly recognized by NBA coaches, who would fall off of him when defending against
• He did not see himself as a three-point shooter coming into the NBA.
• became one of the NBA's most prolific three-point shooters.

Debbie Green

Interview: http://www.halfkorean.com/?page_id=9242

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Couvillon, Arthur R Karch Kiraly : a tribute to excellence Hermosa Beach, CA : Information Guides, 2008.
• Kiraly, Karch; Hastings, Jon "Karch Kiraly's championship volleyball" New York, N.Y. : Simon & Schuster, 1996.
• Kiraly, Karch; Shewman, Byron "Beach Volleyball" Champaign, IL : Human Kinetics, 1999.

External Links

• World News Network The Legacy Series: Karch Kiraly

Further reading

• Couvillon, Arthur R. Sands of time: the history of beach volleyball, Volume 2 Hermosa Beach, CA, Information Guides, 2002.
• Kiraly, Karch; Hastings, Jon "Karch Kiraly's championship volleyball" New York, N.Y. : Simon & Schuster, 1996.