The history of the bush plane depicted in Balto 3 and the historical inaccuracies in the movie.

Sora-kun :



I looked up a bit of history on bush planes, like the one in Balto 3. I found some historical inaccuracies regarding the plane.

The earliest date I found for the commercial use of bush planes was 1925; the year in which Balto (the original) takes place. In fact, we see the plane in Balto for a brief moment.

But the planes were not used for deliveries; medicine or mail. Bush planes in the 20's were used for surveys and firefighting and were popularized after World War II (which ended in 1945.) One theory is that World War II created jobs to pull the US out of the Great Depression which struck in 1929. This sudden spurt of jobs led to an increase in plane production. Before that, they were not a common sight.

Bush planes were concentrated in Canada. From my research, bush planes weren't used commercially in Alaska until the 40's.

Present day, bush planes are mostly used in the tourism and cartography (map-making) industries.


Bush plane in a Canadian lake. (Picture is dated to 1920's, specific date unknown.)

If you Balto Sourcers have anything to add, please do. I'd love to see what you have to say.

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Tsumeato {Wolf ‘Fang’}, February 22, 2008 at 21: 25 Fan News editor

Very interesting Article! I didn't know that much about Bush Planes!

Pirkka(Fin), February 22, 2008 at 23: 20 Member

Hrm My research long ago was to see what model of a Plane model was used on Balto movies. I haven't made any historical research about the Airplane's stories in Alaska but only about the model. Must say that it looked a lot alike with D.H.4 Two Seat Ground/Fighter biplane. Then yet again it was like J-2 Biplane (I guess it was J-2)...yet weren't sure which was used the most. Nice article anyway little ol' history of Alaska in 1920 century...is it pure fact that the Bush planes were used only in the 1940 and not before that?

Wolf_Bassist, February 23, 2008 at 05: 11 Member

Were the writers of WoC aware of this?

Dragon Tamer, February 23, 2008 at 15: 08 Webranker

Hmm. Perhaps Duke was offering to use it for deliveries as an experiment of sorts.

k-9, February 23, 2008 at 21: 54 Member

you have a great point!The animaters seem stupid now...it seems that Balto Source is smarter then the movie makers who should of known this if they were actualy doing anything!!!!!!!!

jerseycaptain, February 23, 2008 at 23: 39 Member

It helps if you quote your source materials when referring to research you claim to have done. That is the only way it can be corroborated and discussed intelligently. That being said, what you showed in the photo is not a "bush plane" per se...it is a float plane...otherwise known as a "pontoon plane" (and known by other names)...the "Canadian bushplane heritage centre" is being quite broad and encompassing in their definition of the term "bush plane", which was created by Australian immigrants to Alaska...not Canada. Bush planes at the time were single-prop, single-engine bi-planes. After World War I (which, I might add, is still several years before the serum run in 1925), Alaska was using "Standard J1 bi-planes" made by the Fairbanks Airplane Corporation (which were also World War I military surplus). These were used in commercial service, mostly as mail carriers and communications transports. The animators in Balto and Balto 3 were neither stupid nor erroneous in what they represented on screen. Those were fairly accurate representations. The details on this may be found here (in the post about Balto 2 & 3): http://baltosource.timduru.org/board/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=18962 This information comes from the book "The Cruelest Miles", by Gay & Laney Salilsbury, which is all about the 1925 Nome Serum Run. Later bush planes were small, mostly single-engine prop planes as well. And the term is still in use today.

Sora-kun, February 23, 2008 at 23: 56 Member

Thank you for the extra material and points, jerseycaptain. The photo I used claimed it was a bush plane. I should've triple checked!

jerseycaptain, February 24, 2008 at 07: 24 Member

No problem, Sora-kun. I hope my post didn't come off as sarcastic or bombastic. It wasn't meant that way. I was glad to help.

ilena12, February 24, 2008 at 17: 19 Member

Great research! Another thing is, how could you strap a dog into the seat of one of those things, like at the end of B3 when Balto had a ride in it? IMPOSSIBLE!

jerseycaptain, February 24, 2008 at 18: 27 Member

Have you ever ridden in a biplane, ilena? Do you know what sort of safety harness or seatbelting is in it? Never say something's "impossible" unless you speak from first-hand experience.

Juuchan17, March 27, 2008 at 02: 24 Fan gamebook mod

Hmm . . . that's rather interesting to hear! Well, despite all of the possible impossibilities that may have been there, at least the writers of WoC tried to put some historical stuff in a children's movie . . . nonetheless a Balto DTV sequel. Still, very nice article! - Juuchan17

Iditarod, April 02, 2008 at 20: 25 Member

I didn't know ANY of this stuff! Great article!!

Grey wolf, April 21, 2008 at 21: 22 Member

Very good article

Kodman, June 09, 2008 at 02: 19 Member

why do they call it "bush" planes any way?

jerseycaptain, June 11, 2008 at 19: 06 Member

Kodman - the remote northern parts of Alaska became known as "the bush" when Australians, visiting the place back in the early 20th century, recalled how it reminded them of the outback of their own country (which they call "the bush"). The name stuck. Similarly, as in Australia, small planes operating in the bush are called "bush planes", and their pilots are called "bush pilots". Hope that helps!

jerseycaptain, June 26, 2008 at 06: 05 Member

Just had to get that "dig" in, didn't you, Sweet-Tea? That was totally uncalled-for and childish.

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