Talkeetna Air Taxi

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Talkeetna Air Service began in Talkeetna, Alaska, in 1947, when World War II veteran and bush pilot Don Sheldon set up an air taxi operation with a Piper PA-14. From a small railroad-and-airstrip town at the edge of the Alaska Range, Sheldon flew people and supplies to country that was otherwise measured in weeks of walking.

The company’s working hardware was classic Alaska: aircraft fitted as needed with skis, floats, or oversized tundra tires. Its passengers included homesteaders, hunters, fishermen, prospectors, climbers, and anyone else whose itinerary had the audacity to end beyond a road. Sheldon became especially associated with glacier flying and support for expeditions on Denali.

Don Sheldon died in January 1975. Afterward, pilot Jim Sharp purchased the Sheldon concession from widow Roberta Sheldon and renamed the operation Talkeetna Air Taxi. The corporate ghost here is therefore Talkeetna Air Service—the earlier identity beneath the later, still-flying name.

The renaming did not mean the mountains suddenly became polite. The same business lineage continued to move climbers and sightseers into the Alaska Range, where weather reports, ski planes, and sound judgment all carried more weight than a crisp office memo.

Our Talkeetna Air Taxi collection celebrates the pre-rebrand Talkeetna Air Service era: a no-nonsense Alaska aviation outfit built for glaciers, gravel, and destinations with absolutely terrible parking.