Bud and Connie chat with the Mounties

Constance and Harmon Helmericks.  The Flight of the Arctic Tern.  
Boston:  Little, Brown & Co., 1952.

In the late 1940's, the Helmericks flew their Cessna 140 (bought new for $3666) from Boston to Alaska, where they eventually built a home.  Early on their trip, when they landed on the Ottawa River near Rockcliffe Airfield, the Canadians admired the all-metal aircraft and commented:  

"Lucky fellows, you Americans, that you can buy an airplane like that," we were told.  "As for us now, it would cost a man a thousand dollars just for the tax if he could get it, and he kin not get it."

That still hasn't changed.

For a summary and other photos, see "Back Home to the Arctic" (Life, August 31, 1953.)