Chandler LaMartine Hicks was born in Brighton, Michigan, on November 17, 1903, to LaMartine Hicks and Alice Skeman Hicks. Hicks passed away on December 24, 1937, in Seattle, Washington.

After high school, Hicks completed several auto mechanic courses before migrated from Michigan to Seattle, Washington, in 1921. Employed by Alaska Southern Airways, Marine Airways, and Alaska Washington Airways, Hicks worked as an airplane mechanic and later as a pilot between 1927 and 1933. Before marrying Louise Grant on May 19, 1934, Hicks was an aviator in the government service with duties in Alaska. His daughter, Judy Louise (Troll) Orlando was born on February 15, 1936. Prior to his death, he owned and operated an auto repair garage in Seattle.

CARL BENJAMIN EIELSON – Born of Norwegian immigrants on July 20, 1897, Carl Benjamin Eielson was raised in Hatton, North Dakota. After being trained as a military pilot in World War I, Eielson spent two years as a barnstormer in the upper Midwest before completing a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of North Dakota. While enrolled at Georgetown Law School, Eielson met Daniel Sutherland, a territorial delegate to the House of Representatives from Alaska. Persuaded by Sutherland to teach secondary school in Alaska, Eielson moved in the fall of 1922. Recognizing the need for aerial transportation, Eielson flew the first airmail flight under government contract between Fairbanks and McGrath. Additionally, alongside Australian explorer Hubert Wilkins, Eielson flew the first airplane across the Arctic Ocean in April 1928, covering 2,200 miles between Point Barrow and Spitsbergen, Norway. Between 1928 and 1929, Eielson and Wilkins made multiple air explorations of the Antarctic, charting several islands which were previously unknown. On November 9, 1929, Eielson died alongside his mechanic, Earl Borland, in an air crash while attempting to evacuate furs and personnel from the Nanuk, a cargo vessel trapped in the ice at the North Cape of Siberia.