Tamgass Aviation, Inc. was founded on March 10, 1964 by Pete Johnson as an Annette Island based operation, doing business as Tamgass Airways. The company name was a reference to Mt. Tamgas (spelled with one "s") on Annette Island. Initially equipped with a single red and white Cessna 180 Skywagon seaplane (N4639U) mounted on Edo amphibious floats, the company provided on demand, direct air taxi charter service between Annette Airport and downtown Ketchikan. For the first year and a half, arrivals and departures were handled at Harry Ludwigson's Boat House Float, and thereafter at Nordby's Supply dock near City Float. Tamgass Airways operated flights to all outlying points including Prince of Wales Island communities, logging and mining camps, plus area hunting and fishing cabins, lakes, etc. A Piper Colt wheel plane (N4912Z) was at first retained to offer flight instruction. Tamgass Airways' maintenance hangar was built a quarter mile north of the main airport terminal on one of the old WWII era military aircraft revetment pads.

Pete Johnson was a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and was assigned to the Annette Air Station during 1959 and 1960. He was then transferred to Traverse City, Michigan, where he was discharged in 1961, after completing his enlistment. While working at a college friend's ranch in Wyoming that winter, Johnson got a call from Pete Cessnun, who offered him a flying job at Webber Air, Inc., which he accepted and then moved back to Ketchikan. While an employee at Webber, Johnson learned the ropes on what was required to run a seaplane air taxi business. He formulated plans and filed the required applications needed to start his own company to join in the competition and realize his longtime dream.

Johnson's founding partner was his friend William "Bill" Simonds. Simonds had worked for the U.S. Weather Bureau on Annette Island, and served as the "money guy" for the fledgling outfit. After a brief tenure, Simonds soon left the company. Johnson enlisted his longtime military service pal Mark Murdock to join forces with him to keep the new business flying. Mark was then serving at the U.S. Coast Guard Annette Air Station and worked off duty hours at Tamgass Airways to help Pete service the planes. Upon receiving his discharge, Mark continued to reside on Annette Island, and worked for Tamgass full time for the next several months. Mark left in the fall of 1964, flying his personal Luscombe wheel plane south to attend college and get his commercial pilot's license down in Michigan.

By the following spring, customer demand for Pete Johnson's air taxi business was growing rapidly. Pete called up Mark Murdock and invited him to return as his partner in the business, to help carry the load and share in the profits, which Mark eagerly accepted. On June 16, 1965, Mark married his new bride Shirley, and spent their honeymoon making a 10 day return road trip back to Annette Island.

Johnson and Murdock were both certified aviation mechanics, and spent their evenings working on their planes after a full day spent flying. Maintenance services were offered to customer aircraft as well. Pete's wife Joan worked as a ticket agent for Pan American and Pacific Northern Airlines. Joan helped the business during her time off while also raising their young son and daughter. Shirley Murdock became a school teacher at Metlakatla not long after her arrival on the island, and spent time in the office at Tamgass Airways.

A new Cessna 185 (N2586Z) was added for the 1966 season. Additional aircraft were added to gain fleet status, and in 1969, Pete Johnson made the decision to change the company name from Tamgass Airways to better reflect a more regional operations status. The new name adopted for the company became Alaska Southcoast Airways, with brighter aircraft fleet colors and construction upgrade plans for building an expanded new passenger terminal building located on the ramp next to the airport control tower, adjacent to the large U.S. Coast Guard hangar. (Author's Note: Alaska Southcoast Airways will be continued in Chapter 28.)

Aircraft:
Cessna 180/185 amphibian seaplanes and Piper Colt.

Pilots:
Peter Johnson, Mark Murdock, and Cal Tassainer.