A woman in Alaska has dropped more than 30 turkeys from her plane to hard-up families in rural areas who could not afford a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Esther Sanderlin decided to help villagers from Skwentna get a taste of a proper celebration have a proper celebration.

After snapping up the birds in a supermarket, Esther jumped in her plane and airdropped the birds to neighbours in the small village on the Yentna River.

Video footage of the bizarre bombing run shows the single-engined plane flying over remote home with Esther leaning out of the open plane door to drop the turkeys.

She explained she had the brainwave after a family friend did the same thing for her relatives 20 years ago.

She said: “As a kid, we had a friend that would airdrop turkeys with his plane to my family and other families in the surrounding area for Thanksgiving.

“This time of year since the rivers and lakes are freezing up, it’s not safe to travel, you’re pretty much stuck for a while.

“[I] went to visit our closest neighbor, and he was telling me that a squirrel doesn’t split very far between three people for dinner.

“When he told me that, I was like, I’m just gonna airdrop him a turkey this Thanksgiving.”

Skwentna residents immediately reached out with donations, turkeys, and air supplies for help, when they heard about her unusual mission.

Ester also revealed that she expects the tradition to grow and continue over the following holidays, including Christmas.

She said: “My goal and vision for this is to reach more rural Alaska than just the Susitna drainage area.”