October 19, 2005

It was as if Ken Atwell, who I’ve never even met, had read my mind.

Without me having to ask, Ken Atwell, who lives in Vernon, read a column I had written and then sent me information about airplanes that once flew the black and gold colors of Mohawk, a great regional airline long ago headquartered at Oneida County’s official airport in Oriskany, a designation that will soon go to Griffiss Business and Technology Park.

In its early years, before it got BAC 1-11 jets and Fairchild Hiller turboprops, Mohawk was flying Convairs, a twin engine piston-airplane which came into passenger service after WWII. It was an elegant looking airplane and had a classic look. It really was a beautiful airplane.

Once I got to sit up front in the left seat of a Mohawk Convair and fly. Life doesn’t get any better.

Mohawk’s Convairs were named after Indian tribes. There was the Air Chief Cayuga, Air Chief Erie, Air Chief Iroquois, Air Chief Mohican and, of course, Air Chief Oneida. The names were painted on both sides of each Convair’s nose. And next to the name was the airline’s logo, a chief’s head.

Ken Atwell worked for Mohawk in its glory years. He helped overhaul Mohawk’s airplanes, including those aforementioned Convairs.

He is a member of a group called “The Hawks,” retired Mohawk employees who gather weekly in Vernon for coffee and what is known as “hangar flying.” Talking about flying is the next best thing to actually flying.

Ken Atwell has become Mohawk’s unofficial historian. He was smart enough to hang onto stuff, mostly pictures and articles, pertaining to Mohawk. And he is nice enough to share things. Most recently he sent me an article about those beautiful Mohawk Convairs.

I’ve been wondering what happened to that fleet of Air Chiefs. As I said, Ken Atwell read my mind. The article he sent me from a publication called “Airliners” answered my question.

According to the article, eight of Mohawk’s Convairs were found at the Montgomery County Airport in Texas in 1974. The article shows a picture of the Convairs lined up one after another in an airport storage area. They were never to fly again. In 1976, the Convairs went into a furnace, got melted down and recycled. Very sad.

There were other Mohawk Air Chiefs, however, that didn’t go into that Texas furnace. There was, for example, the Air Chief Tuscarora and Air Chief Naragensett. I don’t know what happened to Tuscarora.

I do know something about Air Chief Naragensett, which went into service in 1949 with American Airlines and was named “Scranton.” Mohawk got her on Nov. 1, 1959 and changed her name to Air Chief Naragensett.

During an amazing 47 years of service, the “Scranton,” or as I prefer, Air Chief Naragensett, went through more than a dozen owners, the last being Trans-Florida Airlines.

Air Chief Naragensett had been headed to the scrap heap, but a volunteer group in Daytona Beach got hold of her first and is now restoring the Convair. The plan is to get her flying again. We can only hope.