A funny and interesting look inside Mohawk Airlines from a former aircraft mechanic during the 1960's-
http://www.kamienski.net/mohawk/index.html
Some excerpts:
"While I was in Overhaul, Mohawk sold a couple of their Convairs to Japan Airlines. They took one of our foremen, Joe Burns, and he went with them and stayed in Japan for about a year until they got checked out pretty well on maintaining the aircraft. I remember when the Convairs were leaving the hangar for Japan, one engine wouldn't start and I recall seeing Bob Shaw (a lead mechanic) pounding on the starter with a 2X4 trying to get it going. It was funny as hell! They ended up changing the starter anyway."
"One guy was a lead mechanic on the line named Bidlack. He used to take the fuel truck home and fill his vehicles with gasoline and then drive it back to the airport."
"The first job in Overhaul I was assigned to was the fuel tanks of a Convair 240. I had to stick my head and shoulders into the tank (which actually was the inside of the wing - called a Wet Wing) and scrape the sealant off the corners of the tank. Because of gas fumes in the tank there was a venting device run with air that was put on the top of the wing to suck the fumes out. It didn't work that well, so they gave a guy working in the tank an old oxygen mask with a long piece of hose dangling our of the tank. Kind of a crude way to breathe! Guys would always pull tricks on the guy working in the tank. Like farting into the dangling end of the hose."
"On October 10, 1960, in an effort to make them more pleasing to the flying public, they painted some in a “Gay 90's” motif with a Victorian look inside and outside of the planes. They called it “Gaslight Service” and had a gaslight painted on the tail. The stewardesses all wore long Victorian gowns and served local food and drinks on the flights. They served Utica Club beer, New York State cheese and pretzels. I thought it was great and was sorry when they stopped flying them. Of course I liked DC-3's anyway, so I was prejudiced."
"Eddie Bielawa was a mechanic in the Check Crew who lived with his mother, while she was alive, and never married. He liked motorcycles and liked to wear World War II officer's pants. He had a tape of a DC-3 taking of and as a joke he played it real loud outside the break room. As the sound of the engines got real loud, as if it were taking off, he turned the tape off suddenly and everybody came running out of the break room expecting to see a DC-3 crashing. That was quite a joke."
"Mike (the mechanic) used to live in a house just off the end of the runway at Oneida County Airport. To go to work at the hangars, he used to ride his bike on the runway. He would phone the tower and they would give him permission to use the runway and taxiway."
http://www.kamienski.net/mohawk/index.html
Some excerpts:
"While I was in Overhaul, Mohawk sold a couple of their Convairs to Japan Airlines. They took one of our foremen, Joe Burns, and he went with them and stayed in Japan for about a year until they got checked out pretty well on maintaining the aircraft. I remember when the Convairs were leaving the hangar for Japan, one engine wouldn't start and I recall seeing Bob Shaw (a lead mechanic) pounding on the starter with a 2X4 trying to get it going. It was funny as hell! They ended up changing the starter anyway."
"One guy was a lead mechanic on the line named Bidlack. He used to take the fuel truck home and fill his vehicles with gasoline and then drive it back to the airport."
"The first job in Overhaul I was assigned to was the fuel tanks of a Convair 240. I had to stick my head and shoulders into the tank (which actually was the inside of the wing - called a Wet Wing) and scrape the sealant off the corners of the tank. Because of gas fumes in the tank there was a venting device run with air that was put on the top of the wing to suck the fumes out. It didn't work that well, so they gave a guy working in the tank an old oxygen mask with a long piece of hose dangling our of the tank. Kind of a crude way to breathe! Guys would always pull tricks on the guy working in the tank. Like farting into the dangling end of the hose."
"On October 10, 1960, in an effort to make them more pleasing to the flying public, they painted some in a “Gay 90's” motif with a Victorian look inside and outside of the planes. They called it “Gaslight Service” and had a gaslight painted on the tail. The stewardesses all wore long Victorian gowns and served local food and drinks on the flights. They served Utica Club beer, New York State cheese and pretzels. I thought it was great and was sorry when they stopped flying them. Of course I liked DC-3's anyway, so I was prejudiced."
"Eddie Bielawa was a mechanic in the Check Crew who lived with his mother, while she was alive, and never married. He liked motorcycles and liked to wear World War II officer's pants. He had a tape of a DC-3 taking of and as a joke he played it real loud outside the break room. As the sound of the engines got real loud, as if it were taking off, he turned the tape off suddenly and everybody came running out of the break room expecting to see a DC-3 crashing. That was quite a joke."
"Mike (the mechanic) used to live in a house just off the end of the runway at Oneida County Airport. To go to work at the hangars, he used to ride his bike on the runway. He would phone the tower and they would give him permission to use the runway and taxiway."