District I Report - 2003/09

162
MOHAWK AIRLINES Gaslight Service:
In my column last month, these two
pictures of Paul Johnson’s DC-3 were
shown and I promised to provide more
information about the aircraft.
This is a DC-3 by Paul Johnson, and
should be at the Maine contest I
mentioned in my last column.
Mohawk operated 10 DC-3s from
approximately 1950 until the summer of
1962. During this time Convair 240s, 440s,
and Martin 404s were also utilized.
The Gaslight service was inaugurated in
September of 1960. The service ran both
ways between Buffalo and Boston, of
course landing at nearly every airport
enroute.
There were two aircraft with the fancy
paint job and the 1890s interior. The
operation was such a success that a third
airplane was added with the interior but not
the Gaslight paint scheme.
The service provided free Utica Club
beer, cheese, and cigars, served by flight
attendants in a gay-nineties attire. Initially
it was for men only but soon it became a
family service as many people thought of it
as a tourist attraction and booked flights
just for the ride. There was a special
section provided so women and children
were not in the section of the cabin where
beer was served.
The DC-3s were phased out by 1962. I
have no idea what happened to them, but
I have heard that some of them went to the
Southwest where they were used for smoke
jumpers.
I was hired by Mohawk during February
1957 and flew the DC-3 aircraft until they
were phased out.
Here is another view of Paul’s DC-3.
This is the full-scale airplane; the photo
was taken at Utica, New York.
This is the interior of the Gaslight DC-3.
You may be able pick out the pictures of
Schultz and Dooley, the Utica Club mugs
mounted on the bulkhead.
DAVE SLAGEL: In a previous column I
ran an article about Dave Slagel’s
placement in the Precision Aerobatics
Model Pilots Association (PAMPA) Hall of
Fame. The following is from the PAMPA
publication, Stunt News.
“The plain and simple facts are that the
13-year-old Davey Slagle wowed everybody
at the first Control Line Nationals in 1946 as
he not only flew two airplanes at once, but
he was the only person to fly inverted in the
Stunt event. He had the highest score of all
three divisions (102 to 56 in Open and 53.5
in Senior) and was awarded the new Jim
Walker Cup. He repeated these wins in 1947
and 1948 to win the Cup three years in a
row.
“Bob Palmer started Davey out in
Burbank, California in 1944 with a Sky
Baby. It was and is a well-known fact that
Davey’s parents were quite instrumental in
helping him with his airplanes, but it was
Davey who held the handle and he was an
extremely talented flier.
“Bob Palmer says that Davey came up
with the idea of a symmetrical airfoil for
his Checkala Roma series of airplanes
himself. Mackey in his “Pioneers of
Control Line Flying” also states that, “It
appears that Davey was the first in
Southern California and maybe anywhere
to use the symmetrical airfoil.”
“After the 1948 Nationals Davey stopped
flying Control Line and took up gliders,
Radio Control, automobiles, working for an
engineering firm, and later farming.”
The following is also from Stunt News,
written by Dave Cook:
“I had a very interesting call from Dave
Slagle up in Camden, Maine, a while ago
discussing some points of U-Control Stunt
design. Dave is a PAMPA Hall of Fame
member and won the Walker Cup three
years in a row in the 1940s and has been
flying Radio Control.
“Through the mail came pictures of
Dave’s new creations. A little background:
back in the 1940s one of the events was the
Novelty Event in which the contestant was
encouraged to do creative things. One of the
things done was to fly two at once in
formation stunt.
“If you look closely at Dave’s airplanes
you will see one marked with a big letter ‘R’
and the other with a big letter ‘L.’ Guess
what—these ships are set up with throttle
control and will be flown in formation stunt.
“This I gotta see. I watched Lou
Andrews do this back in the 1940s and my
understanding is that Dave did it also in the
1940s.”
A Control Line model and its big brother,
with a Brison 3.2 engine and 78-inch
wingspan.
Two airplanes, one for the left and one
for the right to fly the pattern together.
They are .60 powered, with motor control
and weigh five pounds.
District I Report
Associate Vice Presidents
James Gilliatt, 533 Lexington Road, Concord MA
01742-3714, [email protected]
M.C. McGuffin, 116 Hillview Avenue, Houlton ME
04730-2312
Harry S. Newman, 36 Sherwood Drive, Hooksett
NH 03106-1077
Richard Sherman, 30 High Street, Plymouth NH
03264-1223
Andrew Argenio, 3 Sheila Ave., Smithfield RI
02917
Bob Wallace, 91 Sylvan Street, Avon CT 06001-
2230
Frequency Coordinator
Joel Chappell, 21 Billings Street, Milford NH
03055-3906 Tel.: (603) 673-6240
Connecticut / Maine /
Massachusetts /
New Hampshire /
Rhode Island / Vermont
Don Krafft
Vice President
PO Box 1828
Duxbury MA 02331-1828
(781) 934-6248