Overseas National Airways crews and personnel were 
the best and I enjoyed flying with this airline the 
most of any I flew with.

I started with ONA July 22, 1966 flying DC-7C (A/C N951) 
and DC-7B (A/C N844). We did our Pilot and Flt. Engineer 
training down in Lake City, Florida with Capt. Bill Tedder 
and Flt. Engineer Paul Heznek. We flew a lot of MAC flights 
around the country and after most flights; I would have to 
work maintenance on one or more engines before I could go 
to the hotel. This was a common practice all crews of the 
DC-7 had to deal with at the time. At the end of one flight 
into Bradley airport we needed a cylinder change on one 
engine before the next mornings flight and Maintenance asked 
me if I could do it right there on the ramp. I said I could 
do it if I get some help and the tools I need. That was my 
specialty at Eastern while working 4 Eng. Line Maintenance. 

They (EAL) had asked me if I could come up with a faster 
way of changing cylinders and I did, which resulted in 
another mechanic and I each receiving a Commendation letter 
for changing a engine cylinder in 3 ˝ hours, never done 
before there. I got the cylinder changed that night with the 
help of two local mechanics in Bradley, but had to ad-hock 
a make shift special tool I didn’t have and the company sent 
another Flt. Engineer to take my trip the next day. 

Then in January 1967 six months later, I was told I was 
going to be furloughed at the end of January along with 
Bill Parks who was just below me on seniority list (both at 
bottom of list); due to cut backs in the flight schedule of 
the DC-7’s and the furlough would probably be approximately 
six months long. They said unless I wanted to take a 
Maintenance Representative job with ONA and I said if I 
couldn’t find a Flt. Engineer’s job then I would. I called 
up the Chief Flight Engineer (Bill Wilson) at Saturn and 
told him I was getting furloughed at ONA for approximately 
six months and did they need anybody now or fairly soon. 
He said I could start back as soon as I was released, which 
was February 1, 1967. Bill Parks went back flying with Saturn 
at the same time too.

Saturn
I then flew for Saturn DC-7C passenger & cargo flights out of 
JFK, NY again, checking every now and then with ONA Chief 
Flt. Engineer Dave McCloy as to the status of my call back 
schedule. Then on June 15, 1967 (Friday) I had just got back 
home off a trip with Saturn when Saturn Crew Schedule from 
Oakland called and said due to the Union being voted in and 
now representing crew members and that I was junior on the 
seniority list, I was being transferred to fly Logair 
Military flights, based out of Oakland, CA flying DC-6B 
aircraft. Also I was to report the following Monday morning 
in Oakland for the start of DC-6B aircraft ground school. 
I told him I wouldn’t be there in ground school Monday 
and I was resigning.

I called Chief Flt. Engineer Dave McCloy up right away and 
told him I had just resigned from Saturn and did he have any 
update on when I might be called back to ONA. He said he was 
just about to call me, to let me know ONA was going to increase 
their DC-7 flying till the end of the year, when they planned 
on getting rid of them all and going with all DC-8 jets. 

He said I could start back first of July ‘67’, also Bill Parks 
was being called back at the same time. Bill worked for EAL too 
as a Flt. Engineer and lives in Massachusetts about 50 miles 
from me, so we have been in touch with each other for quite 
awhile. Different times when we had ground school at the same 
time, we would drive down to NY together to have company on the 
5 hour trip and save on gas too.  

Furloughed again
I flew the DC-7 aircraft till the middle of September ‘67’ when 
Bill and I were notified we were being furloughed again, unless we 
both took an ONA DC-9 Maintenance Rep. jobs for about six months. 
There were two openings one in Miami and the other in Dayton, Ohio, 
I took Miami and Bill got Dayton. ONA said we would be called back 
to fly again when they received L-188 Electra’s (ex-National 
Airlines), that had to be converted from passenger to cargo 
aircraft in the spring of ‘68’. I went to two weeks of DC-9 
maintenance ground school at ONA JFK, NY, and then took my family 
with me to Miami. I worked with Head Maint. Rep. Ray Allen there. 

ONA’s DC-9 would come in each evening at Miami and Airlift Int’l 
would unload its cargo, and then we would taxi it over to Eastern 
for overnight maintenance. Next morning taxi it back across the field, 
so Airlift could load cargo on it for the outbound trip. It felt 
funny to again be back at the old Eastern maintenance nose docks 
that I had worked at in the beginning with them, especially since 
I had been locked-out after the F/E strike in ‘62’.

L-188 Electra ground school
About February 1968 I received word that I was 
going to be called back to New York, along with 
Bill Parks to start L-188 Electra ground school 
in March, to get re-qualified on them. Went through 
ground school and simulator and after I got re-
qualified Chief Flt. Engineer Jack Antablian 
for Electra program, asked me if I would help him 
out by being a Flt. Engineer flight instructor, 
in the aircraft till they got all the Engineers 
checked out. 


Lockheed L-188 Electra N284F at JFK in 1973

I said yes and did that till they sent me out to 
the west coast on June 26, 1968, to be on the FAA 
Electra Qualification Run for the Navy Quicktrans 
Contract. 

That all went well and I finished up helping get 
the rest of the Engineers trained and when that 
was done I started to fly actual revenue trips 
on the Electra. Some of the Check Captains during 
this operation were: Rod Mins, Bradford, Lampard, 
Pete Rowland, Katz, Bob Weiner and Bill Carrier.