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Tokyo, 1952. David Stewart, Martha May,
Millie Lloyd (me), Don Mckaig (we married
several years later) and John Rowan.
Don McKaig was killed in Tucson, Arizona
couple years after he returned from Korea.
Martha May Flaherty, ONA stew, now lives
in Kansas City.
OVERSEAS NATIONAL AIRWAYS
ONA DC-4
Good number of our pilots were previously
pilots with Chennault's "Flying Tigers"
out of China. Previously, I was with
Pacific Southwest Airlines, trudging up
and down the aisles in DC-3's between San
Diego and Oakland Airport. Since I was at
the Oakland Airport 5 days a week, I would
apply for job with the airlines that were
flying overseas ... Underage, I lied about
my age. I was hired by Lil, chief stewardess.
Cannot remember her last name. Driving home
one night, she drove off the curve on the
San Mateo, CA bridge. Never found her body...
could have been very foggy.
That was a great loss.
FLYING TIGERS
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MILLIE IN HAWAII
Millie 2014 at Kaimana Beach Restaurant.
AUGUST 1, 2014
My name is Millie Mclean. I was a stewardess
with ONA in 1950, based out of
Oakland Airport flying to Honolulu,
Wake Island and Tokyo, Japan.
My name at that time was Millie Lloyd.
Those were wonderful times.
I googled Overseas National Airways and
came up with your website. I was so
surprised! Ah, the wonder of google.
I live in Kaneohe, Hawaii on the windward side of
Oahu.
How very fun to see me with ONA once again.
I do have more wonderful pictures of those
years. Snap shots, of course, but I'm lucky
to have done the few that I did because it
was a lot of trouble carrying around those
bulky cameras with flash attachments.
When my son, Michael was here last month he
showed me how to scan these pictures. I must
get back on that again because we were the
first group to fly with ONA and so little is
known about us. We stayed at the old Tokyo
Kaikan, and moved to the Nikatsu Hotel after
construction.
The only one I know living from those times is
Martha May Flaherty, lives in Kansas City,
Kansas now. We were the youngest of the crew
members ... at that time. ONA stew,
Joyce Anderson, dated, lived with a pilot
Ken Milan, pilot with Flying Tigers who was
stationed in Tokyo. Years later, they did
marry and farmed artichokes in Northern Ca.
They had 2 daughters. Transocean Airlines,
out of Oakland, Ca. N'West Airlines also was
a contract airline out of Oakland. We carried
military to the war in Korea, and rotated them
back to the States. Interestingly, there was
no 24 hour "no drinking" policy. I remember
crew meeting in the bar at "Nikatsu Hotel"
before driving to Haneda. We were on a
shuttle to Chitose, N Japan. Brutally cold place.
We also did a few shuttles to England out
of New York/New Jersey over the Artic circle.
Scary flight - iced up, losing altitude.
I remember crawling into the crew bunk,
so tired, and thinking this is the flight
I will die on.
Martha May and Millie Will!
ONA, of my era, late 50's, did ditch a plane
in the Pacific. Joyce Anderson was the stew
on that flight. She did live to tell the tale.
That is not on the Wikipedia website.
One more item. The Captain always came into
the cabin to introduce the crew to the passengers.
When I flew with Martha May, he always
introduced us as Martha May and Millie Will!
I think that was Capt. Mun Hines.
Aloha Nui,
Millie
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ONA CREW SENIORITY 1952
Double click on image to enlarge
SENIORITY
List of ONA crewmembers in 1952, as
Martha and I were able to remember.
ONA 1951
A Story From Deep In The Dark
D18C-T NX80184 of Texas Airlines before
certification. While this airplane was
flying for Overseas National Airways in
1951 the starboard engine fell off, and
it made an emergency landing in
San Francisco Bay.
All 4 aboard were rescued.
By Captain Ras Nielsen
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OVERSEAS NATIONAL AIRWAYS
ONA DC-4
Millie McLean: I found Joyce Anderson Milan's
daughter, Michelle Milan Parson. Her father
was Ken Milan. He was a capt with Civil Air
Transport stationed in the far east. Civil
Air Transport succeeded Gen. Chennault's
"Air Transport". Ken Milan owned a
restaurant in Tokyo, "The Gas Light".
Joyce worked in the restaurant for several
years. Later, she and Ken owned and worked
an artichoke farm in California. Joyce,
always a beloved friend of mine.
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Kenneth L. Milan
Kenneth L. Milan, 77, a resident of Palo Alto,
died Sept. 30. 2001
He was born on Dec. 11, 1923 in Minneapolis, Minn. He graduated
from Wayzata High School in 1941 and enlisted in the United States
Army Air Corp in 1942. Subsequently, he attended Coe College in
Iowa where he obtained his pilot classification. Soon thereafter,
he entered military service in Tulare and served in the Air Force
as a B-25 and C-47 pilot in New Guinea and the Philippines.
Following World War II, he flew as a civilian pilot for Philippine
Airlines, Civil Air Transport/Air America, the World Church
Organization and Aerospace Airlines, participating in the
Indochina and Korean wars, the Bay of Pigs invasion and the
airlift evacuation in Biafra. In latter years, he owned and
operated the Gaslight Restaurant in Tokyo, Japan, the Iron Duke
restaurant in San Francisco, and an almond orchard and trucking
business in Merced.
He is survived by his daughters, Anne Spoljaric of Portland,
Ore., Kathryn Milan of Menlo Park, and Michelle Parsons of
Danville; three grandchildren and a former wife. He was preceded
in death by a daughter, Heidi Garrett Adkins, in 1999.
No memorial services are currently planned. At the family's
request, donations may be made to the Veterans Affairs Hospital,
Hospice Unit - Ward 102-C, 3801 Miranda Ave., Palo Alto, 94304.
REST IN PEACE
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ONA CAPTAIN KEN MILAN
France’s Highest Military Honor
Awarded Fifty Years After Epic
Indochina Battle
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