I worked for ONA as a stewardess from 1958 until 
1961 with an in between stint of 3 months with 
Capital Airways flying on the Curtiss C-46’s 
out of Nashville, TN.
   
During my 3 months with Capital Airlines I flew 
domestic flights on the C-46 carrying new army 
recruits to and from bases within almost every 
state.

In 1961 I was asked by ONA to relocate to the 
West Coast but was unable so I stayed in New York 
and flew for President Airlines on their DC-6’s.  
That turned out to be a total disaster.  
President Airlines had a horrible crash in Shannon, 
Ireland where I lost a dear friend of mine.  
President went out of business, and my 3 paychecks 
bounced and I had to make good on them.

My best years were with ONA. We flew out of 
Idlewild, no known as JFK.

A typical flight called BKA with a number was on 
a Douglas DC-6 and started in New York or 
McGuire AFB. From there we flew to Gander, 
Newfoundland which took 4 ½ hours and we 
refueled. During that time we served a 
dinner. Then it was on to Shannon Ireland 
which took almost 8 hours. Before landing in 
Shannon we would serve a breakfast. In Shannon 
we again refueled and flew another 3 to 4 hours 
to Frankfurt, Paris, or London.  Many times we 
had days of layovers while waiting for the next 
flight out of Shannon. We stayed at the hostels 
directly across from the airport or in Limerick 
at Cruises Hotel.
   
These flights were on behalf of the military 
called MATS (Military Air Transport Services).  
Often we had layovers of several days which 
allowed us to travel within the countries. 
We also flew specially chartered flights from 
the US to locations in Europe and North Africa.

One year we all moved to the West Coast for 
several months and lived in a hotel in Alameda 
near San Francisco and flew to Honolulu, Manila, 
and on to Tokyo. Sometimes we also stopped in 
Agana, Guam.

I remember one flight when we developed engine 
trouble and made an emergency landing on Wake 
Island. There was nothing there except a landing 
strip, a tower and a small group of US military 
staff. I explored the island and found it had 
beautiful reefs. However, the island was 
littered with discarded war material.  
The beaches were full of rusted machine guns.  
Another close call was a flight to Japan via 
Alaska. We again developed engine trouble, had 
to dump fuel, pilots’ feather an engine and, 
made an emergency landing on the island of 
Shemya, Alaska. Luckily we had no passengers-
only cargo.  Never once was I afraid because I 
knew the guys up front and had full confidence 
in them. Only male Air Force personnel were 
stationed on Shemya.  We stewardesses were quite 
popular.  I have only fond memories of my time 
with ONA and the people I me and worked with.
Ruth Wedelich