Ken Albertson

Ken Albertson discovered our website and wrote:

I stumbled upon your site and found it a great source of information.  I have always had an interest in Mohawk Airlines because my grandfather, Clifford C. Albertson, was a pilot with Mohawk Airlines from April 1954 until his death in November 1962. He made captain in May 1957.  He died of a heart attack just after landing his Convair at Windsor Locks, Conn.   I've inserted below, part of the text from a Time Magazine article from November  1962 that mentions what happened.  I was a very small child at the time and did not really know much about my grandfather.

Here's a portion of the "Time" article:

A United Air Lines flight approaching Washington crashed, killing all 17 persons aboard. The CAB named as probable cause two 11-to-14-lb. whistling swans.  The swans, headed south from the Arctic to Chesapeake Bay wintering grounds, apparently struck the stabilizer of the United Viscount "like soft cannonballs," said a CAB crash investigator. Weakened by the impact, the tail shuddered and tore away, and the plane fell out of control.  But fate has odd ways. And so, in Windsor Locks, Conn., Pilot Clifford C. Albertson, 46, last week landed his Mohawk Airlines' twin-engined Convair smoothly and watched his 21 passengers debark. Then Albertson strolled to the terminal building—where he fell dead of a heart attack. His passengers could only count their blessings—and wonder what would have happened if Albertson had been stricken a few minutes earlier.

Ken went on to say:

I've attached a photo of my grandfather.  The date this photo was taken is unknown but I'm told the airplane shown in the photo is a Cessna T-50.

Thanks for the great site and the work to keep it going.

Editor’s note: Clifford had worked for Wiggins Airways before coming to Robinson/Mohawk.  Wiggins had used Cessna T-50s.  Although Robinson had used a T-50, Mohawk, which began operation Jan of ’53 did not use them, so it seems likely that the plane pictured belonged to Wiggins Airways, as Clifford joined Mohawk in ’54.