Getting to Know You: Gerry Mahoney

Gerry grew up in a family of pilots, his mother, father and one of two sisters. Dad was a radio operator and navigator in the Boeing 314 Clipper (Flying Boat), working for Pan-Am. His mother was a staff secretary for General McArthur in Manila. When they left Manila in the third to last Pan-Am flight, his mother was pregnant with Gerry. The family ended up in Oakland, California, where he was born. His dad went on to work for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) during the war, followed by Trans Ocean Airways after the war. He later went to work for the CAA (Civil Aeronautics Authority, precursor of the FAA). This meant every two to three years, the family moved. Living next door to an airport meant Gerry and his sister could spend every free moment hanging out with the pilots, offering to do any job they could, and getting lots of rides, thus his love for airplanes, starting about age four, when he had his first ride. He recalls watching his mother do touch-and-go’s in a Stearman. His favorite airplane at that time was the “Brown-Nose Cub. All the J-3 Cubs were identified by the color of their cowl.

He got his private pilot’s license in 1961 and bought his first airplane, a Piper J-3 Cub, when he was 23. He presently has two Globe-Swifts and a Single-seat Harmon Rocket.

When he was in fourth grade, the family lived in Silver Lake, California, next to the CAA Communication Station. His job at that time was to change the lights on the five 140-foot towers for the low–frequency radio range station, climbing to the top of the towers with a bag full of light bulbs.

The family moved to Bryce Canyon, Utah Communication Station, then Salem Oregon, and then to Oklahoma, where he graduated from high school. During the summer months, starting when he was 16 years old, he would go to Oregon and work for the Oregon State Department of Forestry as a fire fighter. At age 20, he became foreman of the 20-man fire crew. In 1965, he moved to the U.S. Forest Service in Redmond, Oregon as a smoke jumper.

Following the smoke jumping, he enlisted in the Navy as a NAVCAD (Naval Aviation Cadet) where he got his wings in 1967. He was commissioned as an Ensign in May 1967. He spent the next seven years in the Navy. He was on the USS Hancock as an A-4 Skyhawk pilot. He had a tour in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. He returned to Vietnam, this time flying an OV-10 Bronco with VAL-4, a light attack squadron, supporting PBR (patrol) boats on the rivers, along with supporting Navy Seal teams, flying primarily nighttime sorties. He also flew as an instructor in the A-4 Skyhawk at the Naval Air Base in Lemoore, California.

He worked as a crop duster for six years in the rice fields in Willows, California, flying a Navy N3N biplane with a Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine, Ag Cat and Thrush. During the harvest, he would drive a 4-wheel drive Bank Out Wagon, hauling rice from the harvester to the trucks.

Gerry was a bush pilot for Sea Airmotive in Alaska, flying DeHaviland DHC6 Twin Otters and a Piper PA-31 Navajo. Following his time as a bush pilot, he used the money to complete his education. He was called back to duty in the Navy for another 13 years.

Following retirement, he went to the United Arab Emirates as an instructor pilot in their Fighter Lead-in Squadron, flying the British Bae Hawk Mk.63. Following the stint in the UAE, he flew the B-747 for Atlas Air Worldwide Cargo. It was a great job, every flight a new adventure.

In 1999, he took a job with ATSI (Aviation Training Systems, Inc) in Mesa, Arizona as a flight instructor, training officers for foreign air forces, including the UAE Air Force in the TA-4 Skyhawk and A4-N Skyhawk. He trained student pilots in the National Test Pilot School in Mohave, California. He also flew the A-4 for Boeing Flight Test, during tests of the V-22 Osprey, refueling systems in the C-130. Following the low speed tests, he spent a year doing the same work as a receiver aircraft for the tests of the Boeing KC-767 Tankers for the Italian Air Force. The Boeing work also contained a lot of time flying photo chase on the tankers and the new B747-800 Freighter, with a Boeing photographer in the back seat.

He has the following ratings: Single engine & Multi engine Land, CFI, ATP, Commercial, Instrument, A&P and IA (Inspection authorization.)

Gerry helped establish the IAC (International Aerobatic Club) #26 in Delano, California. He was a member of EAA Chapter 1138 in Hanford, California and Chapter 376 in Fresno, California. He is presently a member of EAA 430, Sequim Washington. He has participated for many years at Oshkosh, Sun ‘n Fun and Arlington Air Shows.

Besides flying airplanes, his favorite hobby is working on airplanes. He built his hangar/home in Diamond Point and is presently finishing his latest project, a back yard bar, named “Air Wing 21.” Air Wing 21 was embarked on the USS Hancock from 1967 to the end of the Vietnam war.