Mohawk Airlines began life in 1945 as Robinson Airlines with a three-passenger single-engine Fairchild F-24s completing its first passenger flight on April 6, 1945. Following Japan's surrender and World War Two's end, Robinson added two more Fairchilds to its fleet. All three Fairchilds were replaced the following year by larger twin-engine Beechcraft 18s.

Based at Ithaca Municipal Airport (ITH) near Ithaca, New York, Robinson got local businesses to support the airline with the pretext that it would attract new business to the region.The most significant investor was Edwin Albert Link, the inventor of the world's first flight simulator. Link lent the airline $75,000 so that it could purchase three Douglas DC-3s. The only demand Link made was that Robinson relinquish control of the airline and that a pilot named Robert Peach who would become its general manager.

The airline flew routes throughout the Mohawk Valley

In 1948 the airline was certified as a regional carrier by the Civil Aeronautics Board and awarded several routes in the Mohawk Valley. Located in the State of New York, the Mohawk Valley is an area of land between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains.

During the French and Indian War (1754-1763, the Mohawk River Valley was strategically important to the British as it provided a natural corridor to the Great Lakes. At the time of the war between the British and the French, the region was home to the Mohawk Indians. The most easterly of the Iroquoian-speaking indigenous people of North America, the Mohawks sided with the British.

The name was changed to Mohawk Airlines

Looking to capitalize on the region's history, the airline adopted the slogan "Route of the Air Chiefs" and painted a blue and red logo of an Indian chief on its aircraft tails.

Now overseeing the airline as its general manager in 1952 Robert Peach purchased a controlling share allowing Robison to retire from daily operations. The airline rebranded itself in 1953 as Mohawk Airlines and operated flights to 15 cities in the region.

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Mohawk Airlines was the first to hire an African-American

1955 saw the introduction of pressurized Convair 240s and the airline moving its Ithaca headquarters to the more northern city of Utica. In 1957 Mohawk Airlines became the first American carrier to hire an African-American flight attendant named Ruth Carol Taylor. Sadly though after breaking that barrier six months later, Taylor had to resign because, as was customary in the day, airlines fired woman who married or got pregnant.

In 1965 Mohawk Airlines upgraded its fleet to BAC One-Eleven's becoming the first American regional airliner to fly jets. By 1968 Mohawk was flying to 38 airports from Boston and Washington DC.

While everything seemed to be going well, financial liabilities and labor disputers forced the airline to talk with fellow regional carrier Allegheny Airlines about a merger. On April 12, 1972, Mohawk Airlines was taken over by Allegheny Airlines, which changed its name to USAir and then later US Airways. Following a merger in 1975 with America West Airlines, US Airways merged with American Airlines in 2013.