page_title: Charles J. Colgan
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Charles J. Colgan / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Colgan Air Saab 340B (N203CJ) at Washington Dulles International Airport
context_page_description: Charles Joseph Colgan was an American politician and businessman. He served for forty years in the Senate of Virginia for the 29th district, with a brief period as the President pro tempore.
context_section_description: Orphaned at the age of 5, Colgan was raised by his grandparents on a farm in Garrett County, Maryland.
  Upon his graduation from high school Colgan enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and was called to active duty in February 1945. After graduation from basic training Colgan was stationed in Italy as part of a maintenance flight crew on a C-47. After completing his military service Colgan returned to Maryland where he met and married his wife Agnes. In 1948, Colgan and his wife moved to Washington, D.C. He trained as an airplane mechanic working for Capital Airlines and then obtained his commercial pilots license.
   After flying as a corporate pilot, Colgan moved to Manassas, Virginia in 1964 and formed Colgan Air operating as a flight school and fixed-base operation. In 1968, Colgan expanded his business to include a regional airline which he sold to Presidential Airways in 1986. After the bankruptcy of Presidential, around 1991, Senator Colgan and his son Mike restarted air service under the new name Colgan Air with one aircraft. Colgan and his family sold the airline in 2007 to Pinnacle Airlines.
  At the time of the sale, Colgan Air had grown from a few employees and one aircraft to 1,100 employees, 50 aircraft, and 350 flights daily to 53 cities in the North East and Texas.
caption: Colgan Air Livery, Saab 340B
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