Some of us can remember a time when any number of US airlines graced the skies, both near and far. Most dated back to the early days of commercial aviation and every single one of them had a loyal fan base. Several were permanently grounded as a result of severe financial difficulties that no amount of bankruptcy restructuring could fix. Others were absorbed in complicated mergers that left only one carrier as the surviving airline. Whatever the reason, all of them are missed. That’s why I thought it’d be fun to take a look back at these bygone airlines; how they started, how they grew and what contributions they made to the world of aviation. This is the sixth installment in a multi-part series. If you’re lucky enough to remember flying just one of these carriers, I hope you enjoy your trip down memory lane. If not, I'm betting you'll appreciate learning more about what made each airline special and the role they played in the evolution of the industry. Next up - Trans World Airlines.
Like other major US carriers, TWA traced its history back to the airmail delivery companies of the 1920s. Most made their money delivering mail, and in fact, normally incurred losses when carrying passengers. One company which attempted to break into the passenger market was Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT), which offered a coast-to-coast passenger service combining both air and rail travel. Passengers booked on TAT would take a two-day journey across the country flying Ford Trimotors during the day and riding Pullman railway sleepers at night. Although the company enlisted the help of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh to draw attention to their plan, TAT eventually lost money with their coast-to-coast service.
During this time, then US Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown was handing out mail contracts to airlines for specific routes. He believed that two airlines should not operate over the same route, especially if both were receiving government mail payments. Brown suggested that TAT combine its service with another airline called Western Air Express, which flew between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles carrying both mail and passengers. The two companies merged in July of 1930 to form Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA). The new airline received its first mail contract immediately and within 3 months, began flying one of the first, all aircraft scheduled passenger services from coast-to-coast. The route took 36 hours and included an overnight say in Kansas City. Within two years, TWA had mastered night flying, eliminated the stopover, and cut transcontinental travel time to just 24 hours.
On March 31, 1931, the new airline suffered a terrible blow after one of their Fokker F-10s crashed near Matfield Green, Kansas. The crash killed all eight on board, including University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. The cause of the crash was linked to the wooden wings, one of which failed in flight. As a result, all of the airline’s Fokker F-10 planes were grounded and later scrapped. TWA badly needed a replacement aircraft. On September 20, 1932, a development contract was signed with Douglas Aircraft Company and the Douglas DC-1 was delivered to TWA in December 1933, the sole example of its type. On February 18, 1934, the TWA aircraft set a new transcontinental record of 13 hours and 4 minutes flying from Glendale, CA, to Newark, NJ. The DC-1 was followed by the delivery of 32 of the Douglas DC-2 aircraft that started operations in May 1934 on TWA's Columbus–Pittsburgh–Newark route. Most were phased out by 1937 as the Douglas DC-3 started service and went on to become one of the most important airliners in history.
In 1934, a man by the name of William John Frye became president of TWA. Frye was only 30 years old and was a Hollywood stunt flier before working for the airline. Ordering the Boeing 307 Stratoliner in 1938, Frye later convinced an eccentric Texas millionaire and aviator by the name of Howard Hughes to finance the purchase and invest in the airline. The Hughes Tool Company purchased 99,293 shares at $8.25 a share, giving Hughes control. (That $819,000 purchase would be equivalent to more than $16 million today.) Hughes wanted to best the competition and entered into secret negotiations with the Lockheed Corporation to design a revolutionary aircraft capable of comfortably flying some 20 passengers and 6,000 pounds of cargo across the United States. Not only did he demand total secrecy, but also specified that Lockheed could not sell the aircraft to any other transcontinental airline until TWA had received 40 of them. The Lockheed Constellation would offer the first hydraulically boosted power controls, aviation’s equivalent of power steering. It would also be faster than most planes of its day, flying at 350 mph. And, using award-winning technology pioneered by Lockheed a few years earlier, it would feature a pressurized cabin for its passengers and be capable of flying above 90 percent of weather disturbances, what Constellation regulars would later come to call “smooth sailing.”
After Pearl Harbor, TWA’s aircraft were used to support the military. The carrier contracted its five Boeing Stratoliners to the Army Air Force’s Air Transport Command and they flew 3,000 transatlantic flights to Africa and Europe.They also contracted a number of their brand new Lockheed Constellations to the military to support the war effort. Always enthusiastic about the aircraft, Hughes went about publicizing the Constellation the best way he knew how: by breaking his transcontinental speed record on a Burbank to Washington, D.C., flight on April 17, 1944. The Connie averaged 331 mph, flying nonstop in six hours, 57 minutes, and 51 seconds on this flight. After setting the record, that aircraft was returned to the military and during service testing at Wright Field in Ohio, Orville Wright, who had made the world’s first powered flight in 1903, made his last flight, serving as copilot on a test run!
By war's end, 20 Constellations had been built and TWA bought back all the C-69s it could from the government. The planes were converted for passenger use and the Constellation entered commercial service in February 1946 The airline aggressively expanded and fought for market share against carriers such as American and United. It was in 1946 that TWA introduced the Lockheed Constellation on its transcontinental New York to Los Angeles route. This was seen as superior to United's service which then utilized the Douglas DC-4. That same year, the airline flew its first international revenue passengers on a scheduled transatlantic flight from LaGuardia Field in New York (LGA) to Aéroport de Paris-Orly in France (ORY). The Star of Paris made the journey in 16 hours and 21 minutes, after brief stops at Gander, Newfoundland (YQX) and Shannon, Ireland (SNN). That same evening, the airplane returned to New York. The flight had opened the era of regularly scheduled transatlantic service and little by little, the "rich and famous" would abandon the ocean liners for this new means of intercontinental transportation, which was in harmony with the idea of modern luxury.
There’s so much more to tell about this storied carrier and I’ll fill you in on the rest of TWA’s history in a future post.
Until next time…safe travels.
Fascinating ... ✈️