TRANSCONTINENTAL AIR TRANSPORT (TAT): United States (1928-1930). Backed by the bankers, businessmen, and companies associated with North American Aviation Corporation, TAT is organized and incorporated on May 16, 1928 at New York expressly to operate transcontinental air-rail passenger service. Initial capitalization is $5 million; NAA Chairman Clement M. Keys is named president of the new enterprise with National Air Transport (NAT) General Manager Paul Henderson simultaneously assuming the same post with TAT. Henderson’s assistant general manager is Eugene L. Vidal and the general superintendent is longtime airmail pilot Paul F. Collins.
The same day, contracts are let with the Richfield Oil Company for aviation gasoline. General Manager Henderson is asked to lay out a preliminary routing; the path drawn up initially begins at New York and ends at Los Angeles, with stops at Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Wichita, Dodge City, Albuquerque, Winslow, Kingman, and Las Vegas, New Mexico.
On June 13, the Pennsylvania Railroad, represented by its air-minded President William W. Atterbury, becomes a partner in the TAT undertaking and contributes $500,000 to the concept of air-rail transport.
Early on, President Keys directs the establishment of a technical committee, chaired by public hero Col. Charles A. Lindbergh who is employed at an annual salary of $10,000 plus $250,000 in stock. Lindbergh, with assistance from other leading aviation personnel, personally plans the new entrant’s final and refined route, thus giving TAT its popular name, “The Lindbergh Line.”
Three members of the technical group, including two railroad representatives, are dispatched to Europe to examine the transport aircraft, airports, and airlines in Germany, France, and the U. K. They find the situation with those aerial communications components far superior to anything in the U. S. After several weeks, the team returns home and prepares a detailed report for Mr. Keyes.
As the result of findings from Lindbergh, the European inspection team, and the offer of a superior aircraft from Henry Ford, eleven Ford 5-ATs are purchased (including all five 5-ATs previously operated by NAT). The first of the group, 5-AT-4, is delivered to Eastern Division Chief John Collings at Detroit in November and is christened City of Columbus. Sixteen first-tier pilots, each with over 500 hours on Ford
Tri-Motors, are personally hired by Lindbergh, as are 16 replacements, all graduates of the Army Air Corps’ Kelly Field training program.
Over $1 million is appropriated for the construction of weather stations and for the improvement of airports, particularly west of Wichita, Kansas. The latter, as at Kingman, Arizona, is often a major undertaking, from the purchase of land, through the construction of terminal buildings and hangars, runways, lighting, radio buildings, and equipment. Even landing strips at established airports must be upgraded, along with buildings, lighting, and radio equipment. Cash is also expended to purchase specially built 14-passenger “aerocars,” trailers to be hauled by 1929 Chrysler roadsters and used to provide ground transport to and from the air fields.
Beginning in April, a handsome house newspaper, Plane Talk, is published monthly at St. Louis and details company progress.
Lindbergh, employing the City of Columbus as a flying office, personally surveys the entire proposed route. Meanwhile, a number of airfields, terminals, and hangars must be built from scratch and are designed in Indian - or Spanish-style architecture. Between June 20 and July 7, 1929, the new route, the Ford Tri-Motors, and company personnel are market-tested through the transport of 261 passengers on rehearsal trips covering 50,000 miles back and forth between New York and Los Angeles.
The first regularly scheduled departure, for which over 1,000 people have attempted to obtain tickets and for which an equal number have gathered, takes place on July 7. Impressive ceremonies in the main lobby of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station involving TAT officials and the Governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt are held before the flight. The company’s flagship Ford, 5-T-4 City of Columbus, renamed City of New York for the occasion, is christened with a bottle of ginger ale by another of the airline’s vaguely employed aeronautical notables, Assistant to the General Traffic Manager Amelia Earhart. The City of New York remains on public display. To the strains of “California, Here We Come” as played by the Long Island Railroad’s Sunrise Band, a Pennsylvania Railroad special, The Airway Limited, christened by Miss Dorothy Stone at the same time as the Ford, now departs this rail terminus. It travels through the night and reaches the specially built rail-air interchange station at Port Columbus, Ohio, the next morning.
The morning of July 8 begins with a festive Columbus breakfast for dignitaries thrown by TAT General Traffic Manager T. B. Clement. Among those on hand are Col. Henderson, Miss Earhart, Henry and Ed-sel Ford, Harvey Firestone, and William B. Mayo. Of this group, only Mayo had arrived at Port Columbus by air and so will depart. Outside, before the uninvited crowd that has assembled along with the media to witness the aerial departures, the 5-AT-5 The Kansas City is christened.
Afterwards, 5,000 citizens watch in the rain as the lucky passengers (including Col. Henderson, Miss Earhart, and Stutz Motor Co. President Col. Edgar S. Gorrell) pass over a covered walkway to the terminal and then board the two Fords 5-AT-57 City of Columbus and 5-AT-8 City of Wichita. Each plane is crewed by a pilot, copilot, and courier (flight attendant) and will depart and fly through the day, with four intermediate stops at Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Wichita, to Waynoka, Oklahoma. Fred Harvey’s famous girls provide box lunches taken aloft from the Indiana stop and dinner in Kansas. A unique 14-passenger Aero Car trailer then speeds customers and baggage to the railway station where the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Missionary service then speeds through the dark to Clovis, New Mexico.
At Clovis, the travelers are transferred from the train to two other Fords, the 5-AT-20 City of Washington, piloted by Charles Lindbergh, himself, and 5-AT-7 City of San Francisco. The latter is a replacement for the 5-AT-9 City of Los Angeles, which had suffered engine failure and ground looped across plowed ground into a hangar upon takeoff, causing only delay and some embarrassment. With four stops at Clovis, Albuquerque, Winslow, and Kingman, the two airborne craft in turn make their way on to Grand Central Air Terminal, Glendale/Los Angeles. Interestingly, and due to strong tail winds, the City of San Francisco actually lands first at Glendale, at 5:18 p. m. on July 9, 24 min. ahead of
Lindbergh’s ship. The Harvey House is also responsible for meals at Clovis and Albuquerque. The entire inaugural trip takes almost exactly 50 hrs. 47 min. and costs each passenger, depending upon train accommodations and trip length, somewhere between $337 and $403 one-way.
Return flights mirror this process in reverse and the first, also initiated on July 8, is undertaken from Glendale to Clovis by the 5-AT-34 City of Philadelphia and the 5-AT-9 City of Los Angeles, piloted by Charles Lindbergh, with guests Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. The latter aircraft had been christened just before departure by stars Pickford and Gloria Swanson. Lindbergh, accompanied by his wife Anne, deplanes at Clovis where he awaits the City of Washington and flies it on into Glendale; he thus inaugurates both the inbound and outbound legs of the same route on the same day. From Waynoka, passengers continue on to Port Columbus on July 9 aboard the City of Columbus and the 5-AT-21 City of Indianapolis II. The two aircraft arrive at New York City at 10:35 a. m. on July 10; only two passengers, an unnamed newspaperman and insurance agent Albert S Hichen, both from Los Angeles, complete the entire trip from California.
Flights continue throughout the summer and fall. It is reported in the August issue of Plane Talk that a total of 433 passengers have been transported by TAT during the month from July 7 to August 8. Of these, 150 complete the entire New York to Los Angeles journey, with all the others getting off at various of the intermediate points. A total of 113,240 actual miles are operated, while passenger miles total 432,264.
On September 3, the City of San Francisco, possibly hit by lightning during a severe thunderstorm, crashes into Mount Taylor, 60 mi. W of Albuquerque (eight dead). A 50,000 square mile search is unsuccessful and it is not until September 7 that Capt. George Rice, flying the regular eastbound Western Air Express F-10 service, sights the wreckage and radios its location. Enplanements drop after the accident although efforts are made, with publicity, to reverse the trend. The City of Wichita is tasked, on October 11, to fly the University of New Mexico football team from Albuquerque to Los Angeles for a game with Occidental College. The plane has it student riders back in New Mexico in time for Monday morning classes.
to the introduction of personal radio service for passengers, many aloft on October 24 Black Friday are able to send and receive messages from their brokers concerning the status of their stocks on Wall Street. In October, employing a miniature projector and a screen hung on the back of the pilot’s door, westbound passengers are treated to the first moving pictures (silent) shown on passenger planes: a newsreel and an Oswald the Cat cartoon. TAT purchases rival Maddux Air Lines, which has been offering similar service eastward to Kansas City, on November 16. The routes of the two are then merged, making TAT the world’s largest trimotor operator and giving TAT a Los Angeles-San Francisco route in the process.
Rates on the transcontinental route are now cut by $70. At the same time, three flag stops are created: Vandalia, Ohio, St. Elmos and Terre Haute, Indiana. While landing at Indianapolis from St. Louis in a blizzard on December 22, the landing gear of 5-AT-21 City of Indianapolis crumples, causing the plane to crash (one dead). This year TAT becomes the first airline to establish its own meteorological department.
When marks and records are discussed at the close of the year, it is learned that 40,000 customers have been transported in just 6 months. Despite the adverse publicity caused by the loss of the City ofSan Francisco and the devastating impact of the October stock market crash, 1929 has been just “swell” for this small segment of U. S. industry.
On January 11, 1930 President Keys announces another fare reduction, noting that TAT tariffs are now less than those charged on certain trains. Plane Talk notes the advantages of the “speed of the plane at the cost of the train.” Still, winter plays havoc with the schedule; many passengers are unable to complete the air portions of their trips and are escorted through bad weather to trains. In mid-month, President Keys invites Western Air Express (WAE) President Harris “Pop” Hanshue to meet in New York City to explore merger possibilities; after discussing the letter with his board, Hanshue declines. Col. Henderson informs the
U. S. Post Office and Warren Irving Glover, the second assistant postmaster general, informs Hanshue that his refusal to merge could be a fatal mistake.
Nine days later, the Race Special Ford 5-AT-46, first delivered to Maddux Air Lines, with 16 aboard, is caught by a sudden line squall and crashes at San Clemente, near Oceanside, California (15 dead). On February 2, Keys resigns and is succeeded by John L. “Jack” Maddux, who announces that, as of February 4, controlling interest is held by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The carrier is reorganized on February 13 and executive personnel are changed. Henderson, Vidal, and Collins are fired. On February 20, an unnamed AT-5 collides with another aircraft while taxiing at Port Columbus.
Bookings for the first 2 months of the year total 6,800. On April 29, the air-rail fare from New York to Oklahoma City is cut again as the Depression begins to make itself felt on bookings. In Washington the same day, Congress passes the McNary-Waters Act. By this point, the air-rail service has lost $2.7 million since its opening day.
Fate now steps into the TAT picture in the form of U. S. Postmaster General Walter F. Brown, who controls the awarding of mail contracts (for which subsidy many airlines then depend) and, hence, much of the development of American air transportation. In May, he summons officials or representatives from major air transport concerns to meet with him in Washington, D. C. The chairman of TAT’s executive committee, D. M. Sheaffer of the Pennsylvania Railroad, represents the carrier at this May 19-30 “Spoils Conference.”
Before awarding a government contract for the central transcontinental route, Brown insists that the two main rivals for it, TAT and Harris “Pop” Hanshue’s Western Air Express, be merged. Meanwhile, the Ford TriMotor City of Philadelphia damages its landing gear and propellers in a May 22 emergency landing at LaLande, New Mexico; it will be repaired on the spot and returned to the company’s maintenance shops.
As part of its effort to increase its effectiveness, TAT now leases for (ultimately unsuccessful) trial a trio of 18-passenger Curtiss CO Model 18 Condor I biplanes. Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of his Albany-New York flight of May 29, 1910, Glenn Curtiss, first holder of a U. S. Aero Club license, makes his last flight when he takes one of his company’s aircraft from New York on May 30. The aviation pioneer will die of a pulmonary embolism at age 52 on July 23.
Brown’s desire for efficiency leads to considerable sparring between the two carriers, which is finally resolved in the “Shotgun Marriage” merger of July 16. The new Transcontinental and Western Air (T&WA) is created when TAT-Maddux is merged with a part of Western Air Express and Pittsburgh Aviation Industries Corporation (PAIC).
Like Western, the previous company’s ownership is 47.5%. As lawyers sort out details and attempt to finish work on the final package, the new amalgamation receives Brown’s award on August 30 for Contract Air Mail Route No. 34 (CAM-34). The company flies its first allair, coast-to-coast service on October 25, the day on which the previously elaborate air-rail operation is ended.
In commemoration of the first TAT service, Trans World Airlines (TWA) President Charles E. Tillinghast and Pennsylvania Central Railroad President Stuart J. Saunders will dedicate a plaque in the southwest corner of New York’s Penn Station 50 years later on July 7, 1969. The seventieth anniversary of TAT is celebrated in TWA-arranged ceremonies at Columbus, Ohio, on July 8, 1999.
TRANSCONTINENTAL AND WESTERN AIR (T&WA): United States (1930-1934). Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc. (T&WA) is formed by merger on July 16, 1930 of a part of Western Air Express (47.5%) with TAT-Maddux Air Lines (47.5%) and Pittsburgh Aviation Industries Corporation (5%). This “Shotgun Marriage,” as it is known to airline historians, is the product of a quest for efficiency by U. S. Postmaster General Walter F. Brown, then in charge of granting contract mail routes and subsidies under authority of the McNary-Waters Act. Aircraft received from WAE in the deal include 4 Fokker F-10s, 6 F-10As, 2 huge F-32s, and 4 F-14s.
Simultaneously, an agreement is entered into with American Airways: should both companies be awarded transcontinental mail routes, T&WA will pay AA $284,500 for certain Tulsa property and purchase 20,000 WAE shares for $1.11 million. On September 30, WAE stops its Los Angeles-San Francisco and Kansas City flights. The Standard Airlines division of WAE now goes dormant and its President William John “Jack” Frye and Vice President Paul Richter, are hired as T&WA vice presidents.
Also during September, the Ford 4-AT-7 acquired by T&WA from Maddux Air Lines is placed on exhibit at the Pennsylvania Railroad Station at New York City. It will later be donated to the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn, Michigan, to which it is shipped for display by the railway. The WAE, TAT-Maddux, and PAIC merger is formally completed on October 1.
With the government’s concession for Contract Air Mail Route No. 34 (CAM-34) from New York (Newark) to Los Angeles in hand, the new carrier is able to begin advertising $200 one-way, cross-country flights to be completed in 36 hrs., including an overnight stop. Following ceremonies attended by Newark Mayor Jerome T. Congleton and other city officials as well as Charles Lindbergh, Pilot Henry G. “Andy” Andrews, flying a Ford 5-AT, restarts T&WA’s transcontinental service, inaugurating day-and-a-half, coast-to-coast, $200, one-way, all-air service on October 25.
There will be no more air-rail flights after this Ford departs Newark, New Jersey, at 8:10 in the morning. Its complement of passengers is laden with dignitaries: Postmaster General Walter F. Brown and his assistants Warren I. Glover and E. B. Wadsworth, WAE President Han-shue, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Air Clarence M. Young, Amelia Earhart; Louise Thaden, and J. C. Cowdin. Meanwhile, two Fokker F-10As, still in the red livery of WAE, have already departed Los Angeles at 5:19 a. m. on the first T&WA west to east flight.
Andrews’ all-metal airliner arrives at Kansas City at 6 p. m. that evening via Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Indianapolis, and St. Louis. Early on October 26, passengers board a company F-10A and continue on to Los Angeles via Wichita, Amarillo, Albuquerque, Winslow, and Kingman, arriving at Alhambra Airport 8 p. m. Meanwhile, the designated eastbound Fokkers had put down at Newark at 7:38 p. m.
Five days later on November 1, T&WA begins the regular operation of WAE’s former Los Angeles-Dallas route and pays off on the AA agreement. While landing at Greencastle, Indiana, in bad weather on November 24, the Ford Tri-Motor 5-AT-4 City of New York noses up; although no injuries are reported, the plane’s propellers and nose engine mount must be replaced.
On January 26, 1931, a Fokker F-10 is fatally damaged when its axle breaks upon landing at Glendale, California. President Hanshue is hospitalized with pneumonia and is temporarily replaced by PAIC official Richard W. Robbins. The final paper work on the “Shotgun Marriage” is completed on February 15.
In late March, delivery is taken on the first of 5 of 11 (later 13) Northrop Alphas.
On March 31, T&WA Flight 5, a Fokker F-10A en route from Kansas City to Los Angeles, having departed its first stop at Wichita, is caught in a storm over Bazaar, Kansas, in mid-morning. The airliner suffers wing failure and crashes; the pilot Capt. Bob Fry, copilot H. Jesse Mathias, and six passengers, including Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, are killed.
The adverse publicity that follows will force an end to the use of Fokker wooden-winged aircraft in the U. S. Dominick A. Pisano will review the accident in his “The Crash That Killed Knute Rockne” in Smithsonian Air & Space 6 (December 1991-January 1992): 88-93.
The 140-mph Alpha monoplanes are placed into service on April 20 and provide 24-hr. coast-to-coast mail and express service. The company’s seven surviving F-10As undergo government inspection at the end of April and are replaced on the transcontinental service by Ford 5-ATs (making it all-Ford for the first time). In May, the Fokker F-32s, although uneconomical, are, nevertheless, assigned to the Los Angeles-San Francisco service until June 15, when three inspected F-10As return to duty.
The last F-32 flight is made on July 4, a sight-seeing tour over Glendale.
Upon his return to work in July, “Pop” Hanshue is “relieved” of his post in a move led by the General Motors board member Ernest Breech; he returns to his beloved Western Air Express (WAE).
With Breech’s backing, Acting CEO Robbins is now elected company president, with former Standard Airlines-WAE official William John “Jack” Frye as executive vice president.
The company completes its first air freight service on August 6, flying a planeload of livestock from St. Louis to Newark, New Jersey. This achievement will later be billed as the first air cargo serivce in the U. S. Ford 4-AT-31 piloted by Ralph W. Ritchie lands short of the field at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on August 14 and crashes; no one aboard is hurt.
Five days later, Ford 5-AT-24 is fatally damaged while landing in rain at Pittsburgh; four aboard are injured as pilot A. D. Smith’s craft overshoots the runway during a storm and slips off the wet runway. The remaining F-10As are back on the line by August 31 but will be withdrawn in 1932-1934. Dayton becomes a “flag stop” on September 28. While taking off from Oklahoma City on December 22, Ford 4-AT-33, originally acquired with Maddux Air Lines, crashes (one dead).
Out of gas and radio contact over Mobeetie, Texas, on January 14, 1932, pilot Ted Hereford parachutes from his Northrop Alpha. A Northrop Alpha mailplane, en route to Newark from Columbus in an ice storm, crashes into the Ohio River at Steubenville on March 21-22 (two dead).
The first single-unit wing bin for baggage and mail is demonstrated by company mechanics on Ford 5-AT-34 on April 13; Ford Motor Company officials are so taken with the concept that such compartments will henceforth be factory-built into its Tri-Motors. Also in April, 24-hour, coast-to-coast, transcontinental Alpha mail service is inaugurated.
The entire nose of the Ford freighter 5-AT-51 is destroyed by a ground fire at Amarillo, Texas, on May 8. Ironically, the aircraft will be repaired, returned to service, sold to another carrier, and lost in a second ground fire in June 1938. Again in physical difficulty, the TAT veteran 5-AT-34 City of Philadelphia is caught in a hailstorm over Bushland, Texas, on June 5. The fist-sized stones cause $10,368 in damages to the wing leading edge, wing top, cowls, stabilizer, and fuselage, but do not prevent the aircraft’s “normal” operation for the remainder of her flight.
Flying east of St. Louis on July 3, the propeller blade of Harry Campbell’s Northrop Alpha shears off, causing a vibration that tears loose the engine; with no other choice, Campbell bails out. On August 2, Vice President Jack Frye, unable to obtain modern Boeing 247s because of their manufacturer’s commitment to United Air Lines, writes his famous letter to aircraft manufacturers seeking an advanced trimotor and setting forth TWA’s requirements for a modern airliner. T&WA President Robbins signs a contract with Donald Douglas on September 20 for the delivery of one advanced $125,000 transport, with options to purchase up to 60 more at $58,000 each. The prototype is designated Douglas Commercial One or, familiarly, DC-1.
While alighting from a Ford 5-AT at Pittsburgh on October 12, a passenger walks into a propeller and is killed. On November 5, the carrier, employing both Fords and Northrop Alphas, initiates 24 hour-a-day service, coast-to-coast, night and day, for passengers as well as freight. Later in the month, the twelfth Alpha is purchased from the NAT division of United Air Lines. While landing at Amarillo, Texas, in a December 14 blizzard, Ford 5-AT-37 crashes and is destroyed (two dead).
Due to a mechanical failure, a Northrop Alpha crashes during takeoff from Pittsburgh on January 10, 1933; pilot Harry Zimmerman is not hurt. Pilot Edward A. Bellande skillfully lands his Ford 5-AT-25 with nine aboard and suffering an in-flight fire, at Bakersfield on February 10. Although the aircraft is destroyed, only one passenger, Mrs. Adelaide Helwig, is hurt. A Northrop Alpha is lost on February 26 when its exhausted pilot bails out over Cross Forks, Pennsylvania.
On March 1, new frequencies are introduced on the transcontinental route. The eastbound run now requires 38 hrs. 42 min., while the westward flight takes 39 hrs. 23 min. The former Maddux Air Lines Ford 4-AT-31 is sold to Blue Bird Air Transport of Chicago on April 10. It is followed out of service by the last ex-Maddux Tri-Motor, 4-AT-36 The Glendale, which goes to Pan American Airways (PAA) on May 5 for lease to Cubana (Compania Nacional Cubana de Aviacion, S. A.).
On June 1, the North American Aviation subsidiary of General Motors purchases control of T&WA. Ernest Breech is named president and his first act is to cancel a GM trimotor development project undertaken in competition with Douglas. On the same day, the new Boeing 247 of United Air Lines enters transcontinental service, cutting 7 hours off of the 27 hours still required by TWA’s Fords to make the trip.
Vice President Operations Fry assigns Daniel W. “Tommy” Tomlinson to monitor the testing of the DC-1 which, with Carl Cover and Fred Herman at the controls, flies for the first time on July 1 from Clover Field at Santa Monica, California. Following an inauspicious inaugural caused by engine difficulties, the new aircraft is extensively and successfully tested over the next three months. On July 28, a Lockheed Model 9 Orion is unable to gain altitude after takeoff from Kansas City and crashes into the Missouri River (one dead).
Beginning in August and continuing for two months, the carrier takes delivery of seven Consolidated Model 20A Fleetsters. At the same time, the first Northrop Delta 1A is leased from its manufacturer and is placed into service on the Kansas City to Los Angeles mail route. On August 29, Ford 5-AT-5, originally delivered to TAT as The Kansas City, en route from Amarillo to Albuquerque, is caught in a storm south of Quay, New Mexico, and crashes into the southern end of Mesa Mountain (five dead).
T&WA completes its testing of the DC-1 on September 5 following successful completion of the airplane’s most stringent requirement: a single-engine out flight on September 4 from Winslow, Arizona, to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The aircraft, which had cost the Douglas Aircraft Company $306,778 to design, build, and test, becomes official T&WA property on September 13, although it will be some time before it is finally handed over.
On October 24, the first Delta 1A is damaged in a forced landing near Grants, New Mexico; it is repaired and returned to service. Day and night transcontinental passenger through-service is initiated on November 5; elimination of the Kansas City stop shortens the westbound route to 28 hrs. 40 min. and the eastward to 24 hrs. 42 min. At $152.40 one way, a ticket costs $7.60 more than a railroad fare.
On November 12, the first Northrop Delta 1A, being flown by Harlan Hull, catches fire near Moriarty, about 65 mi. E of Albuquerque; Hull successfully bails out, but the aircraft is destroyed in the ensuing crash. With Donald Douglas as passenger, the DC-1 begins its first transcontinental flight from Santa Monica to Newark on November 15, stopping en route at various airports where it is shown to the press and general public.
In early December, six months after its initial flight, the first—and only—DC-1 is delivered in Los Angeles ceremonies, during which T&WA gives Douglas a $125,000 check. Jack Frye and Donald Douglas negotiate a revised contract calling for the delivery of 25 stretched production models at $65,000 each.
Known as the DC-2, the fuselage of the new aircraft will be lengthened by two feet to accommodate an additional row of two seats and Douglas retains the right to sell copies to other carriers. On December 11, while en route to New York from Pittsburgh, a Northrop Alpha ices up over Portage, Pennsylvania; pilot Dean Burford bails out and his cargo (including $73,000 worth of diamonds) is recovered. Flying westward into the same storm the same day, pilot Henry G. Andrews’ Alpha is also iced up and he, too, bails out. The year’s profit is $130,000.
As 1934 begins, T&WA employs the DC-1 to fly the mail at night between Glendale and Kansas City. Severely iced, a Lockheed DL-1B crash-lands at St. James, Missouri, on January 31. On February 9, as a result of the so-called “Air Mail Scandal,” the U. S. government cancels existing airmail contracts (effective on February 19) and calls upon the U. S. Army Air Corps to fly the mail.
Having learned of the government’s forthcoming airmail action, Jack Frye and Eastern Air Transport Vice President Edward V “Eddie” Rickenbacker on February 18-19, fly the prototype DC-1, complete with 10 passengers and 700 pounds of mail, from Los Angeles (Glendale) to Newark via Kansas City and Columbus in a cross-country record time of 13 hrs. 4 min. Rickenbacker, who seldom touches the controls during the mission, graciously receives joint flying credit from Frye, the principal pilot. The flight dramatizes the ability of the airlines to carry mail rapidly over significant distances.
On February 28, all company personnel (save senior officers) and schedules are cut back to two daily Ford transcontinental flights, one each way. By previous arrangement made by Vice President Frye with Douglas and Curtiss-Wright, most maintenance personnel are temporarily hired by those manufacturers. The loss of subsidy payment to T&WA is $250,000. The Army experiment ends on March 30 and the Post Office advertises for new contracts, which may be let to any company not participating in the May and June 1930 “Spoils Conference.”
On April 17, North American Aviation reorganizes its air transport subsidiaries. While T&WA is allowed to continue flying passengers, a new airline, TWA, Inc., is founded to regain the mail contracts. At this point, John D. Hertz Sr., founder of Yellow Cab Company, purchases 11% interest and receives a directorship. The first of three Northrop Gamma 2Ds is delivered on April 30 while the first Douglas DC-2 makes its maiden flight on May 11. The Hertz arrangement is sufficient to win back Post Office mail contracts and with Fords and Gammas purchased from T&WA, the airmail service is resumed by TWA, Inc. on May 13.
On May 13-14, in a highly publicized feat, Jack Frye, piloting the first of the carrier’s 3 new Northrop Gamma 2Ds, takes 355 pounds of mail and 85 pounds of express the 2,609 miles from Los Angeles to Newark via Kansas City in a record-setting 11 hrs. 31 min., averaging 227 mph. On May 18, one week after its maiden flight, the first DC-2, City of Chicago, is turned over and undertakes a proving flight on TWA’s Columbus to Newark via Pittsburgh route on May 18.
Although Douglas will lose $266,000 on this premier order, the effort will soon turn a huge profit as other airlines make requests. On May 26, with three DC-2s delivered, TWA completes the new Newark-Chicago via Pittsburgh DC-2 run in record time of five hours—for the fourth time in eight days.
DC-2 Newark-Chicago via Pittsburgh service becomes twice daily on June 1. The second Northrop Gamma 2D arrives on June 11 and on June 12 Congress passes a new Air Mail Act, which effectively removes manufacturers from the air transport business and gives them until December 31 to do so. A total of three DC-2s are delivered during the month, with the type certified on June 28.
New York-Kansas City DC-2 flights begin in July; at month’s end, 12 new Douglas transports are on hand as is the third Northrop Gamma 2D, delivered on the 11th. During the month, the City of Chicago, piloted by John Collings, provides 52 local flights over the namesake city, transporting a total of 728 sight-seeing passengers. At Philadelphia, pilot Carl Flournoy’s new City of Philadelphia provides 12 promotional flights and on July 5, the Ford Tri-Motor 5-AT-17 is sold to Pan American-Grace Airways (Panagra).
On August 1, DC-2s are placed in service on the carrier’s transcontinental route; Sky Chief overnight service from Newark to Los Angeles (Glendale) via Chicago, Kansas City, and Albuquerque, requires but 18 hours, 4 p. m. to 7 a. m. The new operation is advertised as “the first dusk to dawn daily transport schedules between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.”
Eight more DC-2s are delivered during the month, after which TWA transfers other deliveries of the type to Eastern Air Lines and Western Air Lines for the next four months. Frequencies on the transcontinental route become twice daily, with one of an express nature and the other multistop.
On August 19, a crowd of 2,500 witnesses the christening of the City ofAlbuquerque by Mrs. Katherine Stinson Otero, America’s first woman pilot. The City of Camden is named at its namesake city on August 22; a crowd of 2,000 witnesses listens to Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker speak of the new aircraft’s value. After the City of Wichita is christened on August 26, its namesake city provides a complimentary breakfast for 160 local dignitaries to be given promotional rides during the day. The last Ford Tri-Motors are retired on August 31, but are retained in readiness for replacement requirements.
With 20 DC-2s available by September, all TWA Ford 5-ATs except 5-AT-69 begin retirement; the survivor, outfitted with floats, will be employed in a brief and experimental service from Newark to Manhattan’s Downtown Skyport. On September 22, R. S. LeRoy’s Northrop Alpha, lost and out of gas, makes a forced landing near St. Clairsville, Ohio. Pilot George Rice is injured when his Northrop Alpha must make a forced landing in poor weather near Newhall, California, on November 15.
Displeased that his ticket is stamped “New York,” but that his DC-2 has landed in Newark, New Jersey, on November 25, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia demands in front of his fellow passengers—all newspaper-men—that he be flown on to Floyd Bennet Field at New York City. TWA, not wishing to be a pawn in a debate between La Guardia and U. S. Postmaster General James Farley over designation of the regional airmail airport, complies with the “Little Flower’s” request.
Proceeding westward near Wichita on December 18, a DC-2 experiences an engine failure, loss of a propeller, and engine fire; an emergency landing is made at Kansas city and no injuries are reported. Both T&WA and TWA, Inc. are consolidated on December 27 under the new name Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc. Ownership is now changed as General Motors sells its shareholding to the banking firm of Lehman Brothers and John Hertz Sr. The next day, Henry B. duPont becomes board chairman.
President Robbins, under terms of the Air Mail Act prohibiting retention of CEOs employed at the time of the 1930 “Spoils Conference,” is forced to resign and is succeeded by Jack Frye. On the final leg of the December 28 service from New York to Kansas City via Pittsburgh and Chicago, a DC-2 is forced to make an emergency landing at Columbia, Missouri; although no injuries are reported, the aircraft suffers $10,570.12 in damages. The year’s loss is $407,702.
TRANSCONTINENTAL AND WESTERN AIR LINES, INC. (TWA): United States (1934-1950). On December 27, 1934, in compliance with terms of the Black-McKellar Air Mail Law of June 12, Trans-Continental and Western Air (T&WA) and TWA, Inc. are consolidated into a single new carrier, Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc. General Motors, the former majority partner, sells its principal interest to Lehman Brothers, the New York banking firm, and Yellow Cab founder John Hertz Sr. Jack Fry is named president with Paul Richter as vice president-operations.
The last of three Lockheed Model 9 Orions obtained in 1933 is withdrawn and sold to Wiley Post; it is then converted into the floatplane that he and Will Rogers will employ on their fatal Alaskan trip in August. During the next two years, services will continue as before with additional Douglas DC-2s joining the company fleet. Company highlights in this period are the premier air transport industry adoption of automatic pilots and wing flaps on the new aircraft. The year’s net loss is $407,702.
Filling in as pilot on January 21,1935, President Jack Frye’s Northrop Gamma suffers engine failure near Deep Lake, Arizona, and he is forced to make an emergency landing. While taking off from Pittsburgh early on January 26, Floyd Church’s Consolidated Fleetster mailplane ices up and crashes (one dead). Five days later, Ernest Smith’s Northrop Alpha mailplane suffers engine failure while approaching Glendale for a landing and crashes.
The first Ford Tri-Motor of Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT),
5-AT-4 The City of Columbus, is sold out of service on February 14. Also during February, mail is placed aboard the DC-2s and by mid-month, the remaining single-engine mailplanes are retired. Five more DC-2s are acquired during the month, with one more arriving in March and two in April. Grand Canyon Airlines (2) purchases Ford 5-AT-18 on March 27 while the Ford 5-AT-6 and 5-AT-16 are sold to SACO (Servicio
Aereo Colombiano, S. A.) at Bogota on April 5. During the second quarter, a crash program of pilot hiring is begun that will double the number of flyers. During the spring, frequencies on the New York to Chicago route rise to four; four are also flown each way each day between New York and Los Angeles. The carrier’s DC-2s also offer two return frequencies daily between Chicago and Kansas City.
Having been loaned to the National Aeronautical Association, the DC-1 piloted by Daniel W. “Tommy” Tomlinson breaks its own transcontinental speed record on April 30, flying nonstop from Burbank to New York in 11 hrs. 5 min. Low on fuel in bad weather, Flight 323, a DC-2 en route from Los Angeles to Kansas City crashes at the edge of a Macon, Missouri, farm on May 6 (five dead). This is the first fatal crash of a DC-2 (and the first fatal TWA accident since the Rockne tragedy in 1931). Given that the one passenger killed is an important U. S. senator, Bronson Cutting of New Mexico, the accident becomes one of the most publicized air tragedies of the prewar era. In the face of charges and countercharges, public hearings will be held on the disaster. However, when the Department of Commerce official report is issued, it will blame bad weather and weather reporting for the incident, clearing the airline and its pilots as well as the manufacturer and its aircraft.
Between May 16-19, the DC-1 piloted by Tomlinson sets or breaks 22 records, including eight world records; in the first 2 days of this test series, the aircraft carries a 2,205-lb. load over a 3,107-mi. course in 18 hrs. 22 min. 49 sec. at an average speed of 169.03 mph. Overreacting to the recent tragedy, the company releases both the pilot and copilot of a DC-2 when the investigation of a Chicago runway overrun on June 11 finds pilot error and weather the cause of the accident. No injuries are reported and only the airplane’s nose is dented.
In July, Fry authorizes employment of the company’s first female flight attendants. In addition, the Ford Tri-Motor 5-AT-69 equipped with floats begins two months of tests in New York Harbor. Certain of these seaplane hops will serve as goodwill flights for city officials and other dignitaries. The onetime City of Wichita Ford 5-AT-8 is sold out of service to Grand Canyon Airlines (2) on July 16.
On August 2, a DC-2 suffers engine failure after taking off from Albuquerque and makes a nonfatal crash landing in a wooded area near Otto. An investigation will reveal that the underground fuel storage tanks at Albuquerque had been contaminated and that the airplane’s fuel tanks were almost completely filled with water. The Texas Company (Texaco), which operates the fuel farm, accepts responsibility for the loss and reimburses TWA for the write-off.
Piloted by William “Bill” Piper, the 5-AT-69 on August 29 begins waterborne commuter flights from “skyports” at the end of Wall Street and the foot of 31st Street to Floyd Bennett Field. During one of his services, pilot Piper flies under both the 59th Street and George Washington bridges, a rare and dangerous feat.
The last Gamma 2D, delivered the previous July, is the first retired; on October 11, it is sold to the Texas Company (Texaco).
For heroism in landing his burning Ford Tri-Motor at Bakersfield, California, back on February 10, 1933, pilot Edward A. Bellande is awarded the Air Mail Pilots Medal of Honor by President Franklin Roosevelt in White House ceremonies on October 29.
During the fall, President Frye agrees to a request from William “Pat” Patterson, president of United Air Lines, to join with the other members of the “Big Four,” plus Pan American Airways (PAA) and Douglas Aircraft Company, in the creation of a jointly funded transport larger than the DC-3A. The first class of air hostesses is graduated from TWA training on December 1 and a second group begins its attendant education, a total of 49 young women in all. The first air hostesses begin flying aboard DC-2s on December 6.
Enplanements for the year total 75,624 and revenue passenger miles flown are 62.45 million. The profit for the year is $19,404 and is the first in the company’s five-year history; with passenger income rising, TWA is no longer entirely dependent upon mail subsidy.
On January 1, 1936, Henry B. duPont resigns as board chairman. The company does not name a successor; however, board member John
Hertz begins to exercise increasing dominance. New uniforms are introduced by cockpit crews; pilots and copilots will henceforth be known as captains and first officers.
Meeting in Chicago on January 14, President Frye joins with Eastern Air Lines President Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, United Air Lines President Patterson, and American Airlines President C. R. Smith to announce the creation of the trade organization Air Transport Association of America (ATA) and appointment of Edgar S. Gorrell as its first president.
Also during the first month, the DC-1 is sold to the Burbank-based Western Aero & Radio Company for use by Howard Hughes in a contemplated attempt at a new record flight around the world. The aircraft will not be so employed.
The Ford 5-AT-41 is retired on February 3. Having failed to win a mail contract for its New York harbor commuter service, it is shut down and the Ford Tri-Motor 5-AT-69, floats and all, is sold to SCADTA (La Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transports Aereos, S. A.) at Bar-ranquilla, Colombia, on February 11. It is followed out of service by the 5-AT-19 six days later.
When Pittsburgh is cut off from the outside by a flood between March 18 and 22, TWA DC-2s make 60 relief flights from New York during the 4 days delivering passengers and supplies. On March 23, TWA joins with American Airlines, United Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, and Pan American Airways in pledging a $500,000 pool to assist Douglas in development of a four-engine transport to be called DC-4E (the “E” stands for “experimental”), a 44-seat, 27-ton giant.
The DC-2 Sun Racer hits a ridge near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, while approaching Pittsburgh Airport on April 7 and crashes (12 dead). While making a one-engine-out landing at Chicago from New York on May 31, a DC-2 misses the runway and hits a house, ending up in a vacant lot; four aboard are badly hurt. Sleeper berths are introduced in company service on June 1. Piloted by Capt. Andrew Andrews, a DC-2 makes a record flight from New York to Chicago on June 8 in 4 hrs. 6 min. The same plane and crew repeats the same trip a week later in another record, 3 hrs. 48 min. When, on June 25, American Airlines introduces the DC-3, TWA responds by ordering $350,000 in upgrade to the engines of its DC-2 fleet.
On July 6, Tommy Tomlinson, employing a supercharged Northrop Gamma, begins daily test flights into the stratosphere. Distressed by the rising cost of the DC-4E, TWA and Pan American Airways (PAA) withdraw from the Douglas aircraft project in mid-month, withhold their payments, and cast their lot with the Boeing 307 Stratoliner effort. The six remaining Consolidated Model 20A Fleetsters are sold later in the year, along with the premier Northrop Gamma 2D. The first new mail destination, Dayton, is awarded on September 17 on CAM-2.
Two Ford Tri-Motors, 5-AT-51 and 5-AT-57, are converted to freighter configuration on October 10 and are leased to a new all-cargo subsidiary, General Air Freight. On October 26, its two “Flying Boxcars” begin regularly scheduled air freight service between New York and Chicago via Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Columbus. At $12 per 100 pounds, the operation proves too costly and does not generate sufficient traffic to be maintained, let alone expanded to the West Coast per initial plans. Also in October, new anti-static radio antennas are fitted to company airliners.
During November, Howard Hughes tests a DC-2 at Kansas City. In December, a contract is signed with Boeing for the purchase of six four-engine airliners at $2 million. Meanwhile, a DC-2 makes the Chicago to New York run in a record 2 hrs. 58 min.— 1 whole hour under schedule.
Enplanements for the year total 90,265 and net profit rises to $205,125.72. The first cash dividend in company history—and the last for 17 years — is now paid: 250 per share.
Tomlinson’s daily stratosphere tests are concluded on January 24, 1937. En route to Pittsburgh from New York on March 25 with 13 aboard, a DC-2 flips onto its back and dives into a mountain near Clifton, Pennsylvania; there are no survivors in a tragedy later blamed on icing. Orders are now placed for eight Douglas DC-3B Skysleepers (half berths and half day-seats), which are delivered two per month in the second quarter.
On June 1, TWA introduces its new Douglas transports, placing them on the New York to Los Angeles transcontinental Sun Racer service via Chicago or Columbus, Kansas City, and Albuquerque.
The U. S. Post Office bids four new mail routes on June 11. DSTs are also assigned to the New York-Chicago route on June 18, completing the nonstop frequency in 3 hrs. 55 min. The cargo-carrying Ford 5-AT-57 Tri-Motor is sold to Pittsburgh-based Republic Oil Company on July 19.
On August 15, the first DC-3s (without berthing facilities) become available. Also in August, the company is awarded AM-36 Chicago-Dayton, via Fort Wayne, and AM-37 Winslow, Arizona, on the Los Angeles route to San Francisco via Las Vegas. Service is inaugurated over the new routes in September and on September 2 the Ford Tri-Motor freighter 5-AT-51 is retired. On September 22, the old Ford 5-AT-9 TriMotor is sold to Pittsburgh-based Gulf Oil Corporation.
Enplanements for the year total 90,000. A net loss of $959,837 is suffered, the worst in company history to date.
Airline employment in 1938 is just over 1,100 and on January 1 company pilots join ALPA. En route to Burbank from San Francisco on March 1, an off-course DC-2 strikes 9,712-ft.-high Buena Vista Crest northeast of Fresno (nine dead). The search for the wreckage will be abandoned and the plane will not be found until spied by a hiker in the spring.
On May 26, the U. S. Post Office awards the company a new airmail route, AM-38, Phoenix to Las Vegas. It also redefines the carrier’s previous AM-37, which is changed to run from San Francisco to Las Vegas. The next day, Howard Hughes sells the original DC-1 to Viscount Forbes, the Earl of Granard, shipping it to London on the deck of a freighter.
When the board refuses to make specified progress payments, Boeing cancels the Stratoliner project in early June. The DC-4E, into the development of which the company has contributed $100,000, meanwhile makes its initial flight on June 7.
Starring Harry Carey and Richard Dix, the RKO Studios motion picture Sky Giant is released during the summer and depicts flight training at a school operated by the airline.
During the aftermath of the New England hurricane of September 21, American Airlines, principal carrier in the Northeast, is overwhelmed in its attempt to open air-only communications between New York and Massachusetts.
At the request of ATA President Edgar Gorrell, Eastern Air Lines, United Air Lines, and TWA, under special permission from Washington, are allowed to contribute aircraft and flight crews to fly emergency relief services over the American routes from New York to Boston. Seven TWA DC-2s are assigned to fly mercy missions in and out of Boston. For 8 days, these planes join aircraft from the 3 other carriers in flying over 8,000 passengers (including refugees out and relief and construction workers in) and 317,000 pounds of mail around the stricken region.
AM-38 is inaugurated, also in September. Having accepted a medal from Herman Goering, pioneer aviator Charles A. Lindbergh is now in corporate disfavor. On December 5, in a move Jack Frye’s statement suggests is “routine,” the company slogan is changed from “The Lindbergh Line” to “The Transcontinental Line.” Although no longer an advisor, the “Lone Eagle” is badly offended.
On December 15, the carrier, responding to orders from John Hertz, who believes the aircraft too expensive, also formally cancels the B-307 contract and becomes involved in a civil suit filed by Boeing. A DC-2 with engine trouble is forced to put down on a grass strip at Hayesville, Ohio on December 20; no injuries are reported. With an engine sent up from Columbus and the help of a local garage for maintenance support, the aircraft is repaired and flown back to Chicago.
During the last week of the year, Frye and long-time Hughes friend Vice President Richter, covertly supply the financier with a list of TWA board members; the fleet meanwhile is reported as comprising 10 DSTs, 9 DC-3s, and 14 DC-2s. The first Boeing SA-307B Stratoliner makes its maiden flight on December 31. Another large deficit is suffered on the year: $773,263.
In late January 1939, Howard Hughes purchases 12% shareholding, the same amount held by John Hertz. The amount increases and in April, Hughes, heir to the Hughes Tool Company and aviation enthusiast, becomes the principal stockholder; his 25% shareholding is valued at $1.6 million. He immediately orders Frye to escape the Boeing lawsuit and to resume the Stratoliner contract.
Discussions with Lockheed President Robert Gross and engineers Hale Hibbard and Kelly Johnson concerning the design and manufacture of a new airliner begin in secret at Hughes’s Los Angeles home on June 22. The airline seeks a transcontinental airliner that can fly above 250 mph. Years later, Johnson will recall “Flying with Howard” in Smithsonian Air & Space 4 (June-July 1989): 102-105.
The first Boeing SA-307B Stratoliner is personally accepted by Howard Hughes on July 13; it will be used for the owner’s own purposes, including a planned, but aborted, around-the-world flight. On September 26-29, a chartered DC-3 transports the University of Pittsburgh football team to Seattle for a game against the University of Washington Huskies; the flight is made via Chicago (MDW), Minneapolis, Bismarck, Billings, Helena, and Spokane.
Arriving just after midnight on December 2, a company DC-2 from Chicago and Pittsburgh becomes the first commercial airliner to land at newly opened La Guardia Airport in New York City. The ALPA-organized pilots of TWA sign their first contract with the airline during the year.
The 1939 net loss falls to $186,000, but due to adjusted mail subsidy, becomes a profit of $107,000.
In the spring of 1940, orders are placed for 15 DC-3s. When it is decided to purchase the new and secret Lockheed airliner, it is also decided that, in the future, TWA aircraft will be purchased by Hughes Tool Company, which will lease them to the airline. On April 3, a DC-2 is caught in a downdraft over Pittsburgh and crashes; although there are no injuries, the aircraft must be written off.
Three days later, the TWA Stratoliner, christened Cherokee, is flown from Portland to Kansas City via Denver. For publicity and photographic purposes, it is given the license number NC1940. Within days, it will establish a new speed record: Columbus to New York at an average ground speed of 349.95 mph. TWA accepts four more Boeings in May and June, christening them Apache, Navajo, Comanche, and Zuni. Like the Cherokee, they are the first TWA aircraft since the beginning of the company not to bear the fuselage inscription “The Lindbergh Line.”
The carrier joins with the other members of the “Big Four” airlines and the ATA on June 25 to form the research group Air Express, Inc. On July 8, Boeing 307 Stratoliners inaugurate the first fully pressurized coast-to-coast service New York-Los Angeles via Chicago, Kansas City, and Albuquerque. The initial flight requires 13 hrs. 40 min., which is 2 hours less than the best DC-3 time.
Having won approval from board members involved, TWA and Marquette Airlines agree to a $350,000 merger of the latter into the former. Because the CAB does not grant immediate approval to Frye’s capture of the company and its 564-mile-long AM-58 St. Louis-Detroit via Cincinnati, Dayton, and Toledo, TWA leases the route, beginning on August 15.
On October 11, the second Northrop Gamma 2D is sold to the Texas Company (Texaco). The government’s new Priorities Board allows the company only four machines from its DC-3 order by December. With engine loss, a company DC-2 on December 2 is able to make a successful gear-up landing on a hillside near Greensburg, Pa.; no injuries are reported. Also during the year, TWA offers the first-ever in-flight audio entertainment, providing individual receivers to passengers so that they can listen to commercial radio programs.
Passenger boardings increase by 57% to 256,000. The year’s net loss is $232,000.
Making a second approach to St. Louis Airport on January 23, 1941, a DST hits trees and crashes to the southwest (two dead). The research group Air Cargo, Inc. is established by ATA and the “Big Four” on March 14 to study the possibilities of all-cargo operations. The CAB grants permission for the Marquette Airlines acquisition in April.
A flight training center for British aircrews, “Eagle Nest,” is opened at Albuquerque in June. Under the direction of TWA Capt. Otis Bryan, it will also train pilots for the Army’s own Ferry Command. Special Japanese envoy Saburo Kurusu arrives at Washington, D. C. on November 17 aboard a company Stratoliner while on December 5, the Marquette Airlines purchase is completed.
Prior to the December 7 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the company’s Boeing quintet has recorded 4,522,500 accident-free miles. After a week of discussions, arrangements are completed on December 24 for the company to sell its Stratoliners to the U. S. military; the planes will be leased back and former TWA personnel will form their crews.
The airline also signs a contract on Christmas Eve to operate overseas through a new Intercontinental Division (ICD) created by President Frye the same day and overseen by Capt. Otis Bryan from a base at Washington, D. C. (DCA). Bryan receives orders to come east from his “Eagle’s Nest” training facility in New Mexico.
During the last year of peace, the fleet totals 8 DC-2s, 21 DC-3As, 8 DC-3Bs, and 5 B-307s. A total of 439,444 passengers are flown over 200 million revenue passenger miles.
The fleet at the beginning of 1942 numbers 40 aircraft: 3 DC-2s and 37 DC-3s. The words “The Transcontinental Line” painted above the cabin windows of these aircraft are now rubbed out and replaced with the phrase “Victory is in the Air-Buy Bonds.”
Capt. Bryan, meanwhile, goes about the business of assembling the ICD at Washington, D. C. Aircraft are transported to National Airport and personnel are recruited or assigned. Among these are the colorful cowboy Capt. Milo Campbell and aircraft mechanic Roy Davis, who will go on to enjoy an almost legendary career as a maintenance chief with the airline. It is he, incidentally, who will, 15 years later, serve as inspiration for Arthur Hailey’s portrait of the most famous mechanic in aviation literature, Airport's Joe Patroni.
En route to Burbank from Indianapolis on January 16-17, DC-3 Flight 3 smashes into Potosi Mountain, near Las Vegas, in darkness; all 22 aboard are killed, including popular movie actress Carole Lombard. Donald B. McComb Jr. will examine “The Mystery of Flight 3: What Could Happen on a Plane?” in Airliners 7 (March-April 1994): 45-48, 54.
The Boeing 307 fleet, including Hughes’s personal machine, is turned over to the U. S. Army on January 27; the aircraft are designated C-75s. In the 19 months since entering commercial service, the 5 aircraft have transported 110,000 passengers over 4.52 million miles. To increase range by 1,000 miles, the military takes out the cabin pressurizing system and removes 7 seats from each transport, replacing them with 1,000-gallon fuel tanks.
The B-307 Navajo, in camouflage and with a temporary CAB certificate, the USAAF designation of C-75, and TWA crew, undertakes the carrier’s first contract overseas flight on February 26, taking a cargo of proximity fuses from Washington, D. C.’s Bolling Field to Cairo. The 17-day roundtrip mission, both a cargo run and a proving flight, is flown by ICD chief Bryan and copilot Floyd Hall (future president of Eastern Air Lines) via West Palm Beach, Puerto Rico, Belem, Natal, Monrovia, Liberia, Accra, Kano, and Khartoum.
Following this premier wartime company operation and, indeed, the first use of land transports overseas for the USAAF under contract to a U. S. domestic airline, two Stratoliners are permanently assigned to this Washington, D. C.-Egypt route.
Having been acquired by the military from American Airlines in February, the original Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST) Flagship Texas is chartered to TWA; after a month’s operation, the early DC-3 is redesignated a C-49E on March 14 and is flown under air force contract.
The last three DC-2s are sold to Northeast Airlines on April 16. On April 18, a VIP military shuttle is started to the U. K.; three B-307s are allocated to the three-year commitment. Stewards for these flights are provided by Eastern Air Lines, the only U. S. carrier to refuse, in the prewar years, to hire female flight attendants.
As part of their campaign against Midway Island in the Pacific, Japanese naval forces attack the Aleutian Islands on June 3, capturing
Attu and Kiska while grasping at underdefended Dutch Harbor. In a textbook example of the mobilization foreseen and promised by ATA President Gorrell at the beginning of the year, the U. S. Army orders 11 airlines to halt their normal passenger and contract cargo activities and dispatch aircraft to Edmonton, Alberta. There they participate in a massive contract airlift that is quickly organized for the defense of Alaska.
Over 100 aircraft from this airline and 10 other carriers execute daily roundtrips between Edmonton and Dutch Harbor through mid-July, transporting troops and supplies. Over 90% of the pilots involved had never flown to or from Alaska before and few had encountered such tough weather conditions.
Also in June, one Stratoliner is diverted to undertake a series of South Atlantic flights from Natal, Brazil, to Accra on the Gold Coast. While trying to land at Chicago (MDW) from Knobnoster Army Airfield in Missouri in bad weather on October 15, the C-49E, the first Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST) that began service with American Airlines as the Flagship Texas in 1936, crashes (nine dead).
While flying above an Allied Atlantic convoy in November, a B-307 piloted by Capt. S. T. Stanton is mistaken by a freighter for a German bomber and is fired upon; although hit in the tail by a 20-mm. shell, the aircraft is able to safely complete its flight.
Eighteen of the first 20 Douglas C-54s are assigned to TWA’s ICD.
With loaned Boeing test pilot Eddie Allen at the controls, the first Lockheed Model 049-46-10 Constellation makes its maiden flight from Lockheed Air Terminal on January 9, 1943. When the two Pan American Airways (PAA) Boeing 314s, Dixie Clipper and Atlantic Clipper, transporting President Roosevelt and his company to Casablanca arrive at Bathurst, Gambia, on January 13, they are met by Capt. Bryan and three TWA-crewed Douglas C-54s. One is to be the primary aircraft, one secret service, and one the backup aircraft. The four-engine landplanes fly the VIPs 1,500 miles to the conference site where meetings with Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Josef Stalin begin the next day.
On January 24, Bryan flies his important passengers to Liberia to visit President Edwin Barclay for a day before returning to a Bathurst rendezvous with the Dixie Clipper. Bryan’s C-54s next fly to Natal, Brazil, where they again meet the Boeing and transport Mr. Roosevelt and company to Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Ten company pilots serving in Air Transport Command are among those participating in a mass flight of 30 Curtiss C-46 Commandos from Miami’s Homestead Field to Karachi via Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Bahamas, Brazil, Ascension Island, Accra, Kano, El Geneina, Khartoum, Asmara, Aden, and Salalah, where they arrive on April 21. Following a month of orientation and training for locally recruited crew members, the big transports are positioned at the Assam bases of Tezpur and Jorhat to begin scheduled supply flights over the Himalayan “Hump” to the Chinese city of Kunming.
Meanwhile, on May 10, the CAB allows TWA to inaugurate Los Angeles-San Francisco service. In July, the Constellation prototypes requisitioned by the military are designated C-69s. Also, one of the DC-2s sold to the military earlier is returned as a C-32A for use in pilot and mechanic training at Kansas City. On October 5, the carrier purchases a 22% interest in Lowell Yerex’s TACA (Transportes Aereos Centro Americanos, S. A.) and also acquires stock in the associated companies&
World History
