RECENT NEWS STORIES From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel...................... - Soon-to-disappear TWA leaves fascinating legacy January 29, 2001                   We owe a lot to TWA, an old-guard airline that faces extinction as part of a major merger with American Airlines.       But, before the sun sets on its distinctive red stripes, Trans World Airlines should be remembered for making important improvements to air travel.       For instance, in 1957, it was the first carrier to offer passengers freshly brewed coffee in flight. And in 1970, it was first to offer no-smoking sections.       I don't know about you, but I wouldn't much enjoy flying unless coffee was available and smoke was not. Perhaps the St. Louis-based carrier's biggest accomplishment was helping to create the Lockheed Constellation.       This big four-engine airliner was the grande dame of the postwar Romantic Era of aviation, when propeller-driven airplanes dominated the skies. It was highly recognizable by its porpoise-shaped fuselage and triple tail.       Here's a little history:       Before World War II, TWA was a relatively small airline whose board of directors had little faith in the future of aviation. In fact, some felt the company was about to fold.       Jack Frye, the carrier's president, contacted a friend for help -- the legendary Howard Hughes, an industrialist, opportunist, and more importantly, an avid aviator confident the airline industry would grow and thrive.       Hughes purchased 77 percent of TWA's shares and focused the carrier on an ambitious endeavor: transatlantic passenger flights.       Hughes and Frye approached Lockheed Aircraft Corp., of Burbank, Calif., and said they needed a workhorse airliner that could fly across the ocean at speeds of at least 300 mph.         At the time, Lockheed had designed a long-range plane called the Excalibur, but it fell short of TWA's specifications. So Lockheed's design team came up with the Model 49 Constellation.         Hughes liked the blueprints so much that he ordered 40 of the airliners. But then the U.S. Army decided it also needed the planes as troop transports for the war effort.       Thus, government money flowed into the rapid development of the "Connie," which the Army designated as the C-69. It first flew in early 1943 but was not built in quantity until 1944.       On April 17 of that year, Hughes and Frye determined the plane was all they had asked for -- and more. They piloted a Model 49 Constellation from Burbank to Washington, D.C., in six hours and 57 minutes, a cross-country speed record.       By November 1945, Lockheed had received orders for 89 of the planes from a number of carriers, including TWA, Pan Am, Eastern, KLM and Air France.       As it turned out, Pan Am flew the first commercial Constellation flight from New York to Bermuda on Feb. 3, 1946. Three days later, TWA started flying the plane from New York to Paris.       TWA eventually would amass the largest fleet of Connies, 188, and be recognized as the airline that pioneered its progress.       Hughes eventually would become America's first billionaire and the richest man in the world when he sold his TWA shares for $750 million.       Meanwhile, Lockheed steadily refined the plane's design, stretched the fuselage and added power, coming out with the 149, 649, 749 and the 1049 models. The latter became known as the Super Constellation.         By 1957, Lockheed delivered the ultimate version of the plane, the 1649A Starliner. It was 70 mph faster than any other airliner at the time, held up to 64 passengers and had a range that put all European capitals within range of New York.       But by then, the Jet Age was on the horizon. Although the last TWA Constellation flight was made in April 1967, the plane lost its competitive edge a good five years earlier.       Over a 16-year span, 856 Connies were built. Only a few are still flying. But to aviation purists, it was one of the most graceful airplanes ever built. And we have TWA to thank for that. ================ Save a Connie http://www.saveaconnie.org/DC-3.htm Save a Connie http://www.saveaconnie.org/martin.htm

DAYS GONE BY, THANK YOU FOR THIS MY FIRST FLIGHT WITH T.W.A. First off, it would not have occurred without my being hired. Which is a story in itself, short, typical I'm sure, and some may find it amusing. In early December of 1946 myself and various and sundry other aspirants of the airline profession were assembled at the T.W.A. Hangar at Laguardia Field. We had been Sta-Nined to death, taken and passed our physicals, which left nothing but an interview with one Captain Harry Campbell between us and the payroll. Mine went something like this as I recall...I entered the office, shook hands, was offered a seat facing an awesome figure who said "Captain Campbell, glad to know ya". He then queried about my military and ciilian flight experience with no indication of its making any impression at all. At which point he allowed that " I gotta ask ya a question!". Then he came up with the "64 dollar" question.... "What's the worst thing can happen to a pilot while flying an airplane?" I hesitated very little and replied " Damn thing catches on fire!!!" Whereupon, smiling, he rose out of his chair, extended his hand and said "You're hired! Can you be in Kansas City on next Monday?" I vigorously shook his hand and said "Sure as h..." Thus started 33 years of more fun than a barrel of monkeys. The first flight was in 1947, one lovely evening in January. The locale was Kansas City Municipal Airport (the one downtown). The occasion arose in that about ten newly hired copilots had to be "qualified" by achieving three landings in a Constellation before going out on the line. The regulations said that one must have three landings also, it was further designated that, three must be at night. So, for pure economical reasons, the three were given at night, in order to avoid having to give six. three in daylight and three more in the dark. This gave rise to my first meeting with one Captain Bush Voights.( Still alive in MKC area) A notoriously courageous Check Pilot at the time. We met him at the ramp after supper and either drew lots or went by "Seniority", I don't recall which for "Who goes first". I had the "Luck" to draw No.1 so I got to do all the starting engines and taxiing out. Back in those days, when the right side of the airplane went the same place as the left, the fellow doing the flying sat in the LEFT seat. I strapped myself in and while all the "startin' up" and all that stuff was goin' on, Bush asked "Have ya ever flown any multi engine before?" I allowed as I had some Twin Beech and Grumman Tiger Cat time. This appeared to impress him not at all. (And rightly so, as I look back on it.) Whereupon he inquired "Got any Cub time or planes like that?" This I had, and he gave a rundown of how we were going to takeoff and land this HUGE FOUR ENGINE MACHINE. First off, he declared," We're in one of them 0-49'S, there's no nose-wheel steering, so make her turn using the outboard engines if that don't work, ease in a little brake, but not too much as we'll wear them out, and you'll do just fine." He was sitting over there apparently not worried about the aircraft at all! Then he went on to outline how we were going to accomplish the circuit of the pattern and the landing of this monster. "Don't bother about retractin' the gear it'll just wear it out. We'll keep Take(c)off Flaps on all the time 'til we're on base, or so, then I'll give you landin' flaps. Just trim her out nice and make believe those four throttles are all in one piece. Then fly her like a Cub and you won't have a bit of trouble." We had to leap-frog the river to gain access to Fairfax Airport, across the river, in Kansas where it wasn't so busy. We managed it somehow, and accomplished three "arrivals". The "Connie" didn't tend to bounce as much as a Cub. Two of them were touch(c)andªgo, with the flaps being brought up to take(c)off as the power was applied again after the landing, as he had described. On the third we rolled on out and I swapped seats with the next "victim". We did three of these routines a couple days later in the DC-4, with another courageous Instructor, and that completed our "training"??? as copilots at the time. The rest it we got out on the line with the men we flew with. What can you say about these men? We learned to be pilots from them, how to be Captains, along with how NOT to be Captains! I often wonder if there is any one left around today who could say to a total stranger, on some pitch black evening, in the front end of Boeing 747. Without so much as a smidgen of simulator time..."Just make believe the four knobs are one and "Fly 'er like a Cub"? Those were the "Good ol' Days". Dent Brome Captain TWA EWR Retired

From Robert Paul, retired

Robert Paul
Having traveled in the first commercial transport designed to fly at altitudes of approximately three and one half miles is hereby awarded membership in the Stratoliner Club and is entitled to this certificate as one of a small group of distinguished air travelers who have participated in the historical development of the science of upper altitude flight
It was signed by Jack Frye, President
Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc.
The certificate was awarded me for having flown at an altitude of 17,000 ft. on February 23, 1941.
It is hard to believe that 17,000 ft. is nothing for today's flights.

letter/ with photo above