1940s Trans World Airlines

1 1940s

1.1 world war ii
1.2 post-war: trans world airline
1.3 falling out between hughes , frye

1940s
world war ii

hughes gained controlling interest in 1941 , controlled 78% of twa. airline prospered during world war ii, racking 40 million miles in flights army, supplying north atlantic route prestwick, scotland, , south atlantic route brazil liberia , points east.

hughes pushed construction of lockheed constellation commercial airliner, become synonymous twa style of elegance , cutting-edge technology. on april 17, 1944, hughes , frye flew constellation (c-69 usaaf #43-10310) burbank, california, washington, d.c., in unofficial record of 6 hours 58 minutes.

post-war: trans world airline

c-69-1-lo / l-049 constellation, c/n 1970, formerly 42-94549, painted star of switzerland of twa, on display @ pima air & space museum

after breaking pan american world airways legal designation united states sole international carrier, twa began trans-atlantic service in 1946 using dc-4s , elegant new lockheed constellation ( connie ); name changed trans world airline. flights reached cairo in 1946, bombay in january 1947, ceylon in february 1953, , manila in january 1958; 2 1049gs week reached manila 55–56 hours after leaving idlewild. route cut bangkok in year or 2 , bombay in 1961. in 1966, re-extended hong kong via bangkok, in 1969 twa opened trans-pacific link complete round-the-world network lasted until 1975.

l-749 constellation star of virginia @ london heathrow in 1954 under-fuselage speedpack freight container

the airline assisted in setting-up of saudi arabian airlines, ethiopian airlines, , newly established german national airline lufthansa. airlines around world sent pilots twa training.

falling out between hughes , frye

frye , hughes had falling out in 1946. hughes financial advisor noah dietrich said frye ruining company overexpansion. twa s stock market price plunged $53 share $10 airline suffered pilot s strike , temporary grounding of constellation fleet. hughes dictated management 50% cut across board solution financial problems. in december 1946, hughes loaded twa board of directors men hughes tool co. frye resigned in february 1947, followed 3 months later richter. ended era of airline run flyers .

in next 2 decades, twa suffered constant changes in management, exception of ralph damon. twa survived partly due airline s legal maneuvering of 1940s eliminated possible competitive threat american overseas airlines, affiliated american airlines. c.r. smith, president of american, unhappy aoa s financial results, sold aoa pan american in 1950; twa , pan u.s. airlines scheduling passenger flights europe until national started in 1970.