TWAHistory.com

Today is the front page from the employee newsletter, the “TWA Skyliner”.  The big news?

They were bringing back the Polar Route:  LAX-CDG.  This was served with the first of the Boeing 767-300’s they purchased.  This particular one was from Condor.  (It was TWA #16103, tail # N691LF.  You can see a picture of it from airliners.net right here.)

Also in this issue:  Optimism about TWA’s Summer Schedule, including more international flights from JFK (59 today to 77 by June 1st) and more flights from STL (257 today to ‘more than 300′ by June 1st).  A lot of these increases were by reducing service at the infamous ATL hub from 57 down to 11 flights.

Also included is an article about a retired TWA pilot by the name of Captain Randy Kramer.  He spent his own time in the LAX Ambassador’s Club greeting passengers and in general, spreading goodwill.  Another example of how TWA’s people went ‘above and beyond’.

Enjoy!

While looking at some old commercials on YouTube, I came across this video from KABC in Los Angeles in 1980.

If you jump to 1:05 into the video, you’ll see a commercial from TWA where “Kids Fly Free*” (* not on Florida or Arizona routes. I wonder why not AZ.)

And of course, the great 1980’s slogan: “You’re going to like us, TWA!” One of their best.

Yeah, it’s been too long.

Sorry about that; it’s been hectic here.

So, today, I present the April 1992 schedule.  The highlights?  Well, TWA was flying to Moscow.  Only $800 in economy!  I believe this was a 727-200 from Brussels to Moscow, but not 100% sure on that.

Click images for larger versions.

Thanks to the Disneyland blog Stuff from the Park, we have a brochure that TWA released for taking TWA to Disneyland. The copyright date on the brochure is 1955, so this is from shortly after the park opened.

Of course, TWA sponsored the “Rocket Ship to the Moon” ride. This was later changed to Mars.

Link to original Blog entry.

Thanks to reader Alex S, he pointed out this recent auction on Ebay:  TWA’s $100,000 Cosmic Auction.

According to the description, it was a contest that TWA put on back in 1955.  You’d write an essay describing what air travel would be like in 30 years, or 1985.

You could enter an essay to win $50,000 now or $50,000 in 1985.  In 1985, they’d open the container of all the entries and pick a winner.

Does anyone know if this was given way in 1985?  According to the images, it was stored at the Kansas City maintenance base, so maybe someone there could recall it?  (That is, to say, if Icahn didn’t take the $50,000 to buy something else.

I’ve attached the images from the auction, to be sure these are kept.  It’s very interesting!

If anyone has any information on this contest,  be sure to leave a comment or send me some email.

First off, happy 2008 to everyone out there!

Today’s link is a video of a Boeing 727 landing at STL. All hand-flown, it’s very cool to hear the sounds of the cockpit.

Here’s a commercial from 1980 featuring the L1011. Of course, this is probably also around the time the DC-10 was having problems, so they really wanted to ‘push’ the L1011, for good reason.

And a steak? In coach? Wow. Who doesn’t miss those days.

Here’s a schedule from July 1994, featuring FA Patricia Marshall on the front cover.  I think putting TWA’s greatest assets, it’s employee-owners on the cover, was a great idea.

About the only thing that really stands out in this one for me is that Alpha Air is still a Trans World Express partner.  Didn’t seem to last too long.

Merry Christmas!

(Click images for larger version.)

never fear, I’ll be updating later this week.

With getting everything ready for Christmas, to the busy time at work, to moving my website to a new ISP, it’s been pretty busy here.

I’ll have another update later this week.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and traveled safely on airlines other than TWA.

Let’s take a look at some email I’ve received lately.

First off is Andre at TriSta500.net, a great website dedicated to the L1011-500.  Even though he doesn’t have any TWA-specific info, he sends along the TWA L-1011 Cabin Plan from an old issue of the OAG: (Click for larger version.)

Thanks, Andre for sending that along! And check out his great website.

Up next is Pete asking about a jeep.  Here’s his email:

Howdy,

I am buying this jeep from a fella in Woodland Hills.  I would like to research where it might have come from or where it was used.  Rumor has it Mr. Hughes had ordered three of these.  Do you have any thoughts as to where I could start checking?

Extremely Rare 2 wheel drive Red Fire Inspector TWA / AA CJ Jeep.  Has only driver’s seat and a special gas tank in the interior.  Very low miles, under 30,000 and under 350 hours on a four cylinder engine.  Running condition. Special heavy duty rear suspension and airport rear wheels and tires. 1969 CJ No top

And here is the picture he sent along:

Well, Pete, I’m not sure on that one.  If it’s a 1969 Jeep, as in your description, that was 8 years after Howard Hughes left TWA, so I don’t think that’s it.

If anyone has information, send it to comments@twahistory.com and I’ll forward it on to Pete.

Finally, we have S.M.D. who asks:

I would love to hear the late ’60s commercial “Up, Up & Away…T-W-A” based upon the 5th Dimension song. I used to work on the TWA computer processing account at that time and I loved that commercial. Any chance that you could find a copy and upload it to your website? That would be much appreciated.

Well, S.M.D., I don’t have it, but hopefully someone out there does.

Keep those letters coming!  If you have a question, or even has some TWA memorabilia you would love to share with others, send me an email!