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.
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.
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!
Today I’m showing one of my EBay finds: A 1961 TWA Bond for $1000.
This bond was issued in 1961 and would pay the amount on June 1st, 1978.
Unfortunately, my flatbed scanner is just a bit too short to fully scan this, so the bottom is cut off. Sorry about that.
