TWAHistory.com

TWA History has now been around for 6 months. In that time, we’ve tried to have quite a range of snapshots of TWA history on the site. We’ve tried to include a range of schedules, pictures from TWA history, and in general, some cool stuff.

Now, of course, I, as only the lowly son of a ramp-rat for TWA, have a limited collection of stuff to show off. I’m not saying I’m running out tomorrow, but down the road, the day will come when I have nothing else to show.

So that’s where you come in, dear reader.

My hope is that down the road, I can show off stuff that other people have collected over the years.

I’m sure there are flight attendants out there that have a variety of menu’s from TWA Ambassador Class. That beats my one menu.

I’m sure there are pilots out there that have manuals and checklists from some of TWA’s aircraft. I have none.

I’ve asked other websites to link to us, to increase our traffic. Of course, none of them have done that yet. If you read another TWA website, please ask them to link to us! I’d be more than happy to link to them, too.

So, are we doing good here? Bad? What would you change?

If you have anything you’d like to showcase here, either by sending me JPEG’s or video, or I could scan it and send it back to you, please email me! That email address is comments@twahistory.com
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Thanks, and you’re now free to move about the cabin.

Today’s link comes via TWA Flight Attendants.  They’ve collected quite a few of the tasty, I’m sure, recipes that TWA used to serve in first class.  That is, in first class when first class meant real china and more than just a fancier selection of peanuts. (Yeah, I’m looking at you America West U.S. Airways.)

Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the recipes.

 TWA Royal Ambassador Recipes

Today we have TWA’s December 1993 schedule for review.

What’s interesting in this one?

• Well, first off, it’s the second of a few of schedules that features actual (well, at least I believe they’re actual!) TWA employees on the cover, looking happy. (Even though, I think, in this day and age, Robert Thomas should have probably removed his pack of smokes from his front pocket! Just kidding.)
• This schedule is also after the infamous sale of the London-Heathrow routes to American Airlines. This schedule contains a single flight to Gatwick, out of St. Louis.
• Still has the ‘Atlanta mini-hub’.
• Finally, contains the Trans World Express flights out of Los Angeles operated by Alpha Air. I don’t think they had these flights very long, though. I also know the routes for this changed a few times. One change included Phoenix in the routes, as I remember PHX using one of the emergency exits as a gate with a sign for the Grand Canyon, I believe.

As always, click on the images below to see it full size.  Enjoy!

As I was wondering the isles of Hobby Lobby the other day with the wife, I swung by the model area, to see if they had any TWA ones.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed one that I haven’t seen before. Yes, it’s a Boeing 777 in “Lindbergh Line” colors!

It’s slightly hard to see in the picture, but the TWA logo is at the front door of the airplane.

This model is made by Minicraft Models, and is part of their “Flights of Fancy” line, where they also have versions for Eastern Airlines, a PSA 777, a Pan Am 777, and a “Wrong Way Corrigan” 777 too! They also have a TWA H-4 Hercules, and a Pan Am Spruce Goose!

I haven’t had a chance to work on this model yet, though. Took it out of the box and remembered that I also now need to stock up on paint, as well as model glue and such.

Click the links above to checkout their website and models.

Here’s a great video from mosche56 & twacrew.com of some great video of TWA’s 747. Looks like this is promotional video from TWA, overlaid with some Bruce Springsteen music.

Some great footage of a great airplane.

Here is a TWA schedule from October 1992.

Interesting things about this schedule:

• After TWA (or rather, Carl Icahn) sold off the London-Heathrow routes.  All trips to London now are via Gatwick.
• This includes the infamous Atlanta hub.  Not sure how long this lasted, but according to this New York Times article, it seems to have been until at least  October of 1993.  (If anyone has any comments about the TWA Atlanta hub, please leave a comment!)
• On the back of the schedule, they have an advertisement for their frequent flyer program.   They say that you can get free travel within the US at 20,000 miles.  Looking at American Airlines website today, this would take 50,000 for an unrestricted ticket.
• 35,000 miles for the Middle East or Europe.  Today on American?  You’re looking at 100,000 for unrestricted.  Gotta love inflation.

I’ve just upgraded to the latest version of WordPress, so thumbnails aren’t working right now.  Click below to see the pictures.

TWA October 1992 Schedule – Cover

TWA October 1992 Schedule – Route Map

TWA October 1992 Schedule – Back Cover

I know I’ve mentioned TWA’s Terminal 5 a few times, (see the entries here and here), but this time is a homemade video, by former TWA flight attendant Steve Kornman, that is very interesting.

This video is over 15 minutes long, and is well done. Get some popcorn and check it out!

Man, you gotta love the Holidays.

Of course, after all that, it’s time to go back to work, and that means trying to catch up.   That is where I find myself right now.

While reading this thread on airliners.net, the topic of TWA’s order of the Airbus A330 came up.  TWA was actually one of the first to order the plane, but of course, never recieved it.

In the thread, a link to transportarchive.org.uk includes this image of the A330 in old TWA colors. I remember seeing this picture, or one very similar, in an issue of Skyliner.  Of course, I don’t know where that issue is, of course.

(Click for a larger image.)

Yes, it’s Christmas time. Time when flights are full, and winter weather in STL brings it down to one runway.

Good times.

In honor of the Holidays, I bring you, the TWA SkyMall catalog, Holiday 1993 edition.

Offering in-flight ordering (just dial *023 from the GTE Airfone) and a wide variety of gadgets for that loved one on the ground.

Some of the included favorites are Casio Personal Digital Assistant, which is about the size of paperback book, and goes for the low, low price of $699.95.

Or, the excellent WordPerfect 6.0. Yes, it was for DOS. Yes, it was $319.00, or $129.00 if you had an earlier version.

Included is the cover. Happy Shopping!

(Click for a larger version.)

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  Me?  Well, I spent it with family in beautiful Aztec, NM.  Slightly colder than Arizona, but still good.

And, of course, I caught a cold.  Oh well.

This update brings the original (probably not the original, per se, but one that seemed to be used most of the 70′s, 80′s, and early 90′s.)  TWA 727-231 safety card.

I always found these fascinating, in the true lack of detail.  For example, in the window emergency exit pictures, it doesn’t show you want to do with the door once you remove it.  Do you throw it out on the wing?  Sit it in the isle? Leave it on the seats?  Then again, I guess the newer safety card doesn’t really say either, but it implies you leave it on the seats.  Oh well.

(Click images for a larger version.)