(10-10-2013 13:09 )4evadionne Wrote: October 10th
1930 - USA: Three airlines merge to form Transcontinental and Western Airlines, TWA.
TWA had what was probably the most colourful history of any of the big American airlines, probably even more so than their great rivals Pan Am.
The merger was largely at the behest of then US Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown, who was looking for bigger airlines to be given the first airmail contracts. Transcontinental had the gravitas of having Charles Lindbergh on its board, but within a year of being formed they nearly went bankrupt after a damning report into a fatal crash near Kansas City revealed that the Fokker F.10 aircraft's wooden wing structure had deteriorated, leading it to fail. In the wake of the crash, the Fokker F.10 was temporarily grounded, and a more frequent and rigorous inspection and maintenance regime was put in place, making it more expensive to operate. The F.10's public image, and that of all wooden-structured aircraft, also suffered badly from the crash. It took a last minute deal with Boeing to obtain replacement aircraft to keep them afloat.
In 1934 they survived another crisis, as a Senate enquiry was set up to look into allegations of corruption over the awarding of the airmail contracts. As a result of the enquiry, the contracts were cancelled, given to the Army Air Corps and the merged company was ordered to be dissolved, but Transcontinental, the largest of the three original firms, kept the TWA name.
(Although well meant, the new arrangements were a PR disaster, as the Air Corps didn't have anywhere near enough planes or experienced pilots. In less than three months, 66 accidents resulted in 12 crew deaths, creating an intense public furore and the contracts were put back in the public sector.)
Lehmann Brothers came to their financial rescue in 1934 but before the end of the decade Howard Hughes had started taking an interest in their activities. By 1938 Hughes owned a 25% stake and by 1941 had taken full financial control, but his tenure was beset by costly and damaging boardroom battles.
In 1942 disaster struck again as a TWA scheduled flight en route from New York to Los Angeles crashed shortly after a stop-over in Las Vegas. All 22 people on board were killed including the Hollywood superstar Carole Lombard (the wife of Clark Gable) and her mother. Lombard had been on a promotional tour for the army to raise money via war bonds, and was originally due to return to Los Angeles by train, but they were running late so Lombard suggested flying back. Lombard's mother was afraid of flying and wanted to stick to the original plans but in the end agreed that they would make their decision based on the toss of a coin. The enquiry put the cause of the crash down to pilot error, but more than 40 years later Orson Welles revealed that he had strong information that Nazi agents had either sabotaged or shot down the plane, but he provided no solid evidence to support his claim and died shortly afterwards so the matter was not investigated further.
Despite boardroom battles it was Hughes who broke Pan Am's legal monopoly on international flights in 1946 and put TWA onto a firmer footing, but it wasn't until he relinquished power in 1961 that they became a global player under the chairmanship of Charles Tillinghurst, who also built up their subsidiary company which became Hilton Hotels.
TWA had almost two decades of considerable success. In 1967 they became the first all-jet major carrier, in 1969 they deposed Pan Am to become the number 1 carrier of transatlantic passengers and by 1972 were offering a genuine "round the world" service. But Tillinghurst's retirement in 1976 followed by deregulation of the US airline market in 1978 quickly saw their position go into decline. Although they maintained their position on the transatlantic route (as late as 1988 they had carried more than 50% of transatlantic passengers) they had neglected the US domestic market, their expansion plans had become unsustainable and they had to file for bankruptcy in 1992 and again in 1995.
They staged a minor recovery for several years in the late 1990s but the writing was on the wall and the end came on December 1st 2001 when they were taken over by American Airlines. The last TWA flight was from St Louis to Kansas City, replicating the first flight over 70 years before. Overnight, all TWA signage and logos were removed from every office, airport and aeroplane and replaced by those of AA.
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