TWA

Transcontinental & Western Air was formed on 16 July, 1930 after a forced merger between three U.S. domestic airlines: Western Air Express (WAE), Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT), and Pittsburgh Aviation Industries Corporation (PIAC). Prior to the merger WAE had been a successful mail and passenger airline. TAT had not done as well, but its pilots had acquired valuable night-flying experience on the company's passenger/mail routes. Both companies had previously purchased many of the smaller airlines in their locales. During this time, Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown was handing out mail contracts to airlines for specific routes. He believed that two airlines should not operate over the same route, especially if both were receiving government mail payments. Brown suggested that TAT combine its services with Western Air Express, formed in July 1925. The two companies merged on July 24, 1930, to form the new Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc. (TWA). The new airline received its first mail contract immediately and began flying coast-to-coast flights on October 25, 1930, with an overnight stop at Kansas City.

After the merger the new air mail contracts were awarded with TWA winning the Kansas City to Los Angeles segment initially, on 25 August 1930. The Postmaster General awarded TWA further segments of the trans-continental route despite lower bids by smaller carriers when he decided TWA was the best bet for the long-term stability of the air mail network.

By 1933, TWA was the first U.S. airline to fly a scheduled coast-to-coast route. At the time, the airline was flying outdated Fokker aircraft. The transcontinental route was flown between Newark, New Jersey and Los Angeles, California. The stops included: New York (actually New Jersey) - Philadelphia - Harrisburg - Pittsburg - Columbus - Indianapolis - St. Louis - Springfield - Tulsa - Oklahoma City - Amarillo - Albuquerque - Winslow - Los Angeles.

As with the other “Big Four” airlines (American, United, and Eastern) that dominated the early years of U.S. airline industry, the history of TWA was associated with a number of famous personalities. William John Frye, a former Hollywood stunt flier and TWA's first director of operations, was instrumental in determining the specifications of the Douglas DC-1 and DC-2 aircraft (the airplanes were painted with 'The Lindbergh Line' painted boldly on the sides), the first in a series of aircraft that would revolutionize commercial aviation. In 1934, at the young age of 30, Frye became president of TWA. A licensed pilot, he made sure that TWA was at the forefront of modern technological advances, piloting the single DC-1 that Douglas built. In 1938, for example, he put in an order for the new 33-passenger Boeing 307 Stratoliner, the first commercial plane with a pressurized passenger cabin. He convinced a quirky millionaire named Howard Hughes to finance this purchase. Hughes became the principal stockholder of TWA in April, 1939.

25 October, 1930	1 February, 1931	1 February, 1932	1 January, 1933

1 May, 1933	18 July, 1934	1 January, 1935	1 July, 1935

1 November, 1935	1 April, 1936	15 September, 1936	1 April, 1938

1 January, 1939	1 March, 1939	1 May, 1939

1 August, 1937