Editing Trans World Airlines (section)

===1930s===
====Founding: TWA====
[[File:DC-2 CN1368.jpg|left|thumb|Lindbergh Line DC-2]]

TWA's corporate history dates from July 16, 1930, and the forced merger of [[Transcontinental Air Transport]] (TAT), [[Western Air Express]] (WAE), Maddux Air Lines, Standard, and Pittsburgh Aviation Industries Corporation (PAIC) to form Transcontinental & Western Air (T&WA) on 1 Oct. 1930.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=November 15, 1937|title=Transport:TWA Trippers|magazine=Time |volume=103|issue=20 |access-date= March 11, 2011 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758334,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629040017/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758334,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 29, 2011}}</ref><ref>[https://pittsburghquarterly.com/pq-people-opinion/pq-history/item/472-taking-wing.html Taking Wing: Commercial Aviation Took Off in Pittsburgh] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801064100/https://pittsburghquarterly.com/pq-people-opinion/pq-history/item/472-taking-wing.html |date=2018-08-01 }} Pittsburgh Quarterly, Spring 2011, Adam Lynch</ref> The companies merged at the urging of [[United States Postmaster General|Postmaster General]] [[Walter Folger Brown]], who was looking for bigger airlines to give [[airmail]] contracts to.<ref name="Rummel">{{cite book |last1=Rummel |first1=Robert |title=Howard Hughes and TWA |date=1991 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |isbn=9781560980179 |page=32}}</ref><ref name="Karash">{{cite book |last1=Karash |first1=Julius |last2=Montgomery |first2=Rick |title=TWA: Kansas City's Hometown Airline |date=2001 |publisher=Kansas City Star Books |location=Kansas City |isbn=9780967951997 |pages=12–14}}</ref>

The airline brought high-profile aviation pioneers who would give the airline the panache of being called "The Airman's Airline". TAT had the marquee expertise of [[Charles Lindbergh]] and was already offering a 48-hour combination of plane and train trips across the United States. WAE had the expertise of [[Jack Frye]]. TWA became known as "The Lindbergh Line", with the "Shortest Route Coast to Coast".<ref name=Karash/>{{rp|6–7,10,14,20}}

On October 25, 1930, the airline offered one of the first all-plane scheduled services from coast to coast. The route took 36 hours, which included an overnight stay in Kansas City. In summer 1931, TWA moved its headquarters from New York to Kansas City, Missouri.<ref name=Karash/>{{rp|14–16}}

====DC-1, DC-2 and DC-3 ====
[[File:TWA Transcontinental Routes and Map 1933.jpg|thumb|right|TWA coast-to-coast schedules and route map, September 1933]]
On March 31, 1931, the airline suffered after the [[1931 Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F-10 crash]] near [[Matfield Green, Kansas]]. The crash killed all eight on board, including [[University of Notre Dame]] football coach [[Knute Rockne]]. The cause of the crash was linked to the wooden wings, one of which failed in flight. As a consequence, all of the airline's [[Fokker F.10]]s were grounded and later scrapped. TWA needed a replacement aircraft, but the first sixty modern all-metal [[Boeing 247]]s were promised to [[Boeing]]'s sister company [[United Airlines]] (both were subsidiaries of [[United Aircraft and Transport Corporation]]). TWA was forced to sponsor the development of a new airplane design. Specifications included the ability to fly the high altitude route between [[Winslow, Arizona]], and [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], with one engine inoperative. Other specifications included the capacity to carry 12 passengers and a range of 1,080 miles.<ref name=Karash/>{{rp|22–23}}<ref name=Rummel/>{{rp|34–36}}

[[File:TWA Experimental prop plane.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Lockheed 12A]], used by TWA as an experimental/test aircraft]]

On September 20, 1932, the development contract was signed with [[Douglas Aircraft Company]] and the [[Douglas DC-1]] was delivered to TWA in December 1933, the sole example of its type. On February 18, 1934, Frye (pilot) and [[Eastern Air Lines]]' head [[Eddie Rickenbacker]] (co-pilot), flew the DC-1 from [[Glendale, California]], to [[Newark, New Jersey]], setting a transcontinental record of 13 hours and 4 minutes. On April 17, Frye was elected president of TWA.<ref name=Rummel/>{{rp|43}} Throughout 1934, Tommy Tomlinson set further load and distance records with the DC-1. At the same time, TWA used its [[Northrop Gamma]] as an "experimental Overweather Laboratory", in a desire to fly at altitudes above the weather.<ref name=Rummel/>{{rp|45–46}}

The DC-1 was followed by the delivery of 32 [[Douglas DC-2]]s that started operations in May 1934 on TWA's Columbus–Pittsburgh–Newark route. Most were phased out by 1937 as the [[Douglas DC-3]] started service, but several DC-2s would be operational through the early years of World War II.<ref name=Rummel/>{{rp|38–42}}<ref>{{cite journal|journal=AAHS Journal|date=Spring 1990|title=DC@ and TWA|author=Ted Betts}}</ref> TWA started using the DC-3 on June 1, 1937. The fleet included ten DST sleeper aircraft and eight standard DC-3 day versions.<ref name=Rummel/>{{rp|50}}

====Airmail and Hughes====
[[File:TWA 1940.jpg|left|thumb|A TWA [[Douglas DC-3]] is prepared for takeoff from Columbus, Ohio, in 1940.]]
In 1934, following charges of favouritism in the contracts, the [[Air Mail scandal]] erupted, leading to the [[Air Mail Act of 1934]], which dissolved the forced Transcontinental/Western merger and ordered the [[United States Army Air Service]] to deliver the mail. However, Transcontinental opted to retain the T&WA name. With the company facing financial hardship, [[Lehman Brothers]] and [[John D. Hertz]] took over ownership of the company.<ref name="fundinguniverse.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Trans-World-Airlines-Inc-Company-History.html |title=International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 35. St. James Press, 2001 - via |publisher=Fundinguniverse.com |access-date=2013-08-18 |archive-date=2011-09-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910112123/http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Trans-World-Airlines-Inc-Company-History.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Army fliers had a series of crashes, and it was decided to privatize the delivery with the provision that no former companies could bid on the contracts. T&WA added the suffix "Inc." to its name, thus qualifying it as a different company. It was awarded 60% of its old contracts back in May 1934 and won back the rest within a few years.<ref name="fundinguniverse.com" />

[[File:TWA Air Mail & Express 1943.jpg|thumb|right|TWA Air Mail & Express service. March, 1943.]]
On January 29, 1937, TWA contracted with Boeing for five [[Boeing 307 Stratoliner]]s, which included a pressurized cabin. However, the TWA board refused to authorize the expenditure. Frye then approached another flying enthusiast, [[Howard Hughes]], along with [[Algur H. Meadows]] and his business partner Henry W. Peters, to buy stock in 1937.{{Citation needed|date=September 2019}} [[Hughes Tool Company]] purchased 99,293 shares at $8.25 a share, giving Hughes control, and Noah Dietrich was also placed on the board. Later, Hughes bought another $1,500,000 worth of stock.<ref name=Noah/> [[Paul E. Richter]] became executive vice president in 1938. A new order for five Stratoliners was placed on September 23, 1939, the first Stratoliner was delivered on May 6, 1940, and TWA initiated coast-to-coast flights on July 8, 1940. The planes could carry 16 night passengers in berths or 33 day passengers. The [[cabin pressurization|cabin was pressurized]] at 12,000 feet, enabling it to fly at an altitude of 20,000 feet, above much of the weather.<ref name=Rummel/>{{rp|33,51,54–55}}<ref name=Karash/>{{rp|24}}