Transcontinental & Western Airlines Pilot Hat Badge Type II (Small Nose)

New York, NY & St. Louis, MO 1930-2001

In 1929 Transcontinental Air Transport merged with Maddux Air Lines and July 16, 1930, this operation merged with Western Air Express (Western Air Express had purchased Standard Airlines in March, 1930) to form Transcontinental & Western Air (T&WA). The companies merged at the urging of Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown, who was looking for bigger airlines to give airmail contracts.

These airlines brought high-profile aviation pioneers who would give the airline the panache of being called "The Airline Run by Flyers." The airlines would be known for several years as being on the cutting edge of aviation. Transcontinental had the marquee expertise of Charles Lindbergh and was already offering a 48-hour combination of plane and train trip across the United States. Western, which was slightly older having been founded in 1925, had the expertise of Jack Frye.

On October 25, 1930, the airline offered one of the first all-plane scheduled service from coast to coast: the Lindbergh Route. The route took 36 hours and initially called for overnights in Kansas City. In summer 1931, TWA moved its headquarters from New York to Kansas City, Missouri. TWA began trans-Atlantic service in 1946 using DC-4s and the elegant new Lockheed Constellation ("Connie"). On May 17, 1950, Trans-continental & Western became Trans World Airlines, Inc. On April 7, 1967, TWA became one of the USA's first all-jet airlines with the retirement of their last Lockheed L-749A Constellation and L-1649 Starliner cargo aircraft. That morning throughout the TWA system, aircraft ground service personnel placed a booklet on every passenger seat titled "Props Are For Boats." TWA merged with Ozark Airlines in 1987. Deregulation hit TWA very hard and financial problems continued on and off for many years. They filed for bankruptcy three times and TWA Airlines flew its last flight on December 1, 2001 with an MD-80 aircraft and became part of American Airlines.