TWA: The Rise & Fall

Video Description

Go to https://piavpn.com/seanmunger to get 83% off from our sponsor Private Internet Access with 4 months free! TWA, which stood for Transcontinental & Western Airlines and later Trans World Airlines, was one of the most iconic institutions in the golden age of passenger air travel in the 20th century. In this video we’ll trace its origin from a publicity stunt in the late 1920s to the pillar of the airline industry it eventually became—and then retreated from. Through all its triumphs and tragedies, TWA was an airline uniquely shaped by the personalities who controlled its destiny. Sources for this video included: Daniel L. Rust & Alan B. Hoffman, Come Fly With Me: The Rise and Fall of Trans World Airlines (St. Louis, MO: Missouri Historical Society Press, 2023); Richard Hack, Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters (Beverly Hills, CA: New Millennium Press, 2001); Noah Dietrich, Howard, The Amazing Mr. Hughes (Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, 1976); Mark Stevens & Carol Bloom Stevens, King Icahn: Biography of a Renegade Capitalist (New York: Dutton, 1993); E. Johnson, “Entrepreneur—Record Setter” and “AERO Corp of California,” Jack Frye—Aviation Pioneer (Blog), December 8-10, 2012, https://jack-frye.blogspot.com/; National Transportation Safety Board. 2000, In-flight Breakup Over The Atlantic Ocean, Trans World Airlines Flight 800, Boeing 747-131, N93119, Near East Moriches, New York, July 17, 1996, Aircraft Accident Report NTSB/AAR-00/03, Washington, DC, https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR0003.pdf; Richard Bott, “TWA Flight 800 Missile Impact Analysis” (China Lake, CA: Naval Air Warfare Weapons Division, 1997), https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA427917, Jon Proctor & Jeff Kriendler, eds., Trans World Airlines: A Book of Memories (St. Augustine, FL: Bluewater Press, 2016). Special thanks to: John Marcucci, Lawarch (https://www.youtube.com/@Lawarch) Extra special thanks to: The TWA Museum at 10 Richards Road, Kansas City, MO (http://www.twamuseumarchives.org/home.html); The TWA Hotel in New York City. Heavy metal (and other) T-shirts I wore in this video included: Amon Amarth, Evilheart, Gamers Nexus; Motörhead. My book, “Daniel Vanished”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYWTRDKF “The Valley of Forever”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095PVL1NP My website: https://www.seanmunger.com My Ko-fi: https://Ko-fi.com/seanmunger My blog: https://gardenofmemory.net/ Chapters: 00:00-16:50: Getting Off The Ground 16:50-27:09: The Founders 27:09-39:05: The Prewar Years 39:05-47:41: World War II 47:41-58:42: In Howard’s Shadow 58:42-1:06:03: The Good Years 1:06:03-1:21:27: The Bad Years 1:21:27-1:29:48 Two Hijackings 1:29:48-1:41:01: Raiders of the Lost Airline 1:41:01-1:59:35: Flight 800 1:59:35-2:07:34: The Last Landing 2:07:34-2:19:40: What Happened To Everyone