In
1930 three US airlines merged to form Transcontinental & Western Air ...
TWA. By 1935 TWA had taken delivery of the only
DC-1 ever built and had ordered
twenty more "with improvements." They became the fourteen-passenger
DC-2.
It was an exciting time in commercial aviation and TWA's
Route Map shows their emphasis
on transcontinental flight. Jay Schneider, DCA-523, has captured the essence
of those times by reconstructing all 112 flights in the 1937 TWA timetable.
Neither the VOR nor ADF were yet available for navigation. Pilots flew on
airways designated by a color and a number which were established by a
network of four-course Radio Range
beacons. Jay has routed his TWA flights to track those
airways as accurately as possible.
Creating and documenting these flights took many months and they should
generally be suitable for FS-98 through FS-2004. Please inform us if you
note any differences and we will post your information on the NOTAM page.
Use Real Weather to further enhance the flight experience.
Rounding everything out are Jay's descriptive
Route Notes and his TWA Photo Gallery of
the era.
In 1950 TWA became Trans World Airlines. TWA declared bankruptcy in 2001 and
American Airlines bought them soon afterwards. By the end of 2001 the name
TWA had disappeared from flight schedules.
DC-3 Airways is very fortunate to have this historic collection of routes.
Thanks to Jay Schneider for creating them, and to Dave Arnold, DCA-520, for
his support during their construction.
Very special thanks to retired TWA Captain Bob "RC" Sherman of San Jose,
Calif. for the detailed TWA route navigation and information. Without RC's
first-hand experience and information, the recreation of this TWA route
would not have been historically accurate.
"RC" was Bob Sherman's TWA handle. According to Bob:
"...For some reason all of the pilots at least were officially listed by
initials and last name on bids, seniority lists, orders to pilots, dispatch
releases, domicile listings, etc. Many of us never knew each other's first
name."
Bob has been at the controls of a wide variety of aircraft beginning in 1944
for the US Army Air Corps, predecessor of the US Air Force:
'44 - '46 PT-17; AT-6; AT-10; C-47; USAAC in US
'46 - '50 T-7/11/45; C-46 USAFR in US
'46 - '50 J-3, PA-12; PT-23; and misc.
'50 - '52 C-46: C-119 USAF in Korea and far East
'52 - '57 C-46; C-119 USAFR in US
'52 - '82 DC-3; M-202/404; L-049/749; L-1049/1649; CV-880; L-1011; B-747 ...
TWA
'82 - '99 C-150/170/172/190 and misc.
