Museum Newsletter

Museum
Newsletter
From the Director Pam Blaschum. . .
July 2014
Board of Directors
Pam Blaschum-Director
The second quarter has been a good one for
the Museum! Our 1940’s Hangar Dance on
April 26th was a successful fund raising event!
We had 300 in attendance and featured the
Moonlight Serenade Orchestra. Many of our
guests came in military attire and 40’s vintage
clothing. (Pictured right are Ruth Richter
Holden & Burt Jolley.)
Karen Holden Young-Early History
Ann Noland-Volunteer Coordinator
Nancy Sitzmann-Event Coordinator
Mary Ellen Miller-Board Member
Chris Funk-Board Member
The biggest surprise was the arrival of Ruth
Richter Holden’s 1937 Lockheed Electra 12 A
Junior in TWA livery. (More about this amazing story on page 3.) The Commemorative Air Force also provided a Fairchild PT-19.
These antique aircraft provided a great background for the orchestra! (Pictured below is a
night of dancing with “Ellie” in the background.)
Carol Emert-Board Member/Archivist
Christopher Nold-Simulator
Operator
Sheila Thomson-Committee Member
Dianne Marks-Creative Consultant
Volunteers
Zana Allen
Joe Ballweg
Carol & Dean Connor
Cyrus Devry
Keith Epperson
Donna Gentry
Alan Hartmann
Jim Lawlor
Bill Leonard
Larry & Marcia Lillge
Art Lujin
John Mays
Raymond Rowe
The evening prior to the
dance we had a small reception in the Lindbergh Conference room and a dedication of the Main Gallery to
Marie and Leo Trainer. In
attendance were Betty Soper, Martha Noland and Dianne Pepper from the Platte
County Historical Society.
These three were instrumental in keeping our collection intact while we were a
chapter of PCHS from 19852013. We are now our own
501 C 3 non-profit organization. (Pictured left are Marie
Trainer and Ruth Richter
Holden)
Frank Ruege
Bob Schlueter
Charlie Sheldon
Judy Shenefield
Dominique Spini
Alice Wasko
Lee Wilhite
Donna Wilkins
TWA Museum
10 Richards Road
Kansas City, MO 64116
816-234-1011
[email protected]
Page 2
Silver Wings
International
By Carol Emert
“When any historical object
enters a museum, it must be
identified by some clear and
ready means and its entry and
subsequent disposition must be accurately and permanently recorded.” This last sentence is a quote
from a book titled Museum Registrations Methods,
which was printed by the American Association of
Museums some years back, and contains the procedures by which museum staff care for objects held
in public trust.
Each and every object at the
TWA Museum has special historic meaning, and to each
object is attached a story of
an employee who touched the
airline in his or her own special way. It is the mission of
the TWA Museum to guarantee that objects brought into
the collection are cared for
properly so that future generations will know the story
of TWA and its employees in
aviation history.
Over the last ten months we have moved about 95%
of the collection stored in one part of the building to
larger and more permanent storage. As previously
mentioned, we are separating objects into groups to
determine what we have in our holdings, and to earmark objects, storage units, and equipment that we
would like to acquire in the future. We are very close
to being done with the first phase, and will begin
inventorying and counting objects this summer once
everything is in our permanent space. Once we have
done that we will begin cataloging objects, photographing them, and will give each object a tag with a
series of numbers. The information will later be entered into the PastPerfect database.
We were pleased to be notified that we, along with the 800
Memorial in NY, will now be the charities of the Silver
Wings International membership. Silver Wings International, Inc. was founded in 1987 by a group of retired TWA
flight attendants to celebrate the pride and dignity of
their chosen profession. The organization, which is open to
former TWA and Ozark Flight Attendants, numbers over
950 members throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and
Europe.
Silver Wings and its members guaranteed a place in history
for TWA through placement of vintage uniform collections
at the Museum of Flight in Seattle,
WA. and The TWA Museum in Kansas
City. Uniforms are also placed by
Lynne Adleman and the Los Angeles
Chapter in the Los Angeles Flight
Path Aviation Museum.
The careers of our members span
service aboard aircraft from the DC3 to the B-717. We are proud to
claim a member average of 30 years
of service to TWA and Ozark Airlines. Our Annual Convention and
Gathering of Friends is held each fall
in a variety of host cities. As we all
experience the loss of the identity
of our airline we worked for, along
with separation from colleagues we
have worked with, now, more than
ever, is the time to pull together to
protect our friendships and our mutual history with TWA.
VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE
REPORT
I would like to thank Karen Holden-Young for all her help
this past quarter. Recently she has put together a list of
Board Members and Volunteers with emails and phone
numbers that will help greatly when emails are sent.
In working through this process we are very fortunate to have two very talented volunteers assisting
in this complicated task. Zana Allen and John Mays
are extraordinary in their ability to think through
the steps required in the process, and both have
excellent abilities in the area of research.
It is a fact that without our wonderful volunteers this
museum would not be able to function. They are a dedicated group of individuals who are knowledgeable and
enthusiastic about the
history of TWA and its
place in commercial aviation. We thank all the
volunteers for their time
and talents.
The more we get into the TWA
archives the more fascinating it
all becomes. The stories that
emerge are amazing. One thing
is for sure, it is a pleasure to
care for TWA’s proud history
and we look forward to telling
the stories in the future in our
Museum displays.
We are always looking
for new volunteers so if
anyone out there would
like to come and be a
part of our volunteer
family, give the museum
a call 816-234-1011 and
we will get you started.
Ann Noland
Volunteer Coordinator
Page 3
The memory of Trans World Airlines is alive and well!
This is more than an article about an airplane. It is also a love story. It begins when
Ruth Richter Holden was a child. Her father, Paul Richter Jr., was executive vice
president of Trans World Airlines and one of its three founders. She grew up in
Kansas City, Missouri, TWA's hometown, as an "airline brat" surrounded by TWA
people and their airplanes.
Holden was enthralled by flight and became a TWA "hostess" in 1955, working the
round-engine airliners of that era. She married in 1958. At that time management
did not permit flight attendants to be married. She was forced to resign but eventually returned to the sky as a pilot and now has 1,500 hours, an instrument rating,
and a Piper Warrior.
Wanting to honor her legendary father, who died at 53 when she was a teenager,
Holden created a Web site detailing his involvement with TWA. This Web site caught the attention of Ed and Connie Bowlin, who wanted
to sell their Lockheed 12-A Electra Junior. The airplane had once been owned by TWA, and the couple had hoped that Holden could provide
historical information that would help them to sell the airplane.
NC18137 was built in 1937 at Lockheed Aircraft's Burbank, California, factory and delivered new to Continental Airlines for use on its
short, lean routes. Continental sold the airplane to Trans-continental and Western Air (later called Trans World Airlines) in 1940. The
Electra Junior was operated by TWA from 1940 to 1945 as an executive transport and as an airborne research laboratory. It was used,
for example, to develop static discharge wicks. At the end of WWII, TWA sold the Electra to the Texas Oil Company (Texaco).
Holden knew that TWA had owned only one Model 12A (TWA aircraft number 240), and the
Bowlins' e-mail sent her scurrying to her father's stack of logbooks. There she verified that her
father had taken her at the age of 10 on a flight from Kansas City to Washington, D.C., in that
same airplane. That was on July 16, 1944. She also recalls having been flown in it two years earlier
with TWA President and pilot Jack Frye.
initials of the Lockheed Electra.)
During a subsequent telephone conversation with Connie Bowlin, Holden said matter of factly, "I
don't know why I should help you to sell this airplane. I should be the one to buy it." She recalls
thinking that she could not afford the airplane but simply had to have it. "You don't go looking for
love; it finds you." Holden adds, "I purchased the airplane sight unseen in June 2005, even if it
might have meant having to mortgage my home, sell my firstborn, and let the county bury me in a
pauper's graveyard. I placed my faith in the ancient aviators who will help me to find a way to keep
and fly “Ellie." (So named by Holden from the
Holden had no buyer's remorse, even though she had no idea how she would get the
aircraft from Griffin, Georgia, to her home in San Luis Obispo, California. She had neither a taildragger endorsement nor a multiengine rating. Fortunately, she was able to
sweet-talk her close friend Curt "Rocky" Walters, a retired captain for American Eagle,
into going to Georgia with her and getting checked out in the airplane. Scott Nauman,
current United Airlines Pilot, is pictured here with Captain Curt Walters,
Walters flew the airplane to California with Holden riding shotgun and grinning all the
way. He, too, fell in love with the airplane and became Holden's partner in its purchase.
They immediately began the process of restoring "old number 240" to its original condition and TWA livery.
September 27-TWA DCS
Alumni
Convention
October 18-1940’s Hangar
Dance
First Board of Directors Meeting
May 17, 2014
The Museum had its first Board of Directors Meeting on May 17th.
Our newest board member is Chris Funk! Chris is a welcome addition to our newly formed board.
Page 4
Volunteer Profile:
Dean & Carol Conner
By Pam Blaschum
Many years ago I
was working a Flt.
From TPA to STL
with continuing service to MCI. The
flight was completely full. The aircraft
was a Boeing 727231. In addition to
all passengers seats
being occupied, we
also had a Flight
Attendant on the
jumpseat and a commuting pilot riding in
the cockpit. Shortly
after takeoff, a
woman sitting at the
emergency exit row jumped out of her seat and started
frantically calling for help. As I approached her she said
her husband was having problems breathing. I immediately
suspected he was having a heart attack and moved the other passengers out of the row and administered oxygen.
The Captain was notified that we had a medical emergency
and we prepared to return to Tampa. The only problem
with this is we now have 2 passengers standing plus the
heart attack victim laying across all 3 seats at the emergency exit. We proceeded to move the flight attendant to
the other seat in the cockpit, a passenger took her
jumpseat, the wife of the victim to the aisle seat adjacent
to her husband while another passenger held her 10 year
old son on her lap. Can you count the number of FAA violations that we encountered? No F/A’s in the cockpit for
takeoff and landing, no passengers occupying a F/A
jumpseat, no lap children over the age of 2 and only able
bodied persons sitting—let alone laying—at the emergency
exit. The Captain made a perfect landing in Tampa and paramedics were on the jetway to remove the gentleman and
wife and they sped off to the hospital. To add to all this
chaos, we had just made an overweight landing with full
fuel tanks and a full passenger load. The aircraft had to be
inspected and we were then cleared to leave and head to
STL. Upon arrival in STL, my flying partners and I were
tidying the aircraft in order to expedite our departure to
Kansas City. It was turning into a very long and dramatic
day. Betsy Martin and I noticed a young man standing in
the aisle. He approached us and he had driven to the airport from Chesterfield, MO.—about a 40 minute drive—to
personally thank us for saving his father’s life. His comments to us made the day not so long and tedious after all.
This is one flight I will never forget.
Carol says. . .”I don’t remember the exact day I started with TWA but it was in 1967-68 and I worked in the
medical department at 10 Richards Road in the exact
place the TWA Museum is now. In April 1969 I went to
begin my TWA hostess training and received my TWA
Hostess Wings on June 11, 1969. Being a TWA Hostess
was my dream job. As a young girl I did my “What I
want to be when I grow up” paper on this! I flew until
December 1969 when I was furloughed.
I went back to work in the medical department until I
was furloughed from that job. Dean and I met at 10
Richards Road in 1970 and we have been all about TWA
ever since we got together. We met Pam Blaschum and
Betsy Martin at an airline expo event we volunteered at
and decided when they started work on the TWA Museum we would help out with that and have been volunteering here ever since. We love our TWA and have many
great memories as well as friends and “family” from
TWA.”
Dean started with TWA in January 1965 and retired in
December 2004. Dean received his private pilot’s license in 1967. Dean reminisces “In sixth grade from
the playground at Franklin Elementary in Argentine I
would watch aircraft taking off and landing at MKC.”
That early fascination eventually translated in a career
with the airlines. Dean was with TWA 37 years and
American Airlines 3 years. During his career he was in
fleet service: stores, sheet metal, aircraft, hydraulic,
and engine mechanic. Dean received his A & P mechanic
license in 1981.
Page 5
TWA Suite at the 816
May 26th was the grand opening of the 816 Hotel in the Westport area of Kansas City. The 816 has 25 suites that feature
Kansas City companies and we were honored to be asked to decorate a TWA room. I must say ours was a visitor favorite! Our
suite featured 2 coach seats, a huge mural depicting a “Connie”
flying in the clouds, vintage TWA route maps atop the desk and
coffee table, Founders photos, a TWA first aid kit to hold hotel
amenities, a bar cart, and life vest hanging over the toilet (for
your flotation device)! Two unique items are the David Klein
poster blanket and the shower curtain that has TWA logos. We
will soon be offering those two items for sale in our gift shop.
The bar served a TWA specialty drink, Bocci Ball, which I refer to as the Non-Rev Special!
The Clipped Wings ladies were in attendance wearing their own vintage uniforms. They provided a meet and greet in the
lobby!
Meet our newest TWA Museum
Volunteer Sheila Thomson!
Nancy Sitzmann asked me if I wanted to help out. I said
of course! My stepmom worked for TWA for 30 years as a
secretary and loved every minute of it . She just received
her 50 year pin and was very excited.
Before retiring I taught Kindergarten for 4 years and
Special Education for 24 years.
I have my masters in education and studied in England for
half a year through
William Jewell.
I had my own dance
studio for 3 years and
have taught dance since
1977.
I currently teach for
Studio 320 and Cultural
Ballroom dance.
I also stage and decorate houses.
I love to work in my
huge flower garden and
paint fun glasses, and
chairs for my friends.
I hope that I will be an
asset to the committee.
Clipped Wings International Reunion
The beginning of October 130 plus former TWA flights
attendents/hostesses gathered in Kansas City for a grand
reunion and tour of our beginnings with TWA. Clipped
Wings International held it's 28th Bi-Annual Convention/
Bring Your Heart to Kansas City at the Westin Hotel in
Crown Center. Young at heart were we as we toured the
TWA Museum, the Airline Museum, many of the buildings
of our training and TWA former business offices. What a
thrill to tour this Memory Lane! We had a wonderful lunch
and tour of the Roasterie in mid-tour and even had a former TWA Captain (in uniform) drive one of the two tour
buses. So many of the
Clipped Wings group
were unaware of the
diversity and breath of
the TWA Museum. They
came back surprised and
proud of the work Pam
Blaschum and her
mighty crew have done
to make sure our
memory never
fades. Good weather,
good friends and great
memories were created.
Clipped Wings is a proud
supporter of the TWA
Museum. Thank you for
your gracious hospitality
to us.
Page 6
Dianne Potas Marks---TWA Flight Attendant
I was hired by TWA in Minneapolis in May, 1968 at age 19…Had to wait 6 months before I could start training because you had to be 19 ½. My sister-in-law flew for Northwest and I was supposed to interview with
them, but TWA hired me first. I flew up there on my first airplane trip from Sioux Falls just for the interview on Western Airlines!
Never left Kansas City as my domicile, except for when KC closed and St. Louis became the HUB. I was the
only TWA F/A never to have had international training and never qualified myself to fly International.. After being recalled from the 1986 strike, everyone had to be qualified, and I was 6 months pregnant, so they
said they didn’t want me jumping in the water pregnant! So I only flew the little DC-9 trips on TuesdayThursday just so I could be gone 48 hours from home.. I had 2 little boys and a husband at home!
I started out flying the 707, the 727’s and little DC9s in KC.. My favorite layovers were New York, San
Francisco and Washington, D.C. On my first flight to NY, we were in the taxi to take us to our hotel in Manhattan, and we were just like giggling little girls in junior high school (me from South Dakota, the other
“Hostess” was from Minnesota) The cab driver heard us talking about it being our first time in the Big Apple, so he started driving us everywhere!! He took us to the Statue of Liberty, through Central Park, showed
us Greenwich Village (it was 1968, remember), and on the Waterfront, they were filming “Peyton Place”, so
he introduced us to the entire cast. He showed us St. Patrick’s, 7th Avenue, everything NY had to offer. We started to get a bit nervous
after a while as to why he was doing this (really?, remember, we were only 19 and from the Midwest) We asked him why he was doing this,
he said, “Everyone always gets a bad impression of my city the first time they come, and I wanted you to love it and always want to come
back”. He took us to our hotel then, and didn’t want a dime for this or anything!! He just wanted us to love New York. That simple and I
always did.
Had a near mid-air over Indiana in 1976 with another TWA plane that made the news. We all landed in Pittsburg and went to the hospital
with some injuries. First Officer broke his ankle in multiple places. Gave mouth to mouth CPR on the taxiway in STL (before we got the
masks) on a passenger having a heart attack until paramedics got there. Some pretty bad turbulence into Omaha causing everything to
fly out of everywhere. Other than that and a few hydraulic problems, and some passenger “drug” overdoses in the 60’s on the red eyes to
LA and San Francisco, my flights were all pretty routine..
One funny thing happened that I remember well—was working a hot summer flight schlepping meals in the galley. Had taken off my skirt
and just had my smock on to beat the heat. At the end of the flight, I was standing in the back galley of the 727 Stretch, proceeded to
take off my smock, and low and behold, I was standing there in my panty hose…Those last 6 people in that little lounge got an eyeful! I
looked at those men straight in the eye and said…very calmly, ”What’s the matter, haven’t you seen a women in panty hose before?” I
went into the bathroom and I never wanted to see those people again in my life.
Decided to take advantage of the TWA flights, and took a trip by myself in 1970, to Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, Athens, Tel Aviv, Zurich,
Frankfurt, and London in 2 weeks!!!! I think I brought $200 with me for 2 weeks. I will never forget that when I went to Jerusalem, on a
2 day tour on a bus, it was my 21st birthday, and I spent it riding a camel on the Mount of Olives, and putting a prayer in the Wailing Wall,
and going to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. What a way to spend your 21st birthday. Always told my sons to make that day memorable
in a good way!! Thank you TWA!!
I stayed with flying even after our “joining” with American Airlines. Stayed in STL, got laid off for 4½ years after 9/11, recalled to
Chicago, laid off again, then commuted to NY, then went to DFW until 2013 when I finally called it quits. Couldn’t do the holidays, weekends, and reserve anymore in my 60’s. I do not miss it at all. No regrets. I try to imagine myself sitting on a rocking chair in my 80’s
looking back on my life, and can truly say, I had a wonderful life flying, have an amazing husband, and 2 sons who are doctors, and am so
thankful for it and my career! I feel like we belong to a really unusual sorority of people who have witnessed the pulse of the World every
moment we were flying! Sounds dramatic, but if you think about it, we really did know what was going on around the world at all times.
(Watching a space launch in Florida that took off at the very same time I did and we lifted off through the clouds at the same moment
was spectacular!!!)
I am having so much fun volunteering at the Museum and thank them for letting me be my “flighty” self and getting my creative juices to
go crazy!! I love sewing and am a “fabriholic” so making a TWA Art Bra for charity with propellers is one example. We decorated the 816
Hotel in a TWA theme room, my contribution was making a map decoupage on the lampshades and covering the bar cart with TWA images,
also made valances and a luggage rack with fabric from First Class for the hotel room. We also had a hugely popular Hangar Dance, and I
made some luminary bags out of map paper and a large lighted PVC wall for picture hanging. ..Great FUN!
TWA needs to be recognized as the truly GREAT Airline it was and the TWA Museum has and is proving that, with everything they have
to offer us to see, even though we aren’t “up, up, and away” anymore.
Page 7
Welcome to our newest
TWA Museum Members!
Since January 2014 we have welcomed the following new members:
1.
Which of the three co-founders of TWA worked as a soda
jerk and dishwasher before co-founding TWA?
Jim Davidson, Leawood, Ks
2.
TWA was the first Airline to fly a shipment of livestock.
What year was that?
3.
How much money did the three co-founders, Jack Frye, Paul
Richter, and Walter Hamilton contribute combined, to start
TWA??
Helen McClelland, Prairie Village, Ks
Patricia Yamashita, Blackfoot, ID
Father Steve Giljum, St. Louis, MO
(Answers on p. 8)
Albert Gigstad, Nortonville, KS
Todd & Barbara Gigstad, Nortonville, KS
JoAnne Gentine, Northport AL
Sam Greenfields, Parkville MO
Terry McFarland, Independence, MO
John Merchant, Kansas City, MO
Tom & Judy Vavrek
Robert & Julie Baker, Overland Park, KS
Carl & Bobi Zeoli, Independent, MO
George Kolias, Leawood, KS
Kenneth Wright, Parkville, MO
Clark & Marlene Billie, Carverville, PA
Carl Hendricks, Mt. Vernon, IL
Nancy Pate
Jane Squires, Jackson, WY
Mac & Jean Knighton, Wichita, KS
Jan Collier, Wantagh, NY
Ellie Lieback,
Colorado
Springs, CO
Thomas & Kathy
Coleman, Kansas
City, MO
Vincent & Ruth
Murphy, Leawood, KS
Getting to know John Mays!
John has been a life-long resident of Kansas, growing up in Lenexa
for most of his young life. At the age of 12, his family moved to a
farm in Wellsville. In 1983, John was hired as an Animal Control
Officer for the Olathe Police Department. He left the department in 1992 to become the Executive Director of the Southwest
Kansas Humane Society in Liberal, Kansas. During the period from
1983 to 1994, John served as Vice President of the Kansas Animal
Control Association, President of the Humane Society of Olathe,
and as a Board Member/Officer of the National Animal Control
Association (NACA). In 1994, John became the Executive Director of NACA and served in that capacity for 19 years. During his
tenure with the association, John became a longtime customer of
Trans World Airlines, meeting new friends and developing a passion and an appreciation for the airline and its employees. When
the acquisition of TWA was completed in 2001, John was a lifetime TWA Platinum Aviators member (FF#125971112) having
flown over a million miles and a
member of the TWA Ambassadors Club. John’s framed collage of his last TWA flights are
one of his most treasured possessions. He is an avid collector
of TWA display model planes
and tin planes/toys, as well as
books and films. John is currently the co-owner of Animal
Control Training Services, a
company that offers on-site
training and evaluations to animal control agencies and humane societies throughout the
world.
Chris Nold-Connie Simulator Creator
Christopher Nold is an aviation enthusiast that just earned his private pilot license. He has been an active participant with the
museum for the past year. The most notable endeavor he's made for the museum was
creating the interactive Super Constellation simulator for patrons.
"I didn't realize how popular the simulator would become for the museum. I remember a
day when a grandmother and her three grandchildren came to explore the museum.
There was a young boy in the group and you could tell he really liked airplanes. He
climbed up to the simulator and flew the Connie for everything it was worth. Afterward,
he was awarded a certificate with his name on it and had a set of aviator wings pinned on
his chest. With the biggest smile, the brightest twinkle in his eyes, he stuck his chest
out with pride. The room filled with the grandmother's delight in seeing that he had
such a great and memorable experience. In that moment, I realized the importance of
the museum. This place goes beyond history, the TWA heart still beats here. Its love
still reaches people." -Chris Nold
(Chris is pictured here with Karen Holden
Young and Ruth Richter Holden)
Page 8
TRIVIA ANSWERS. . . .
1.
Jack Frye worked as a soda jerk and dishwasher before co-founding TWA, 2. In 1931 TWA was the first Airline
to fly a shipment of livestock. 3. Jack Frye, Paul Richter, and Walter Hamilton contributed $5000.00 combined, to
start TWA.
TWA Museum
10 Richards Road
Kansas City, MO 64116