SPECIAL EDITION Jack Frye : TWA ’ s Unsung Hero
contemporary in the era that saw the airline industry reach maturity . Though overshadowed by the flamboyant Hughes , he was as much a visionary as any of them — and , except for Smith , probably more so .
Jack Frye wrote the wellknown 1932 letter urging Douglas Aircraft Company to undertake a project that was to shoot the tiny Santa Monica firm to the top of commercial airframe manufacturing . The letter was prompted by United ’ s order of 60 new Boeing 247s , an airplane that overnight made every other airliner in the US obsolete and gave United an overwhelming competitive advantage .
1 Frye ’ s name is linked with the Douglas DC-2 , Boeing 307 Stratoliner ( his signature was on the ‘ Stratoliner Club ’ certificates ), and the Lockheed Constellation . // COURTESY OF HARRY P . PEAT
At the time , Frye was TWA ’ s vice president of operations , and his letter addressed to Donald Douglas himself reads :
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‘ UNSUNG ’ IS JUST ONE of the adjectives that history can apply to this true pioneer of commercial aviation : try ‘ unappreciated ’ and ‘ almost unknown ’ next to the name of William John Frye .
But TWA ’ s people knew him — and loved him . During the 12 tumultuous years he served as the airline ’ s president , he was Jack Frye to everyone , from ship cleaners to senior captains . After becoming president of Transcontinental & Western Air in December 1934 , Frye — with the financial backing of Howard Hughes — nourished TWA into a globe-girdling giant .
Today , many still associate Hughes more closely than Frye with TWA ; the latter is a barely remembered industry tycoon whose name is familiar mostly to TWA veterans , aviation historians , and airline aficionados .
It should not have been this way , for Jack Frye belongs in that special Valhalla reserved for such airline legends as C . R . Smith , C . E . Woolman , Juan Trippe , Bob Six , Pat Patterson , and Eddie Rickenbacker . Frye , a big , curly-haired , somewhat overweight man with a 100-watt smile that could illuminate a dungeon , was their
“ Transcontinental & Western Air is interested in purchasing 10 or more trimotored ( sic ) transport planes . I am attaching our general performance specifications covering this equipment and would appreciate your advising whether your company is interested in this manufacturing job …”
Frye also wrote to four other companies , but Don Douglas was the first to respond . He received the letter on a Monday , conferred all day with his engineers ( who agreed with him that a twinengine , all-metal airplane larger than the 247 was preferable to any tri-motor ), and replied on Tuesday , expressing interest and suggesting that TWA technical people should meet with Douglas engineers as soon as convenient .
Thus was born the forerunner to the DC-2 / DC-3 series that would make aviation
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