This is a book about one of the greatest names in airline and air transport history. Trans World Airlines (or Transcontinental & Western Air when it was first formed) has contributed more to the technological advance of commercial aviation than any other airline, except possibly Pan American Airways, which launched two jet ages. But during the formative years, when aviation was yet young, TWA was always the vanguard of progress.

One of its ancestors, Western Air Express, started the first sustained passenger service of all the airlines created by the legislation of 1925 and 1926. The other ancestor, Transcontinental Air Transport (T.A.T.) pioneered transcontinental passenger transport with the aid of a famous airplane, the Ford Tri-Motor. It was selected by the airline's technical advisor, none other than Charles Lindbergh—who also planned the route, and flew the inaugural flight from Los Angeles, while Amelia Earhart christened the first Ford out of New York. Again with Lindbergh's blessing TWA sponsored the prototype of the famous Douglas twin-engined DC series, with which, for the first time, a United States manufacturer was able to start an export trade with modern airliners.

The list of achievements of this great airline is a long one; and Paladwr Press has tried to record and narrate most of them on the pages of this book. It is illustrated with almost 200 photographs, 30 maps and 48 precision drawings by Mike Machat, and it lists every one of the more than 1,200 individual aircraft that has proudly worn the red and white colours of TWA.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword by Mark Abels - TWA Corporate Communications
Introduction
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Bibliography, Acknowledgements, and Technical Notes
Index