In Record 7 Hrs. 27 MINS.
45 passengers Set Mark For Largest Number Carried on Single Flight as TWA Cuts Time From West Coast To Here
By Frederick Graham
February 4, 1946
The East and West Coasts of the United States of the United States were drawn still closer yesterday morning in terms of time for air travelers when a four-engine Constellation of Transcontinental and Western Air landed at La Guardia Field only 7 hours, 27 minutes and 48 seconds after it had lifted off the runway at Burbank, Calif.
The record was a dual one. In addition to clipping 4 hours, 27 minutes and 12 seconds from the best previous time for the route--set by TWA July 8-9, 1940--it set a record for the largest number of passengers carried on a single flight. Forty-five passengers were aboard the big plane in addition to the crew of seven.
Carrying newspaper, radio and magazine reporters and editors, the big Constellation roared off the Burbank field at 3:59:12 A. M. (EST) yesterday. We all knew that Mr. Frye and TWA were going to try to fly non-stop to New York in 8 hours or less, and we were all confident that it would be done.
TWA personnel aboard the plane had made arrangements to relay to us from the cockpit hourly reports on the progress of the plane once we had climbed to our flight-plan altitude of 15,000 feet. We relaxed while the big plane climbed steeply at a rate of about 1,500 feet a minute. At 15,000 feet we leveled off and the steady beat of the engines put some of us to sleep.
The first report was that we were doing about 340 miles an hour despite the fact that the plane carried 4,050 gallons of gasoline and was loaded to within ninety-four pounds of its gross loaded weight capacity of 90,000 pounds.
At 6:40 A. M. the plane hit a "bump" that bounced some of the sleeping passengers into the luggage racks overhead, jarring them sharply. We were told that we were over the Sangre de Cristo mountain range near Pueblo, Col., and that we had hit a wind shift or perhaps a thermal. It was the only rough spot of the trip. We were also told that we were 836 miles from Burbank.
Moving along at 15,000 feet we suffered none of the cracking ear-noises usual at that altitude because the Constellation's cabin is pressurized to keep atmospheric pressure at 15,000 feet at about what it would be at 8,000 feet. Our next bulletin was that we were over St. Joseph, Mo., 1,370 miles from Burbank and that our speed was 335 miles an hour.
375 M.P.H. Peak Speed
At 9:50 A. M. our speed had increased to 350 miles an hour and we were told that we were over Fort Wayne, Ind., and 1,906 miles from our take-off point. At that point the tailwind got even more enthusiastic and from Fort Wayne to Haysville, Ohio, our speed reached its peak for the trip--375 miles an hour.
By that time it was evident to all of us that Mr. Frye, and Lee Flanagin, operations manager for the western region of TWA, and co-pilot on this trip, were going to beat the estimated time of 8 hours. When we were told that we had passed over Pittsburgh, everyone started straightening his tie, smoothing his hair and getting ready to get off the plane. Only a short time later, Doreene Sirele sic (Dorraine Strole) and Rita P. Crooke, hostesses, started distributing overcoats and hats that had been hung up in the closet.
Radio men aboard the plane started getting their notes in order to broadcast as soon as the plane touched the ground. Although everyone aboard the plane knew when we passed over La Guardia Field that the trip had been made in about 7 hours and 30 minutes, it was understood that not until John Heimuller, chief timer of the Nation Aeronautics Association, announced his time would the record be official. The plane landed at 11:27 A. M.
Beginning Wednesday, TWA will put a plane similar to the record-breaking "Connie," as they call it, into the New York to Paris service they will start at that time. And on Feb. 15 other planes of the same type will be operated between New York and Los Angeles.
End of ODT Curb Tomorrow to Mean 1,500 More Seats In Coast-to-Coast Planes
FILM STARS TO FLY HERE
Howard Hughes to Pilot sister Ship of Constellation That Set Recent Record
Tomorrow will mark a spectacular increase in air transportation between the West coast and New York.
In addition to the 1,500 to 2,000 seats to be made available by the expiration of the order of the Office of Defense Transportation, which reserved 70 percent of the seats on four airlines for Pacific service men being demobilized, Howard Hughes will fly a Constellation load of Hollywood celebrities from Los Angeles to New York to open Transcontinental & Western Air's daily non-stop service between the two cities.
United Air Lines estimated in Chicago last night, according to The Associated Press, that completion of its task for the service men would provide 500 seats on its schedules between New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. TWA's spokesman in New York estimated that that company would have slightly more than that number because of its use of four-engined Stratoliners for service men on the way home. Both American Airlines and Northwest Airlines estimated slightly less than that number of new seats for civilians.
Northeast Airlines, which was required to reserve large numbers of seats for New England service men, likewise said that considerable more capacity would be available for civilians traveling to Boston, Maine and other New England points served by the company.
Mr. Hughes who, with Jack Frye, president of TWA, was one of the original designers of the record-breaking Constellation in 1939, will be at the controls of the "Star of California" when it takes off from Burbank at one minute after midnight tonight. His passenger will include Cary Grant, Virginia Mayo, Walter Pidgeon, Mr. and Mrs. William Powell, Veronica Lake, Jack Carson, Jack Warner, Linda Darnell, Nancy Guild, Andre de Toth, Edward G. Robinson, Tyrone Power, Annabella, Harry Cohn, Janet Blair, Paulette Goddard, Myrna Loy, John Maschio, Frank Morgan, Walter Kane, David Selznick, John Royal, Mr. and Mrs. Randolph Scott and Gene Tierney.
The Party will make no effort to break the 7-hour-and-27-minute record set last week with Mr. Frye at the controls of a sister ship, but is due to arrive at La Guardia Field at 11 A. M. At the same time a second Constellation will leave Burbank and another will leave here on the regular service.
Marking the growing importance of Newark as a passenger terminal, Northwest Airlines yesterday announced the lease of a store at 740 Broad Street, Newark, which it will convert into a modernistic ticket office. The property has been occupied for four years by the Russian War Relief.
Non-stop, six-hour service between New York and Miami will be opened today according to Macdonald Bryan, public relations director of National Airlines, who said last night that approval of the service had been granted yesterday by the Civil Aeronautics Authority in Washington.
The first non-stop service between the two cities will also be the first use of a new 44-passenger Douglas DC-4 on the north-south service. The newly delivered plane, which National Airlines calls "The Buccaneer," will leave Miami at 9 this morning arriving at Newark Airport at 3 in the afternoon. After a two-hour service stop it will depart from Newark at 5, arriving in Miami at 11:20 in the evening. The slightly slower schedule south is due to prevailing winds at this season.
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