Sedona Legend Helen Frye

Jack Frye- founder

Conquistadores del Cielo

"Conquerors of the Sky"

Sedona Legend Profile Series

Conquistadores del Cielo was, and is a private club for executives, founded in 1937, by Jack Frye, long-time president of Transcontinental and Western Air. Paul E. Richter Jr., Senior Executive Vice President of TWA, is widely considered the co-founder of the club. Both men were also the original founders of T.W.A. Envisioned to provide a relaxed environment for the most powerful men in the country to gather and exchange business ideas and camaraderie at a retreat-like-setting, the club still exists today as one of the most secretive and exclusive private corporate clubs in the world. Some of the earliest gatherings were held at the Forked Lightning Ranch, the Valley Ranch, the Brush (Valley) Ranch, and the Vallejo Ranch, all in N.M. Originally the club was "aviation oriented."

As reported in newspapers- September 17 1937
The three day house party and rodeo given at Forked Lightening Ranch near Rowe by Jack Frye was a huge success. Mr. Frye, assisted by J. Prentice Sanger, manager of the ranch, was host to 75 prominent business men from the east and west coasts and the middle west, opened his entertainment with a rodeo Saturday afternoon. In the evening, eleven tipica entertainers, led by Miss Olinda Rodriques as mistress of ceremonies from Santa Fe, delighted guests with the Spanish songs and dances. Sunday was spent in hiking, riding and fishing.

TWA Officials Fly Here For Weekend Party at Ranch

Albuquerque, N.M.
June 12, 1938

A party of 10 air and vacation-minded persons, including City Commission Chairman and Mrs. Clyde Oden, and President and Mrs. Jack Frye of TWA, went by plane and motor to Vallejo Ranch, near Cimarron for the weekend.

Mr. and Mrs. Jack Frye and Mr. and Mrs. Paul E. Richter flew here in a private plane from Kansas City, Saturday, and then flew to the ranch, which has a good landing field. Richter is vice president in charge of operations for TWA.

Others in the party included, Robert S. Six, president of Continental Air Lines; M. L. Boss, TWA district traffic agent; Maj. A.D. Smith, TWA mountain division superintendent, and Mrs. Smith. Frye and Richter plan to return here Monday, where they will board flight 1 for Los Angeles leaving the smaller plane here to be picked up on the return east.

Amarilloans Elected To Airways Society
The Amarillo Globe- August 25, 1938

Cooperating with Gov. Clyde Tingley of New Mexico, Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc., is assisting in the organization of “Conquistadores del Cielo,” (Conquerors of the Sky) a national honorary non-profit society.

The charter and first annual meeting of the group, according to Jack Frye, president of T. W. A. will be the Fiesta de los Conquistadores del Cielo to be held on three ranches near Santa fe, Sept. 16, 17, and 18. Individual who have been honored by Governor Tingler in being appointed Conquistadores will be personally presented with credentials signifying membership by the governor.

Amarilloans who have been elected to membership and have expressed their intention of attending the first meeting of the new organization are Tom Cotlen, Mayor Ross D. Rogers, Ralph Wetrz, Paul Edquist, Dr. W. H. Flamm, Carl Hinton, and Gene Howe.
Tentative arrangements have been made to fly the group to Albuquerque.

Please Click on Photos for Larger Files.

1937 - 1938

Jack Frye, center.
Standing to the right of Jack,
is Paul E. Richter Jr.

Curtis-Wright Corporation leader- Guy Vaughn

Initiation of Jack Frye-
Conquistadores del Cielo.

Hearst Corporation Giant, Richard E. Berlin.

In the very beginning when Conquistadores del Cielo was launched it was a TWA influenced affair. To the right we see some of the earliest participants- many were national corporate leaders! Please click image for a larger version.

TWA District Traffic Agent, Albuquerque.

Young legal eagle and later American Airline CEO George A. Spater.

A group of Conquistadores from 1938. Paul E. Richter Jr., is 3rd from the left, (rear row), Jack Frye is center, (leaning against the post).

Continental President
Bob Six, (left) and Guy Vaughn.

John B. Walker and Conquistadores del Cielo

In regard to this page about the early glory of Conquistadores del Cielo, I felt it was only fair to mention Jack Frye's friend John Walker. Materials donated to the Smithsonian Institute by the Walker family reveal an interesting twist on the inception of the Conquistadores. Please see below information from the Smithsonian in regard to the documents.

Smithsonian Institute, National Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C.

John B. Walker, (John Byrnes) 1898-1986, was at different points in his career, the founding Vice-President of TWA, the Assistant to the President for United Airlines, and the President of Walker and Crenshaw, Inc. Published works included two books, "War in the Air," and "How to Get into Aviation." In addition to his professional positions, he was also a member of many associations and clubs, particularly aviation related, including an OX-5 Certified member of Aviation Pioneers, and a founding member of the Wings Club. Significant to this collection was his extensive involvement with the creation of "Conquistadores del Cielo," (Conquerors of the Sky), of which he was a founding member, president, and chairman. The Conquistadores del Cielo were first thought up by Walker and TWA President Jack Frye while on a weekend trip to Forked Lightning Ranch in New Mexico. After inviting fellow aviation executives and enthusiasts to share in a later weekend retreat, Walker and Frye developed the idea to begin a "club" with the spirit of aviation as the centerpiece. The original retreat was held in 1937. Conquistadores del Cielo was organized by the following year (1938) retreat at the Brush, Valley, and Forked Lightning Ranches. (A hardcover history of Conquistadores del Cielo was published in 1982, with Walker furnishing much of the background historical information.)

Please note: The Commemorative Photo Souvenir Booklet, compiled by founder Jack Frye, and used as material for this webpage, is on file at the Smithsonian as part of the Walker Collection. The same booklet was also part of Jack Frye's personal collection, and is still so that of the Paul Richter Family.

Dudes' Deal

Time Magazine October 23, 1939

(Shown to the right is Winston Kratz and Jack Frye at a Conquistadores gathering, fall of 1939.)

Unlike topflight executives of other major U.S. airlines, 35-year-old Jack Frye of Transcontinental and Western Air and his 43-year-old executive vice president Paul Ernest Richter, are tough, practical airlines pilots. Burly Jack Frye bats up and down the line through all kinds of weather in his Northrop Gamma, usually testing new equipment as he flies. Wiry Paul Richter regularly gets into a captain's grey uniform and shoves a passenger-laden DC-3 over a scheduled run.

About the technical operation of well-run TWA, Frye and Richter today have few worries as they fly the line from San Francisco to Newark. But they never look at the instrument board on a line run without seeing on the compass card a sharp reminder of a TWA deficiency: all its routes run east and west. For TWA is, more strictly than its two coast-to-coast competitors (United and American), a transcontinental line, a long thin line with no feeders to bring in side traffic.

Last week, Jack Frye, worried about his growing waistline, announced a deal that will fatten his airline: the purchase for $350,000 of Marquette Airlines which (when Civil Aeronautics Authority approves) will give TWA a closely knit 565-mile feeder system in the heart of rich Midwest traffic territory.

Marquette was organized little more than a year ago, by another executive with an airline pilot's ticket in his pocket: convivial, piano-playing, 33-year-old Winston Weidner Kratz. He ran it on a shoestring for months with outdated Stinson tri-motors. The line was a natural. From a TWA connection at St Louis it ran to Cincinnati, crossed TWA again at Dayton, and continued north to Toledo and Detroit. But until CAA gave it a certificate of convenience and necessity it was not an airline entity, and had no sales value. Loudest to shout against a certificate for Marquette was naturally Jack Frye's TWA which wanted no newcomer in the field it hoped eventually to develop. When it was granted TWA lost no time in demanding a rehearing from the CAA.

That was the beginning of a deal. While the airlines' lawyers were arguing before the CAA, opponents Frye and Kratz went hangar-flying over drinks in a nearby bar, and became fast friends. A few weeks ago they met again on a New Mexico dude ranch at a meeting of Conquistadores del Cielo (Conquerors of the Sky), an airlines executives' organization for making hoopla in ten-gallon hats and hair pants. Over the poker table where they played with steady hand for fat stakes, and on horseback trips where they rode for saddle-galls, the deal was made. The sale was for cash, in which Marquette's chief financial backer, Pittsburgh Capitalist John McKelvy will have the chief share. It also included a job in TWA's executive line for shrewd "Wink" Krantz.

But its new feeders (including a new Detroit-Washington line which it hopes CAA will shortly authorize) TWA hopes to cash in on the present airline boom. For the first nine months of 1939 airline traffic was up 40 percent over 1938 to a record high level, and except for TWA the trans-continentals all operated handsomely in the black. TWA is still in the red for the year, but in July-September quarter it turned a net profit of more than $100,000 which helped cut its estimated net loss for the nine months to less than $250,000, assured Jack Frye that the 1939 figures will look a lot better than the $773,263 loss of 1938.

Air Boosters Try Bronc Riding
September 16, 1939

TWA Party Initiated At Vallejo Ranch- N. Mex.

Veterans of the air lanes blossomed fourth Friday as tenderfeet of the New Mexico cow country, learning by experience, that a pilot’s seat and the backbone of a cowpony have little in common. Some 75 of the nation’s top boosters for aviation were on hand for the third annual party and annual wild-western event staged by Transcontinental and Western Airlines. Saturday as “dudes” competing with the real thing, the guests are to tackle rodeo events between demonstrations by cowboys. Among the ambitious bronco twisters attending the TWA party are, TWA’s president Jack Frye; Al Williams speed and former Navy flier; Aubrey Kief vice- president of Texaco Oil; Thomas H. Beck of the Cromwell Publishing Co.; Mayor Brice Smith of Kansas City; Guy Vaughn president of Curtiss-Wright; John McLucas president of the Kansas City Commercial Trust Bank, and others. The Conquistadores is an organization of aviation boosters started three years ago by TWA.

1940's

In the background of this Lightning Fork Ranch hangar one can see Jack Frye's personal Lockheed Electra 12A, NC-18137. The men are unidentified except for the man center, with hat. He is former New Mexico Governor, John E. Miles (1939-1943). The plane in the foreground was a transport belonging to an attendee. Date of photo is early 1940's.

a Jack Frye

Transcontinental and Western Air

Historical Webpage

All photos on this page are from Conquistadores del Cielo memorabilia.
Produced by TWA with photography by TWA Photographers.
From the collection of Paul Richter,
former Executive Vice President of Transcontinental and Western Air,
courtesy of his daughter Ruth Richter.

The Sedona Legend Website is a compilation of copyrighted original work and historic materials presented for educational and entertainment purposes. The historic publicity materials displayed do not generate income or profit. These historic materials are not considered my copyrighted original materials. These materials are displayed in regard to the United States “Fair Use Act.” I am happy to consider the removal of any material on this website which may hold a copyright.
Please notify me by E-Mail with any claim for action.

Thank You For Visiting

Sedona Legend Helen Frye

The Jack and Helen Frye Story