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Jack Frye
was the very soul of TWA |
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| Sedona Legend |
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| Mystery Series |
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| William John Frye |
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| "Jack Frye" |
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| 1904-1959 |
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Long-time president and one of the
original founders of
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| Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc. |
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| TWA- Trans World Airlines |
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Aviation Legend-
inducted into the following aviation organizations:
(NAHF) National Aviation Hall of Fame, OX5 Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame, Omniplex Science-Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame, Harvard Business Schools- Great American Business Leaders of the Twentieth Century, Induction into the San Diego Aerospace Museum- The International Aerospace Hall of Fame |
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"....Frye was Brash, Energetic and Fiercely Competitive
he was the Quintessential Airline Leader at a
Crossroads in Aviation History."
Robert J. Serling,
celebrated aviation writer. |
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| In Memoriam |
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| The following tribute-obituary for Jack Frye was just one of many similar articles which ran world-wide in prominent publications at the time of his death. |
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Entitled simply:
"The Man Who Would Fly"
-no other words were necessary- |
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Time Magazine, February 16, 1959
Copyrighted |
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| Wlliam John Frye was a Texan who was born to fly. When three Army planes made a forced landing near his father's ranch in the Texas Panhandle during World War I, 14-year-old Jack Frye knew where his future lay. |
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| A few years later he packed off for Los Angeles, saved enough money jerking sodas to take flying lessons. He soloed in seven hours, became a partner in a flying school, and coolly gambled with death by stunt flying for Hollywood movies. Soon Frye and two pals, (Paul Richter and Walter Hamilton,) bought a single engine Fokker, and set up Standard Airlines, one of the very first in the nation, to lift Hollywood stars from Los Angeles to their desert hide-a-ways. |
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| In the Depression, Frye merged Standard into Western Air Express, which later merged with Transcontinental Air Transport to become Transcontinental and Western Air, a pioneering coast-to-coast airline. (T.W.A. billed itself as the "Lindbergh Line," and kept Charles Lindbergh, (an old personal friend of Frye) on the payroll as an advisor. (However the title was dropped in 1938 when Lindbergh made isolationist speeches for American First.) |
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| T.W.A. vice president Jack Frye, was equally at home with his burly 6 foot 2 inch frame folded behind an executive desk, behind the stick of a plane, or a draftsman's board. He helped develop some of the planes and practices that became standard among the world's airlines. With new planes, T.W.A. cut the transcontinental flight time from 48 hours to 16. At the young age of 30, Jack Frye was elected President of Transcontinental and Western Air. |
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| He expanded TWA's routes, cajoled Howard Hughes, (who was a close friend) into buying control of TWA and pouring his millions into expanding the routes still further! To do it, Frye and Hughes worked with Lockheed to develop the Constellation. They electrified the air world, toward the end of World War II, by piloting (equally) a "Connie" across the United States in a record 6 hours and 58 minutes, Another flight with different pilots broke yet another record from New York to Paris, in 14 hours and 12 minutes! |
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| With the new Connies in 1946, TWA won air routes to Europe, Africa, and Asia, and rightly changed it's name to Trans World Airlines. Frye enlivened the society pages many times, most notably though, when he married his third of four wives, the former Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr., the ceremony was performed at Echo Canyon, in Scottsdale Arizona. The bridal couple were married on horseback. |
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| The high cost of growing into a 26,000 mile airline with 17,000 employees and 57 million dollars a year in revenue plus a 25-day pilot strike, drained TWA's finances. When Frye proposed a new stock issue to raise the cash, Hughes balked, fearing the dilution of his own interest in TWA......the result: the Hughes-Frye team cracked up in February 1947. Jack Frye was out of a job, but not for long. Always well-connected with the Democrats in Washington, Frye got a political plum, the presidency, (at 97,000 dollars a year) with the government held General Aniline and Film Corporation. |
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| Later political pressures eased Frye out of the position in 1955, at which time he started a new career, launching his own plane-design corporation. Last week Jack Frye still determined to conquer the new air world, was in Tucson Arizona seeking a manufacturer for a radical new propeller plane he had designed. As he was driving a rented car through an intersection, a speeding station wagon with a drunk driver at the wheel ran a stop sign and broad-sided his vehicle. At only 54, this pioneer aviator who had flown no less than 7,000 hours without a serious accident or loss of life, tragically died. |
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| Please note: This article was published in several slightly different versions at the time of Jack's death. |
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| The above Royal Ambassador logo was used by TWA on overseas
Jet Liner services starting in 1959, the year Jack Frye died. |
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To read more about this remarkable aviation legend's life
please see the following websites:
Jack Frye- an Airline Legacy
Jack Frye- an Airline Transportation Legend
Burdett-Frye Flight School- Glory Days of West Coast Aviation. |
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Howard Hughes and Jack Frye-
Both had Las Vegas association |
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| Perhaps one of the most important missions of this web page is to track down and recover lost assets from Jack Frye's estate. Many of these possessions; awards, trophies, photographs, personal TWA business files, memorabilia, personal letters, audio records, stock certificates, art, furniture, and personal effects, were pilfered from the Frye estate without permission from Jack's widow, Nevada Frye, and daughter, Nevajac Frye. Nevajac is Jack Frye's only surviving heir and legal representative. All of Jack's personal estate items were stored in a climate controlled warehouse in Las Vegas Nevada, by his widow Nevada Frye for 20 some years. |
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| What to do with a Dead Man's Possessions |
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| Mrs. Frye's intent was to preserve Jack's personal effects for his daughter and grandchildren. However, before and after her death the stored 700-some-boxes and filing cabinets were ransacked and pilfered. The remainder was liquidated at a closed carton auction after Nevada's death. This last unfortunate event filtered what remained of Jack's private personal possessions into public hands. His daughter Nevajac Frye lost not only irreplaceable documents, photos, and TWA recordings, from her father's career, but as well most of the sentimental items from her childhood to include family photographs. Many of these "missing" items exist now with dubious provenance and are surfacing on the world market today. A serious matter and one that is not being ignored by legal representatives of the Frye family. |
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| An Extra-Ordinary Man |
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| Jack led an exemplary life; he was a hero to thousands of employees and everyday people all over the world. He lived by example; a man who likely had few regrets when he died, certainly in regard to the manner in which he treated others and how he succeeded in everything he envisioned. It is the preliminary purpose of this web page to recover, preserve, and protect lost Jack Frye memorabilia. To seek out people who may have stumbled upon Jack's former possessions and ask that some of these items or copies there of might be returned to the family as Jack would wish. With this effort these items can be preserved, protected, and secured, -shared with the world as Jack Frye would have desired, not sold to the highest bidder and hoarded in private collections! |
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| Consolidation of a Legacy- a Fleeting Dream |
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| If enough memorabilia can be recovered these items will serve to create a static display for the public to have access. This display will serve to share with the public who Jack Frye was as a man, aviator, and business genius, -to securly preserve the legacy he bequeathed to our present world. In 54 short years, Jack Frye accomplished several lifetimes of work and left an aviation legacy! He became a legend in his own time. Can you help? Did you perhaps buy Frye personal or business materials which appear to have been a part of Jack Frye's estate? Items which could be returned to his family and entered into a historic collection for him? Have you come across remnants of his career with TWA of which you would like to secure, preserve, and protect? Please contact the Sedona Legend for verification and negotiations toward recovery. Even photocopies and electronic scans are valuable to the Frye historical perservation effort. Thank you! |
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| Please see this Sedona Legend web page dedicated to a few lost images that were recovered. |
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Copyright © 2003
Sedona Legend Helen Frye Website
Created By R. D. Reynolds
All Rights Reserved |
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Thank you for visiting
Sedona Legend Helen Frye |
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