The Little Plane That Could
May 13, 1934
The first load of mail to be flown directly from Los Angeles and New York under the temporary contract of TWA is expected to speed over the "Lindberg Line" today in about 12 hours. It will be flown in one of the new Northrop Gamma special planes, six of which were on order for the company when its mail contracts were canceled. Jack Frye, veteran pilot and vice president in charge of operations for the airline, will be at the controls. The Army flew its last round trip with mail between Newark and Boston yesterday. The eastbound trip was made in the morning in record time, with Major B.Q. Jones, Eastern Zone Commander, at the controls of a Martin bomber. With Captain Stanley Grogan as passenger and three sacks of mail, he completed the 205-mile flight in 58 minutes. Captain Grogan and Lieutenant Howard Moore returned with him.
At 1:01 this morning American Airlines took over the service. It will greatly expand it's schedules for passenger and express, as well as mail, begins tomorrow.
As It Begins Service From Coast
Frye Arrives in 11 Hours 31 Minutes in First Trip From Los Angeles
to Newark Under New Contracts--Speeds at 225 Miles an Hour,
Carrying 355 pounds of Letters.
May 14, 1934
Jack Frye, vice president and veteran pilot of TWA, Inc., made a record yesterday for a cargo-plane flight from Los Angeles to Newark with the first load of eastbound air mail on his line since the resumption of private air mail service. He landed at Newark 11 hours and 31 minutes after leaving Los Angeles, including a 10-minute stop at Kansas City for fuel and mail.
Frye and Captain E.V. Rickenbacker had made the previous record of 13 hours and 4 minutes on Feb 19, when his company turned the mail over to the Army pilots after the private contract of Transcontinental and Western Air had been abrogated by Postmaster General Farley.
Yesterday morning Frye appeared at the Los Angeles field prepared to push his plane to the limit. At exactly 6 A.M. he left the ground. His engine roared full-out as he crossed the last peak of the Sierras and dived down across the Painted Desert and the plains of the Southwest.
At Kansas City he snatched a sandwich while his mechanics and mailmen reloaded his plane. He followed the radio beam of the air-way over the last 1,440-mile stretch from Kansas City, touching his wheels at Newark at 5:31 o'clock last evening.
Frye's plane was the first of a fleet of single-motored machines being constructed for fast mail and express service. Designed and built by John Northrop in Santa Monica, the plane is called the Northrop Gamma. It is an all-metal monoplane with full cantilever internally braced wings set on the cylindrical fuselage. It is equipped with a 700-horsepower Cyclone air-cooled engine and combines high speed and great lifting power.
Meanwhile some former associates had also been resuming commercial mail flights. From Newark the first plane of American Air Lines took up where it left off on Feb.19 and at 9:15 A.M. shuttled the mails through to Boston. At 10:30 A.M., Carl Rach, a TWA pilot left Newark and headed for Los Angeles. Rach turned his plane a Ford Trimotor over at Kansas City to a relief pilot, who flew on to Los Angeles.
On his record trip Frye carried 355 pounds of mail and 85 pounds of express stowed snugly in the fuselage of his single-motored plane. His average time for the 2,609-mile trip was 225.66 miles an hour
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