EAA CHAPTER 81· TUCSON, AZ· MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

SkyWriter

August 2008

Chapter 81 Members:

I'm sorry for this late and limited edition. I'm trying to learn how this Newsletter thing works.

First of all, here is my contact info:

Ed Justice

2751 W. Vermont St. Tucson, AZ 85746

Email: prop.wash@comcast.net

Next, although I'll be looking for information of interest, I'll be glad to accept submissions that any of you might find noteworthy. If it is something you found on a website, just direct me there and I'll try and gather the info. Better yet, copy & paste the part you find interesting to an Email and send it to me.

Classifieds: Submit your information. Deadline, for now, is one week prior to monthly meeting. That may change as things develop.

Also, at July's meeting there was talk of E-mailing the Newsletter. If that takes effect, I will need to know of any members that do not have E-mail access and I will try and get a copy in the mail. At any rate, even if the Newsletter goes E-mail I will try and have a few printed copies for reference at the meetings.

Now, to fill you all in on what I've been

doing. I spent a week in Kansas City.

(Both sides) One highlight of the trip was a visit to the Airline History Museum. The museum is located on the west side of MKC. This was the original Kansas City airport and is known as the Charles B. Wheeler Airport. My dad worked here for TWA in the late '40s and early '50s. The hanger he worked out of is now Executive Beech. My mom was stationed here as a TWA stewardess. Hmmmm?

A great surprise for me was seeing the TWA Rocket Ship peeking through the hanger doors. This ship was originally displayed at Disneyland and stood outside the Rocket Ship Ride to the Moon, which was sponsored by TWA. As a sponsor, TWA employees and their families got special rates to Disneyland when it first opened and I got to go!!! Of course, at that time, no one had

been to the moon. Shortly after Neil Armstrong's "small step" NASA took over as sponsor and the ride expanded to Mars. (oddly enough, the trip took the same amount of time?)

There are two parts to your visit to the museum. The first is a self tour, at your leisure, of airline paraphernalia. The picture to the right is my mom's uniform that she donated to the museum.

By the way, regs required that stewardesses could not be married so, when mom & dad got hitched mom went to work for United in ticket sales.

Although this is an "Airline" museum, there are a lot of TWA items on display. This is largely because this was a TWA base, along with the fact that TWA retirees are a pretty close knit group and they have lots of things to share.

The next part of the tour is guided and leads you into the hanger where there are 3 restored airplanes; a Martin 404, a Douglas DC-3 and a Lockheed "Connie".

My mom flew on all three as a crewmember and dad served all 3 in ramp service.

Mom told a story of serving on a Martin. She was the only hostess and this was a dinner flight (back when they actually served meals) from KC to Wichita; A 55 min flight; one hostess and 40 passengers.

This was the only flight in the TWA system that allowed the stewardess to wear flat-soled shoes instead of the required heels because she literally had to run the length of the cabin to get everyone served and then get it all picked up. They probably could have made that an Olympic event!!

The DC-3 is currently having it's cabin restored to passenger seating from a stint as a cargo hauler. It was one of the few DC-3's that was not "drafted" by the military and was originally delivered to TWA at MKC in 1941. The museum found it in Roswell, NM.

This Connie was found in Mesa, AZ in 1986. TWA paid for the paint scheme for a planned memorial trans Atlantic flight. Sadly, Flight 800 happened and TWA never recovered as an airline and the memorial flight never took place. This Connie was featured in "The Aviator"

and the 2nd "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" movies.

The museum holds a fundraiser every year in October. It's a Hanger Dance and the theme is that of an old USA style canteen. Last year they invited John Travolta as a "draw". They auctioned off 1 dance with Mr. Travolta and the winner shelled out $20k for that privilege.

Pictured here are sleeping berths that were available on the Connies. One person would have to buy two seats to get a berth. (these two single berths take up 4 seats)

This Connie still flies and goes on promotion tours. Pictured here is the navigator's station. All of those instruments are real but, they only use the GPS in the lower bracket mount. Probably not original equipment, y'think?

The museum's website is: www.airlinehistorymuseum.com