On April 25, 1946, Jack Frye was re-elected TWA President for a record 13th consecutive year. He was only 42 years old. By this time in his career he had navigated the company to great heights and many notable firsts as the worldwide leader of airline travel. A global way of life impact rarely if ever seen even in modern times today. The only real comparison I can think of is the introduction and explosion of the first real personal computer by IBM in 1973 called the SCAMP. From then on the rest is history, just like air travel when Jack Frye, Paul Richter and Walt Hamilton worked the dusty Burdett Field in 1925 in those rickety and cumbersome Fokker's.
Yes, Jack Frye to this point had seen it all and done it all. We owe a great debt of thanks and remembrance to this man and his team of pioneers at TWA for expanding mankind's vision to frontiers beyond where one could never have imagined prior. Oh sure, someone else would have come along and threaded a path to airline greatness sometime during the early 20th century, but I dare say it would not have come close to the purposed bravado and success in the big way Jack Frye pioneered. He did it his way, the Frye way...
Below is a company memo in April 1946 of the Flying Presidents thoughts and leadership regarding some new challenges as a result of TWA's incredible industry leading progress which came at a large cost... The pioneering airline was about to endure some great challenges even Jack Frye couldn't tame as little did he know, 2-1/2 months later the Constellation, the airliner with all the hope of TWA's bright future upon its wings would be grounded nationwide! Could it be that lucky 13 was about to turn - unlucky?
A positive, forward thinking letter from the President:
A positive, forward thinking letter from the President:
Images courtesy WHMCKC
No comments:
Post a Comment