As this telegram reveals-- Jack Frye (President of TWA) and
his wife Helen Vanderbilt landed frequently at Santa Fe to confer with their
architect John Gaw Meem. Jack & Helen even picked up Meem in plane (shown)
and flew him over to Sedona and back to see their building site. For those of
you who fly in and out of Santa Fe, just image how primitive it was in 1942,
with dirt pack runways. The Lockheed shown here was originally owned by
Continental Airlines and used for passenger service in the late 1930's. Jack
purchased it from owner Bob Six to be used as a TWA private executive plane in
late 1940. No stranger to Santa Fe, this same Lockheed 12A Jr. provided daily
passenger service from El Paso - Albuquerque - Santa Fe - Pueblo - Colorado
Springs - Denver (under Continental Airline livery) for 3 years. By 1941-- the
same Lockheed twin continued to be a frequent visitor to Santa Fe's
'Continental Airport' with Jack & Helen Frye. By 1945, Jack traded the
plane for a 1942 Lockheed Lodestar twin, this plane also landed and took off at
Santa Fe for the next 2 years. These were the first passenger planes with TWA
markings to land frequently at Santa Fe, NM. Jack and Helen always stayed at La
Fonda whenever they met with renowned architect John Gaw Meem.
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