TWA Trans World Airlines

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TWA Trans World Airlines “Aviation history & memories of TWA (Trans World Airlines). Classic aircraft,rare photos and airline.

2 prints given to me by a Lockheed employee back in 1970, L1049 Super Connie and L749, both of TWA
09/04/2026

2 prints given to me by a Lockheed employee back in 1970, L1049 Super Connie and L749, both of TWA

Wonderful to see our beloved TWA Museum included with the new sign for Downtown Airport at the 2C exit on west bound I-7...
08/05/2026

Wonderful to see our beloved TWA Museum included with the new sign for Downtown Airport at the 2C exit on west bound I-70. Happy Summertime and come see us at the museum!

April 7, 1994. FedEx Flight 705, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, departed Memphis bound for San Jose, California.In the cockp...
07/29/2026

April 7, 1994. FedEx Flight 705, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, departed Memphis bound for San Jose, California.

In the cockpit were Captain David Sanders, First Officer Jim Tucker, and Flight Engineer Andy Peterson, seen in the photo looking at a uniform from that flight. In the jump seat behind them sat a fourth FedEx employee catching a free ride to California. His name was Auburn Calloway. At his feet was a guitar case. It was not carrying a guitar.

What the crew didn't know was that Calloway had a plan. Facing a disciplinary hearing the next morning over his flight hours, he believed he was about to be fired. So he intended to take down the crew and crash the DC-10 into the FedEx Memphis hub so his family would collect a large insurance payout.

Twenty six minutes after takeoff, at 19,000 feet, Calloway entered the cockpit with a hammer.

Peterson was hit first. Then Tucker. Then Sanders. All three were seriously injured in the opening seconds, but somehow still conscious. Calloway shouted at them to sit down and threatened them.

They refused.

Tucker, half blind and barely able to move his right side, grabbed the controls and did something Calloway never expected. He rolled the massive cargo jet past vertical, around 140 degrees of bank, then pitched and dived it to the edge of what the airframe could take. Anything not strapped down or bolted in place was thrown around the cabin, Calloway included.

That bought the others just enough time. The three injured pilots wrestled Calloway to the floor while Tucker radioed Memphis that they were coming back.

The DC-10 was heavy with fuel, too fast and too high, with no time to dump it. Sanders took the controls and landed it in Memphis, far over its maximum landing weight.

All three survived, but their injuries were so severe that none of them ever flew commercially again. Calloway was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without parole.

Three men, badly hurt, refused to let him take their airplane. And because they did, no one died.

Ok… Not Pan Am; but I am always appreciative of things like this…. I am at DCAOMG!!! - My daughter says to me, "Dad - TW...
06/26/2026

Ok… Not Pan Am; but I am always appreciative of things like this…. I am at DCA

OMG!!! - My daughter says to me, "Dad - TWA still exists?"... And I, distracted, say to her, "Why are you asking me that?"... "Because a plane landed there with TWA on it..." - I was NO WAY; but here it is, American Airlines, which bought TWA, has painted several planes with the TWA theme as a tribute to the pioneering airline of the international skies...

From the collection of Roscoe Gorden - Donated by Deborah Gorden-Kummer.At MKC June of 1963, N414H Ford Trimotor Tin Goo...
06/24/2026

From the collection of Roscoe Gorden - Donated by Deborah Gorden-Kummer.

At MKC June of 1963, N414H Ford Trimotor Tin Goose

From the collection of Roscoe Gorden - Donated by Deborah Gorden-Kummer.Circa 1960's @ MKC. Looks cold outside!
06/23/2026

From the collection of Roscoe Gorden - Donated by Deborah Gorden-Kummer.

Circa 1960's @ MKC. Looks cold outside!

Happy Father's Day to my TWA Dad! (Here helping qualify the inertia reel escape system on the new 747... by jumping off...
06/23/2026

Happy Father's Day to my TWA Dad! (Here helping qualify the inertia reel escape system on the new 747... by jumping off the side!)

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