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Archives at The Museum of Flight


Western Air Express Corporation

 Organization

Historical Note

Western Airlines first incorporated in 1925 as Western Air Express. The company reincorporated in 1928 as Western Air Express Corp. and was then purchased by Standard Air Lines in 1930 and merged with Transcontinental Air Transport to form Trans World Airlines (TWA). In 1934, Western Air Express was severed from TWA and briefly changed its name to General Air Lines, but then returned to the name Western Air Express after several months. In 1941, Western Air Express changed its name to Western Air Lines (WAL) and later to Western Airlines.

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:

Arthur Wayne Byron Airline Pilot Collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 2009-06-05
Contents of the Collection The Arthur Wayne Byron Airline Pilot Collection is comprised of primarily textual materials with some photographs that document Byron's commercial pilot career with Western Airlines and Delta Airlines. Materials date from mid-1940s through the 1980s.Textual materials include pilot logs dating from 1955-1987; organizational records for Western Airlines, including documents related to the merger of Western Airlines and Pacific Northern Airlines in 1967, as well as the merger of...

James D. Griffin Photograph Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2015-08-25
Abstract James D. Griffin was an engineer for McDonnell Douglas Corporation. The collection contains five hundred and ninety-six (596) photographs, likely collected and notated by Griffin, featuring primarily Douglas Aircraft Company airplanes manufactured during the 1910s-1970s but also, to a lesser extent, other manufacturer models; including Aero Spacelines, Boeing, Consolidated, and Northrop. There is also a small amount of clippings, newsletters, and articles.

Richard J. McWhorter Stearman Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2010-06-06
Abstract Richard J. McWhorter (1921-2007) was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho and had a long standing and multi-faceted interest in aviation, including owning and restoring vintage airplanes. The collection includes manuscript materials, ephemera, audio-visual materials, and approximately three hundred (300) photographs documenting the restoration of a Stearman C-3B (#NC7550), on display at The Museum of Flight, as well as a Stearman C-3R (#NC656K).

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