Skip to main content

Archives at The Museum of Flight


Western Airlines

 Organization

Dates

  • Existence: 1925 - 1987

Historical Note

Western Airlines was a major United States airline from 1925 to 1987. It 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. It merged with National Parks Airways in 1937. In 1941, Western Air Express changed its name to Western Air Lines (WAL) and later to Western Airlines. The airline ceased operations in 1987 when it merged with Delta Air Lines.

Found in 7 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...
Dates: circa 1940s-1980s
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Lorraine C. (Coccio) Ditsworth Western Airlines Flight Attendant Collection

 Collection — Box 1
Identifier: 2009-02-20
Contents of the Collection The Lorraine C. (Coccio) Ditsworth Western Airlines Flight Attendant Collection is comprised of texual materials and sixteen (16) photographs. The bulk of the material was collected by Ditsworth during her 1953-1956 service as a Western Airlines (WA) flight attendant, although five (5) of the photographs appear to be unrelated to Ditsworth directly and of a later date (circa 1970s). The textual materials include three (3) logs which contain notes about Ditsworth's flights,...
Dates: 1951-1956
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Carolyn B. Haugen Western Airlines Flight Attendant Collection

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2009-04-05
Contents of the Collection

The Carolyn B. Haugen Western Airlines (WA) Collection relates to Haugen's 1966-1985 career with Western Airlines. It is comprised of three (3) color snapshots depicting Haugen in her WA flighth attendant uniform; several WA envelopes (blank); a 1985 WA timetable; a newspaper clipping from an unidentified publication about the Boeing 707; a Pacific Horizon Service Free Cocktail invitations (3 copies); and an undated letter to flight attendants from Holiday Inn Management.

Dates: 1966-1985
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Esther (Hutchings) Hebrew Western Airlines Flight Attendant Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2021-12-10
Contents of the Collection The Esther (Hutchings) Hebrew Western Airlines Flight Attendant Collection consists of textual and visual materials gathered by Hebrew during her career as a stewardess for Western Airlines (WAL) in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The materials illuminate the work and life of flight attendants in the mid-twentieth century. The collection is organized in two series: Western Airlines career-related materials and other airlines. There are several files of textual materials related...
Dates: 1945-1951, undated
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

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).

Dates: 1927-2004 ; Majority of material found within 1960 - 1979
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Larry Michelsen Pacific Northern Airlines textual materials

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 1985-02-20
Contents of the Collection The Larry Michelsen Pacific Northern Airlines (PNA) textual materials is a small collection of assorted newspaper clippings about PNA, circa 1959 and a photocopy of a merger decision for Western-Pacific Northern by the Civil Aeronautics Board, 1967. Many of the clippings are from unidentified newspapers, although some include identifying information. The materials are bound in a booklet with a front label, "Western-Pacific Northern Merger - Art Quinn." It is unknown who collected the...
Dates: 1959-1967
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Wanda Smith Flight Attendant Collection

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2022-04-16
Contents of the Collection The Wanda Smith Flight Attendant Collection is a small collection consisting of photographs and clippings documenting Smith's career as a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines and Western Airlines in the 1950s and 1960s. The collection includes seven photographs of Smith in her Eastern Airlines uniform, including six formal individual portraits of her and one group portrait of her with several other flight attendants, circa 1956. There are also thirteen photographs of Smith and...
Dates: 1955-circa 1960s
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

The Museum of Flight | 9404 E. Marginal Way South | Seattle WA 98108-4097 | 206-764-5874
Contact us with a research request
curator@museumofflight.org