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Archives at The Museum of Flight


Western Airlines

 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. 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 3 Collections and/or Records:

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

 Collection — Box: One
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, 1953-1956;...

Doris Hanson Flight Attendant Collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 2021-06-25-A
Content Description The Doris Hanson Flight Attendant Collection is a small collection consisting of materials related to Hanson's career as a flight attendant. She worked as a flight attendand for Western Airlines from 1956-1959 and in Communications for Pan Am in 1954, but other airlines are represented in the collection as well. Materials related Hanson's work with Western Airlines include: "The Californian Champagne Flights" menu used as postcard, 1957; a 1959 ticket; a business card/badge...

John Wegg Commercial Airlines Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2014-09-12
Overview John Wegg is best known as the founder and editor-in-chief of Airliners and Airways magazines, as well as contributor to other publications and author of 12 books on aviation history, airlines, and aircraft manufacturers. The John Wegg Commercial Airlines Collection consists of about 2.7 cubic feet of material such as printed ephemera, photographs, documents, and other materials pertaining to the Wegg's aviation journalism and...

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