The Team Breaks Up

One morning last week T.W.A. President Jack Frye put in a call from Kansas City, Mo. to a T.W.A. official in Washington. Frye had heard that Howard Hughes, principal owner of T.W.A., was about to make a big announcement. Frye wanted to know what it was. The official did not know.

"Well, anyway," said Jack Frye, "I can make a pretty good guess myself--and I think I'll beat him to the draw."

A few hours later, Frye announced his resignation from T.W.A. Thus, after many a month of well-chronicled discord, the most famous U.S. airline team finally broke up.

One Route, One Plane. The Hughes-Frye team was formed in 1939. Jack Frye, then 35, was already president of T.W.A., the baby he had nursed from one route (Los Angeles to Phoenix) and one plane into a transcontinental giant.

When T.W.A. went into the red in both 1937 and 1938, major stockholders tried to get Frye out. He stayed in only by persuading Hughes to come to his rescue. Well heeled Mr. Hughes, who liked to dabble in movie making and speed flying, laid out $6 million to buy control of T.W.A., gave Frye a free hand to run the line the way he wanted.

Soon T.W.A. was making money again. But Frye had little more liking for desk work than Hughes did. What they liked were planes. Putting their heads together, they dreamed up the idea for the high-altitude Constellation.

One World. With it, ambitious Jack Frye had another dream; he hoped to make T.W.A. the No. 1 round-the-world airline. But erratic, unpredictable Howard Hughes began to balk at the money Frye was spending. Frye tried to persuade Hughes that overseas expansion would pay off in the end, urged him to get new capital for T.W.A. Frye even lined it up (for example, a $100,000,000 credit line at Manhattan's Bankers Trust Co.). But Hughes would have none of it. He was not entirely sold on round-the-world expansion and he was leary of losing control of T.W.A. The upshot was that T.W.A. was short of cash when the pilots' strike and grounding of the Connies threw T.W.A. deeply into the red.

Hughes was so worried that he even tried to get Pan American Airways to take over T.W.A. through an exchange of stock. Pan Am President Juan Trippe said no. Then Hughes reportedly tried to persuade Frye to give up T.W.A.'s money-losing international routes, concentrate on domestic routes. Frye said no. Last week, as he settled down for a long rest on his Arizona ranch, Frye snapped: "I won't be a yes man."

One Boss. Who will be new president of T.W.A., closemouthed Howard Hughes did not say. Among those mentioned were Executive Vice President Paul Richter and Northrop Aircraft's La Motte T. Cohu. Until a new man is named, a Hughes-appointed board will run the line. It has its work cut out.

The board denied that T.W.A. intended to give up its international routes. But it would be touch & go to keep flying until Hughes wangled the $40,000,000 RFC loan he was after (TIME, Feb. 24). Meanwhile, Hughes had promised to put $10,000,000 into the line, had turned over half of it. But in the first three months of this year, T.W.A. stands to lose some $3,300,000. And T.W.A. would probably not get the second $5,000,000 from Hughes until May. No flier liked to come quite that close to the trees.

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