December, 1924 Standard Air was born, eventually to become Trans World Airlines.
The first prospective hostess class started October 23, 1935. Each charming hostess was a registered nurse, between the ages of 21 and 26,
between five feet and five feet four inches... tall, and 100-118 pounds.
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  *Please note Lift-off is a work in progress. So consider it currently "non-routine" |
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The first TWA Flight Attendant hero
Nellie's Story
On April 7, 1936, a DC-2 Sun Racer, made a crash landing in Pennsylvania. Nellie Granger, a member of the second training class, became a heroine for her brave efforts to help her passengers. The impact of the plane's crash into a mountainside had thrown Nellie from the plane. She went back into the broken plane and pulled out a woman, the wife of the mayor of Newark, and a man with two broken legs. She then got two blankets and covered them before walking to look for help in the cold April night. Hours later, she finally reached a farm house and phoned TWA's office in Pittsburgh. When the rescuers arrived, she insisted on accompanying them back to the site of the crash. They traced where she had walked, and it was eleven miles. This incident sustained the air hostess mystic. The New York Times had a front page feature on air hostesses April 12, 1936. The opening paragraph read: The flying career hostess may well expect a career of romance and adventure, for it is a fascinating life that goes along with the hazards so strikingly illustrated in the experience of Nellie Granger, plucky heroine of the recent crash of the big transport plane on a mountain near Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Not so fortunate was Doris Hammons, the hostess on Flight 15 out of Newark on March 25, 1937. At 6:40pm, the plane crashed in a small valley eight miles from Pittsburg. She became the first TWA hostess to die in an accident along with two other crew members and ten passengers. It was now painfully clear to everyone that ours is most certainly a profession with risks. Music |
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