Transcontinental Air Transport (T-A-T) was an airline founded in 1928 by

Clement Melville Keys Clement Melville Keys (April 7, 1876 – January 12, 1952) was a financier involved in the establishment of many aviation companies including Curtiss-Wright, China National Aviation Corporation, North American Aviation and TWA. He has been ca ...

that merged in 1930 with

Western Air Express Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and N ...

to form what became

TWA Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...

. Keys enlisted the help of

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

to design a transcontinental network to get government airmail contracts. Lindbergh established numerous airports across the country in this effort.

History

On July 7, 1929, transcontinental trips began. It initially offered a 48-hour coast to coast trip (trains by night, and planes by day in nine flights), with the first leg on the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

overnight from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. There, passengers boarded a

Ford Trimotor The Ford Trimotor (also called the "Tri-Motor", and nicknamed the "Tin Goose") is an American three-engined transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended on June 7, 1933, after 199 had been made. It w ...

aircraft at what is now

John Glenn Columbus International Airport John Glenn Columbus International Airport is an international airport located east of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as Port Columbus International Airport, it is managed by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which also ove ...

, and flew to

Waynoka, Oklahoma Waynoka is a city in Woods County, Oklahoma, Woods County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located on U.S. Route 281#Oklahoma, U.S. Highway 281 and Oklahoma State Highway 14, State Highway 14, seventy miles west of Enid, Oklahoma, Enid. The popul ...

. Then, passengers caught the

Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and S ...

for an overnight trip to

Clovis, New Mexico Clovis is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, New Mexico, Curry County, New Mexico. The city had a population of 37,775 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, and a 2019 estimated population of 38,319. Clovis is located in th ...

, where they would take a second Ford Trimotor flight to Los Angeles. One-way fare from New York to Los Angeles was $352. Cynics were to deride its TAT abbreviation as "Take A Train." EL-2002-00560

The

service was one of the first to offer meals en route, provided by the

Fred Harvey Company The Fred Harvey Company was the owner of the Harvey House chain of restaurants, hotels and other hospitality industry businesses alongside railroads in the Western United States. It was founded in 1876 by Fred Harvey to cater to the growing n ...

. It was also one of the first to be geared toward passenger service (while most airlines at the time were focused on transporting air mail). In its first eighteen months of operation, the company lost $2.7 million. In 1929 it merged with

Maddux Air Lines Maddux Air Lines was an airline based in Southern California that operated Ford Tri-motors in California, Arizona, and Mexico in the late 1920s. Founding In 1927 Jack L. Maddux, an owner of a Los Angeles Ford and Lincoln car dealership ...

and in 1930, during what was to become the

Air Mail scandal The Air Mail scandal, also known as the Air Mail fiasco, is the name that the American press gave to the political scandal resulting from a 1934 congressional investigation of the awarding of contracts to certain airlines to carry airmail and t ...

, it merged with

to form Transcontinental & Western Air (T&WA). Western became an independent company once again in 1934. However, Transcontinental opted to retain the T&WA name, and eventually evolved into

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...

or TWA.

First air crash

On September 3, 1929, a westbound TAT flight crashed on Mt. Taylor in New Mexico, with loss of all aboard. The Associated Press said it was the first plane crash on a regular commercial land route. The September crash was the first of three serious accidents for TAT over the next five months.

Museum

The Western New Mexico Aviation Heritage Museum in

Grants, New Mexico Grants is a city in Cibola County, New Mexico, United States. It is located about west of Albuquerque. The population was 9,163 at the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Cibola County. Grants is located along the Trails of the Ancients Byw ...

, has a restored light and arrow which was used to direct pilots along the way.

References

External links

Articles

American Heritage article
by Jay Berman.

Los Angeles Downtown News The ''Los Angeles Downtown News'' is a free weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, California, serving the Downtown Los Angeles area. The newspaper focuses on general news with an emphasis on real estate and business along with coverage of the arts sc ...

April 22, 2013
Biography of Clement Melville Keys

Graphics

Atchison, Topeka, and Santa promotional brochure for Transcontinental Air Transport.
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080704172747/http://earthfriendarts.tripod.com/coastprint.html Poster for the train-plane* ttp://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/tat.htm Timetables {{Portal bar, Companies, Aviation Trans World Airlines Charles Lindbergh Defunct airlines of the United States Kansas City metropolitan area Airlines established in 1928 Airlines disestablished in 1930 American companies established in 1928 1928 establishments in the United States