TWA
LEGEND
One of the three founding partners of
Aero Corporation of California
Standard Air Lines Inc.
Transcontinental and Western Air
Trans World Airlines
TWA
These three separate reflective tributes and memorials
honor the Three Founding Fathers,
or as they were called, "the Three Musketeers of Aviation".
Without the perseverance and dedication of these brave stalwart men:
Walter Hamilton, Paul Richter Jr., and Jack Frye,
TWA
would never have existed!
True aviation heroes, unique in their association,
the likes of which our world has never known, and never will again.
Honor and Remembrance!
Then and Now..........
Jack Frye
Walter Hamilton
Transcontinental and Western Air
Executive Offices
Kansas City 1930
"At last, Eastern airplane manufacturers are looking to the West for new production air-cooled motors to replace the OX5 that has served until recently." This is the statement recently made by Walter A. Hamilton, vice-president and chief engineer of the Aero Corporation of California. Mr. Hamilton is an authority on air-cooled motors and has helped materially in developing and marketing some of the most successful ones. He has patented many improvements for both water-cooled and air-cooled motors, and is known as the inventor of the DELCO dual ignition system for OX5 engines.
"It is a recognized fact that Southern California is far ahead of the rest of the country in the developing of airplanes, but very little is realized of the vast strides being made in the developing of motors in the West," says Mr. Hamilton.
HOME OF MOTORS
"Los Angeles is the home of several exceptionally fine airplane motors. Among the most popular of these in the light motor class are the Kinner, the Hallett, and the Floco motors. The motors are well into production and are attracting airplane manufacturers from all over the country. Just recently the Alexander Aircraft Company of Colorado Springs, Colorado, manufacturers of the Alexander Eaglerock airplane, negotiated a contract with Floco Motor Company to take over the entire factory production of Floco motors. This deal involved a sum of $1,750,000, and is said to be the largest contract yet given for motors in the light-powered class.
"Among the motors of higher horsepower is the Menasco, 260 H.P. which is a local product. This motor has been tried in the large transport ships as well as light commercial jobs, and is said to offer the minimum amount of vibration and has proven to be exceedingly reliable and efficient."
EAST PROGRESSES
"With all these developments going on locally, we must at the same time realize that eastern manufacturers are making progressive strides as well and are offering competition to the local companies who are keeping near the top."
Mr. Hamilton has become well known on the Pacific Coast as a motor expert and has work coming into his shop from miles around for motor over-hauls. Fifteen trained men are employed by him to keep the wheels moving and help make room for overhaul jobs being prepared for the national air races to be held in September.
BEING BOSS ONLY INCIDENTAL
Motors of Air Line, Chief's Real Joy
Walter A. Hamilton Knows What Makes 'Em Click
Just as parents often are the despair of their children, executives of large corporations sometimes are the despair of their employees.
Such is the case with Walter A. Hamilton, vice president of the Aero Corporation of California. His employees think the vice-president of a 2,500,000 corporation should sit in a mahogany-furnished office, and do nothing more strenuous than push buttons and dictate letters.
Pratt-Whitney Motors, the gigantic power plants that pull the Standard Air Lines' plane from this city to El Paso, Texas, are the energetic vice-president's special delight. However he will cheerfully tackle any sort of machinery if a Pratt-Whitney engine doesn't need servicing.
That Mr. Hamilton knows his field is indicated by his recent selection as a member of the advisory board for the installation of the operating equipment for the new Hawaiian Airways system.
for Aero Corporation of California, and Standard Airlines.
A wiz at tuning airplane engines, he made Paul Richter and Jack Frye look good as they won races and set altitude records. Walt was an amazing asset to
Aero Corp., Standard Airlines and later TWA.
It was commonly said that
"Walt Hamilton can make a washing machine fly!"
"Upon his shoulders rest the responsibility for the safe performance of his company's planes."
Paul Richter 1930.
He was recognized as perfecting the Duesenberg engine, the fastest in the world
at the time.
With Walt at the helm, Aero Corps' shop was considered the best in the west.
By 1929, he employed 86 men.
Photo circa 1926, Aero Corporation of California.
His expertise in engineering, engines and aircraft were invaluable to the military.
Paul E. Richter, Jack Frye and Walter A. Hamilton
Walter Hamilton's Death Breaks Up TWA's "Big Three.'
TWA goes to great lengths to try to save Walter's life
Death has brought the first break in the ranks of the "Three Musketeers," who in 1926 established Aero Corporation of California, which was to become T.W.A. Walter (Ham) Hamilton, 44, who only last November returned to the company as a special assistant to Executive Vice President Paul Richter, succumbed March 28, in Research Hospital, Kansas City, to a kidney infection.
Streptomycin, a scarce, recently developed "wonder drug," was rushed to Kansas City from Terre Haute, Indiana, aboard a TWA plane in a vain battle to stem the course of infection.
Funeral services were held March 30, at the Stine and McClure Funeral Home in Kansas City, and the body was sent to Alhambra, California, for burial.
Walter Hamilton, like Paul Richter, was taught to fly by Jack Frye, when the president of TWA was an instructor and partner in the Fuller Flying School in Los Angeles. Then shop foremen for an automobile company (Duesenberg) in LA, Hamilton was a crack mechanic -- a man with a great love for motors. So it was only natural when, early in 1926, the three decided to buy out Burdette Fuller, Frye's partner, and form their own company, that Hamilton should be selected as a partner and vice-president in charge of maintenance.
Through all the mergers, reorganizations, changes of management by which Aero Corporation of California eventually emerged as TWA, Walter Hamilton stayed with the company. He was system superintendent when, in 1939, he left to become associated in an official capacity with Douglas Aircraft Company. In 1942, he was called to active duty in the Navy, and served throughout the war in the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, where his technical and mechanical knowledge was of immense value.
Walter Hamilton's Death Shocks TWA
Placed on inactive status by the Navy with the rank of a captain, Hamilton elected to return to TWA, and his death was a shock to all the TWA employees who remembered him from the pioneering days.
Dave Smith, assistant to Vice President John Collings; James Nobel, SM at BW; Roy Foster SM at TH, and Kenny Turner, asst. SM in KC, played prominent parts in rushing Streptomycin to Kansas City in an effort to save Hamilton's life.
Smith originally called BW and contacted Noble, who learned the drug was not available there, but could be obtained at a Terre Haute laboratory. Smith at once called Foster, who obtained the serum direct from the laboratory and placed it aboard Flt. #361, March 25, in care of the hostess. Through arrangements by Turner, Collings' station wagon was waiting at the airport to pick up the drug and rush it to the hospital. All received letters from Dave Smith commending them for their efficient handling.
Susan Holden Walsh
and
Karen Holden Young
and
"Grandest-Kids":
Peter and Kristina Young
Without these family members,
this tribute to Walter Hamilton, who left no immediate family
would not have been possible!
Signed:
Ruth Richter
and the exclusive property of the Ruth Richter Holden Family.
No text, photos or content may be reproduced in any manner
without the expressed permission of Ruth Richter.
"TRI-REMEMBRANCE"
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Aviation Legend and Pioneer
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Walter Hamilton TWA Legend!