Produced by Trans World Airlines in the 1970s, "The World of TWA" was a travelogue series that presented the many glamorous destinations served by the company. Accompanied by a fabulous theme song, the start of this film is a terrific music video that features jets, passengers, baggage, and "plane talk". The film follows (in droning voiceover) a typical American couple as they travel around the world on TWA, starting in London, England, and continuing to Paris, France, Rome and Pisa, Italy, the Holy Land including the Sea of Galilee, Greece, Egypt, India, Thailand and finally Hong Kong. The film was made by Carl Dudley Productions. Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline from 1925 until 2001. It was originally formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a transcontinental route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis and Kansas City. Along with American, United, and Eastern, it was one of the "Big Four" domestic airlines in the United States formed by the Spoils Conference of 1930. Howard Hughes acquired control of TWA in 1939, and after World War II led the expansion of the airline to serve Europe, the Middle East and Asia, making TWA a second unofficial flag carrier of the United States after Pan Am. Hughes gave up control in the 1960s, and the new management of TWA acquired Hilton International and Century 21 in an attempt to diversify the company's business. As the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 led to a wave of airline failures, start-ups and takeovers in the United States, TWA was spun off from its holding company in 1984. Carl Icahn acquired control of TWA and took the company private in a leveraged buyout in 1988. TWA became saddled with debt, sold its London routes, underwent Chapter 11 restructuring in 1992 and 1995, and was further stressed by the explosion of TWA Flight 800 in 1996. In 2001, TWA filed for a third and final bankruptcy and was acquired by American Airlines. American laid off many former TWA employees in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and closed its St. Louis hub in 2003. TWA was headquartered at one time in Kansas City, Missouri and planned to make Kansas City International Airport its main domestic and international hub, but abandoned this plan in the 1970s. The airline later developed its largest hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, becoming the dominant carrier there by acquiring Ozark Air Lines in 1986.[8] Its main trans-Atlantic hub was the TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, an architectural icon designed by Eero Saarinen and completed in 1962. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example like: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference." This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com

• published: 28 May 2015
• views: 23