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Winslow Lindbergh Regional Airport was host to a 1937 Lockheed Electra 12A aircraft last Wednesday.
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Nicknamed L.E., the craft has been in flight since its creation in 1937. It was used in its prime as a TWA (Trans World Airlines) executive commuter plane.
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Local pilot and aviation historian Harold Soehner said, “This specific plane has spent a long time coming into this airport. As you know, this airport was a TWA airport in the 1930s, so the big wigs would have spent quite a bit of time flying in and out of here on this very plane.”
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Soehner watched in awe as the enormous taildragger (a nickname given to aircraft with a tailskid rather than a wheel) taxied across the runway, “I’m like a kid in a candy store, honestly. I have seen this plane in person before but it never ceases to amaze me. And the people on board just happen to be some good friends of mine, so it is a double treat for me. This is this plane’s last flight. It is on its way to be donated to a museum in Kansas City.”
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The plane’s owner, Ruth Richter, co-owner and pilot Curt Walter and co-pilot Kirk McQuown were tasked with getting the craft to Kansas City.
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Richter is the daughter of Paul Richter, of TWA fame. Soehner explained, “Her father founded a small airline in the late 1920s. That airline eventually was purchased by Western Airlines, who then merged with Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT). TAT is the outfit that designed and built our airport along with Charles Lindbergh, so there is a lot of history there. Those two merged and became Transcontinental and Western Air and Richter became the vice president of the Western Division. So, Ruth’s father, Paul, would have been in this plane flying all over to the different regional airports quite a bit. Now you know why she wanted to buy it when it became available.”
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In an essay written by Richter for the website www.twaspirit.com, she said, “I received a message on the Paul Richter TWA website from someone wanting to know the history of a plane she was selling, owned by TWA from 1940-1945. At the time I was too busy to respond. A couple weeks later we spoke on the phone. Suddenly I said, ‘I can’t help you sell this airplane; I have to buy it!’ I know my dad flew her, he tested every TWA airplane. I think I flew in this plane with him as a child. I said, to be honest, ‘I don’t have any money but can I call you back?’ Three hours later I called her and told her I had mortgaged my house, sold my first born and was going to let the county bury me. I had to buy the plane!”
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Richter continued, “She’s the sistership to Amelia Earhart’s 10E. Built in July 1937, nearly 75 years old, she’s beautiful, solid and flies smooth… an awesome airplane.”
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McQuown, a character in his own right, has been flying planes since he was 11 years old. “A woman saw me watching planes one day, she was a World War II WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilot). She had me pull some weeds and then started teaching me to fly. When I was 16, I set a world record by flying 14 planes solo on my 16th birthday. I have been flying ever since, I have been a flight instructor, dispatcher, pilot, a researcher and so much more. Right now, I can’t fly for the research company because I recently had back surgery, but I will be back in the cockpit as soon as I can.”
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This trip, the last for L.E., will land her in the TWA Museum in Kansas City. Soehner said, “It’s kind of bittersweet, it will be a great exhibit, but it won’t be flying, which is what these are made for.” Smiling he added, “If this thing could talk.”
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The L.E. landed safely at the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport in Kansas City, Mo., at 2:30 p.m. last Thursday. A text message sent from McQuown read, “All is well.”
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