Jack Frye
{{short description|American aviation pioneer (1904–1959)}}
{{for|the baseball player|Jack Frye (baseball)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Jack Frye, 1935.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1904|3|18}}
| birth_place = Sweetwater, Oklahoma, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1959|2|3|1904|3|18}}
| death_place = Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
| other_names =
| known_for = Airline pioneer
| occupation = TWA president (1934–1947)
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Debbie Greer|1924|1932|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|"Jean" LaCoste|1932|1939|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Helen Varner Vanderbuilt|1941|1949|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Emily Nevada Smith|1950}}
}}
| children = 1
| awards = Presidential Medal of Merit
International Air & Space Hall of Fame
National Aviation Hall of Fame
}}
William John Frye (March 18, 1904 – February 3, 1959) was an American aviation pioneer in the airline industry. He founded Standard Air Lines which eventually took him into a merger with Trans World Airlines (TWA). He is credited for turning TWA into a world-class airline during his tenure as president from 1934 to 1947. Frye was called "The Flying President" among his peers. At age 24, he was and to this day remains the youngest airline executive of all time.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}
Early life
Frye was born in Sweetwater, Oklahoma on March 18, 1904, to cattle ranchers William and Nellie Frye.{{cite web |title=Jack Frye |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Jack-Frye/6000000016975325553 |website=geni.com |accessdate=January 27, 2019}} He had a younger brother, Donald, and a younger sister, Ople.{{cite web |title=United States Census, 1910 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3A%22William%20John%22~%20%2Bsurname%3AFrye~%20%2Bbirth_place%3A%22sweetwater%2C%20ok%22~%20%2Bbirth_year%3A1904-1904~ |website=familysearch.org |accessdate=January 28, 2019}} After his mother Nellie's death in 1912, the family moved to Wheeler, Texas to live with grandparents.
Frye enlisted in the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1921, and was discharged as a corporal in 1922.{{cite web |title=TWA Founders and Pioneers |url=http://www.twaspirit.com/twapioneers_3.html |website=TWAspirit.com |accessdate=January 30, 2019}} In 1922, Frye left for California with his brother Don.
Aviation career
Frye began taking flying lessons in 1923 from instructor Burdett Fuller{{cite web |last1=Pescador |first1=Katrina |title=Burdett D. Fuller Personal Papers |url=http://sandiegoairandspace.org/files/Fuller,_Burdett_-_Finding_Guide.pdf |website=sandiegoairandspace.org |accessdate=January 30, 2019}} at Burdett Field in Los Angeles.{{cite web |last1=Freeman |first1=Paul |title=Abandoned and Little Known Airfields |url=https://www.airfieldsfreeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA_LA_W.htm#dycer |website=airfields-freeman.com |access-date=January 27, 2019}} Frye became good friends with two student pilots at Fuller's, Walter Hamilton and Paul E. Richter. Frye, Hamilton, and Richter pooled their money and formed Aero Corporation of California in 1925.{{cite book |last1=Serling |first1=Robert J. |title=Howard Hughes' Airline |date=1983 |publisher=St. Martin's |isbn=978-1-5425-7520-1 |pages=38–43, 70–71, 212}} They bought out Fuller's flight school and did everything from flight instruction, banner towing, charter flights and crop dusting. Hamilton, who had been a mechanic for the Duesenberg Motors Company, ran their aircraft maintenance operation. Frye held Transport Pilot Certificate #933{{cite web |title=Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register |url=https://dmairfield.com/people/frye_ja/index.htm |website=dmairfield.com |accessdate=January 27, 2019}} and Richter held Transport Pilot Certificate #501.{{cite web |title=Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register |url=https://dmairfield.com/people/richter_pe/index.htm |website=dmairfield.com |accessdate=January 27, 2019}} In 1926, Los Angeles aerial police ticketed Frye for flying less than 1,000 feet above the city.New York Times, August 16, 1926.
File:Closeup of cockpit of Fokker F-10A NC-9169 The Texan with Jack Frye (14013989807).jpg
Frye, Richter, and Hamilton's new goal was to enter the scheduled airline business, so on February 3, 1926, Standard Air Lines was formed as a subsidiary of Aero Corp. Standard Air Lines initially flew single engine Fokker F-7 aircraft from Los Angeles to Tucson with a stop in Phoenix. Within a year, they extended their route to El Paso. In 1929, Standard purchased Fokker F-10A aircraft. Frye and Richter took one of their stock tri-motors and set a commercial aircraft altitude record of 22,680 ft.{{cite web |title=1920's |url=http://www.twaspirit.com/1920s.html |website=TWAspirit.com |accessdate=January 30, 2019}}
Western Air Express bought controlling interest of Aero Corp in early 1930, but still operated Standard as a separate airline. When Western Air Express merged with Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) in July 1930 to form Transcontinental and Western Air (T&WA), the government forced Western to sell Standard to American Airlines as part of the deal due to its southern route into Texas. However, Frye elected to stay with T&WA and was made Vice President of Operations, Richter became Vice President of Western Division, and Hamilton became Maintenance Superintendent. After the reorganization caused by the Air Mail Scandal of 1934, Frye became president of T&WA in 1934. T&WA eventually became Trans World Airlines (TWA) and was known as "The Airline Run by Flyers".{{cite web |title="The Airline Run by Flyers" advertisement |url=http://www.twaspirit.com/between_calls_1939.html |website=TWAspirit.com |accessdate=April 8, 2019}}
The airline suffered near disaster after its reputation was hurt in 1931 when Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne died on a T&WA Fokker F-10 tri-motor airplane. In 1932 Jack Frye, representing T&WA, sought a better aircraft and in response to this and other requests, Douglas Aircraft Company developed the Douglas DC-1 Transport twin.
In February 1934, Jack Frye and Eddie Rickenbacker, President of Eastern Airlines, set a transcontinental record of 13 hours and 4 minutes flying the Douglas DC-1 in a publicity stunt for the new airliner. In May 1934, Frye broke his record by flying a Northrop Gamma from Los Angeles to Newark in an elapsed time of 11 hours and 31 minutes.{{cite web |title=Overview – Northrop Gamma Series |url=http://www.skytamer.com/Northrop_1933(Gamma2D).html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531190546/http://www.skytamer.com/Northrop_1933(Gamma2D).html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 31, 2016 |website=skytamer.com |accessdate=January 27, 2019 }} In 1937, Frye and Richter founded "Conquistadors del Cielo" (Conquerors of the Sky), an annual gathering of top airline executives at a dude ranch in Wyoming.{{cite web |last1=Pesek |first1=Joe |title=Conquistadores del Cielo: The Secret Club of Top Airline Executives |url=https://airlinegeeks.com/2017/03/17/conquistadores-del-cielo-the-secret-club-of-top-airline-executives/ |website=airlinegeeks.com |accessdate=April 6, 2019}}{{cite web |title=Conquistadores del Cielo |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6bI7G3qeDk |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/S6bI7G3qeDk |archive-date=December 19, 2021 |url-status=live|website=youtube.com | date=July 10, 2008 |accessdate=April 6, 2019}}{{cbignore}}
In 1939, desiring greater control of their airline, Frye and Richter approached industrialist and film producer Howard Hughes to buy into the company. (Jack Frye stated in an April 6, 1954, issue of Life magazine that it was Hughes who approached him in regard to investments.) Hughes' interest was airplanes, and his initial involvement was the development and financing of the Lockheed Constellation for TWA. On April 17, 1944, Frye set his third transcontinental record when he and Hughes flew the Constellation prototype on a record 6 hour 58 minute flight from Los Angeles to Washington D.C.{{cite web |title=TWA Constellation Flight Record |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyaMTQ2ytWo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/JyaMTQ2ytWo |archive-date=December 19, 2021 |url-status=live|website=youtube.com | date=August 24, 2011 |accessdate=April 8, 2019}}{{cbignore}}
Marriage
Frye married Debbie Greer in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1924; they divorced in 1932. In 1932, Frye married Regine (Jean) LaCoste in Ravena, Missouri, they divorced in 1939. In January 1941, he married Helen Varner Vanderbilt who was previously married to Cornelius Vanderbilt IV.
Frye and Helen divorced in January 1950. In July 1950, Frye married his fourth wife, in Hollywood, Florida, New York showgirl and actress Emily Nevada Smith. They had a daughter, Nevajac Frye in 1953, Frye's only child.
Later life
After a dispute with Hughes in 1946, Frye resigned as president of TWA on February 21, 1947.New York Times, February 22, 1947: Frye explains resignation. Frye was very well connected in Washington D.C., and soon landed a coveted prize as director of one of the German corporations seized during World War II, in this case the U.S. residual of IG Farben. On April 14, 1947, he was elected chairman of the Board of General Aniline and Film Corp,{{cite web |title=Industrial Research Libraries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ijcrAAAAYAAJ&q=general+anil&pg=PA148 |website=books.google.com |year = 1950|accessdate=January 27, 2019}} and its subsidiaries General Dyestuffs Corporation,{{cite web |title=Industrial research libraries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ijcrAAAAYAAJ&q=general+dyestuff+corporation+%2B+jack+frye&pg=PA149 |year = 1950|accessdate=January 27, 2019}} and Ansco.{{cite web |title=A Brief History of Ansco |url=https://anscoautomaticreflex.com/ansco-history/ |website=anscoautomaticreflex.com |accessdate=June 21, 2024}} Frye remained President of General Aniline until 1955, when the Eisenhower administration unwound these holdings through the Office of Alien Property Custodian.Drew Pearson synd. column, Washington Merry-go-Round, February 23, 1955.
In 1955, Frye formed his own aircraft manufacturing company, the Frye Corporation. In December 1956, Grumman Aircraft agreed to produce the Frye Safari, a four-engine, Short Takeoff & Landing (STOL) airlifter,[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200918.html "Safari"] Flight July 6, 1956{{cite web |title=Flying Magazine Dec 1955 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-e-p2UBcNoC&q=general+aniline+%2B+jack+frye&pg=PA45 |website=books.google.com |date = December 1955|accessdate=January 27, 2019}} if Frye could find financing. Ernst Zindel, who designed the Junkers Ju 52, was retained as an assistant. However, the project was cancelled.New York Times, January 15, 1957: Grumman and Frye agree on new plane; NYT, October 2, 1955: Aviation: A Slow Plane; NYT, September 15, 1955: DC-3 Like Plane outlined by Frye.
Death and honors
On February 3, 1959, while driving home after a meeting with Howard Hughes in Tucson Arizona to finalize plans on the development of Frye's new aircraft: An STOL and Safari heavy transport plane, Frye in his 1959 Ford Galaxy 500 was killed instantly in a car accident by a drunk driver who ran a stop sign. It was exactly 33 years to the day after his founding of Standard Air Lines. The death received limited coverage, due to the deaths of famous musicians Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, and The Big Bopper in a plane crash on the same day.{{cite web |title=The Day the Music Died |url=http://www.ritchievalens.com/the-day-the-music-died.html |website=ritchievalens.com |accessdate=January 27, 2019}} He was originally buried in Tucson, but now rests in Wheeler, Texas.
Frye received the Presidential Medal of Merit from Harry Truman for wartime contributions as a civilian in December 1946 where Frye donated many TWA aircraft and personnel for the war effort.New York Times, December 22, 1946. In 2006, Frye was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame{{cite web |title=William "Jack" Frye |url=http://sandiegoairandspace.org/hall-of-fame/honoree/william-jack-frye |website=SanDiegoAirandSpace.org |accessdate=January 30, 2019}} at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor. These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006. {{ISBN|978-1-57864-397-4}}. Frye was elected into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1992.{{cite web |title=John "Jack" Frye |url=https://www.nationalaviation.org/our-enshrinees/frye-john-jack/ |website=nationalaviation.org |accessdate=January 30, 2019 |archive-date=January 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130110412/https://www.nationalaviation.org/our-enshrinees/frye-john-jack/ |url-status=dead }}
In Martin Scorsese's 2004 biopic of Howard Hughes, The Aviator, Frye was portrayed by actor Danny Huston.{{cite web |title=The Aviator |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338751/characters/nm0396812 |website=imdb.com |accessdate=January 27, 2019}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://dmairfield.org/people/frye_ja/ Davis-Monthan Jack Frye Profile]
- [https://www.nationalaviation.org/our-enshrinees/frye-john-jack/ National Aviation Hall of Fame] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130110412/https://www.nationalaviation.org/our-enshrinees/frye-john-jack/ |date=January 30, 2019 }}
- [http://jack-frye.blogspot.com/ Jack Frye Aviation Pioneer]
- [https://www.sedonatwa.org/ Jack and Helen Frye Story]
- [http://www.twamuseum.com/history/ TWA Museum]
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Category:Kansas City metropolitan area
Category:Trans World Airlines people
Category:American commercial aviators
Category:American aviation pioneers
Category:American aviation businesspeople
Category:American airline chief executives