Around the ramp at the home field, MZJ

[knot4u]

I know nothing about that lawsuit... I do know that one of the H&P-delivered C130s (allegedly with uncounted dark hours due to black ops) ended up doing this...

The A-model C-130s with the three blade Aeroproducts propellers suffered from harmonic vibration issues that effected the main wing spar, I think the early L-188s and P-3s had the same issue. Hamilton-Standard solved the problem with a four blade setup that incorporated a synchrophaser into the prop control, if you look at a photo of a C-130 with four blade props in flight you might notice the fact that the blades of the four props are never synced up.

 

[Skåning]

The A-model C-130s with the three blade Aeroproducts propellers suffered from harmonic vibration issues that effected the main wing spar, I think the early L-188s and P-3s had the same issue. Hamilton-Standard solved the problem with a four blade setup that incorporated a synchrophaser into the prop control, if you look at a photo of a C-130 with four blade props in flight you might notice the fact that the blades of the four props are never synced up.

That original -A was fugly with no nose! First flight was only 9 years after WW2

 

[deadstick]

That original -A was fugly with no nose! First flight was only 9 years after WW2

 

[MikeD]

Update post:

747-128, N129TW. Began life with Air France in 1976 as N40116 and F-BPVQ. Acquired by TWA in 1996 as N129TW and retired to here one year later in 1997.

Some geek-ery here: Original 747-100 series that went to TWA were known as 747-131 series. N129TW was only one of two TWA 747s to be painted in the new livery, as opposed to the standard TWA paintjob of white with two red stripes. However, 129TW only has the new livery in a partial way......no golden globe and no red/gold stripes. One cool thing this jet does have, is a full TWA interior inside of it still. Beautiful aircraft all around, and very rare to see any TWA aircraft around, much less a 747 in this livery.

This jet was reportedly being held for possible resurrection for one final flight to a museum, but after 23 years of storage here, it appears the owner has sold it for scrapping, and scrapping has slowly commenced on the left aft fuselage skin on this iconic aircraft, the only TWA-marked aircraft here at MZJ.

Aircraft pic: MikeD, cockpit pic: PTG

 

[FlyingAccountant]

Yeah, the guys with Plane Tags cut off a bunch of the skin on the port quarter. You can now buy a piece of N129TW if you want.

 

[MikeD]

Yeah, the guys with Plane Tags cut off a bunch of the skin on the port quarter. You can now buy a piece of N129TW if you want.

the scrapping is sadly continuing too. This poor jet, and it’s Classic cousins here from ANA, Evergreen, and Northwest Cargo, are not going to be lasting long...

 

[Skåning]

Interesting to think what could have been, TWA had A330s and A340s on order.

 

[FlyingAccountant]

Interesting to think what could have been, TWA had A330s and A340s on order.

I grew up in STL - miss the halcyon days of TWA and the STL hub. It's a big part of what got me interested in aviation.

 

[FloridaLarry]

Do the boneyards charge storage by the type of A/C or Sq Footage? 74s take up a lot more dirt than, say, a CRJ-200.

 

[Comair 100ER]

I grew up in STL - miss the halcyon days of TWA and the STL hub. It's a big part of what got me interested in aviation.

 

[Maximilian_Jenius]

View attachment 55870

TWA sure had a lot of MD-80's! How old is that airport???

@phill1174

 

[milleR]

TWA sure had a lot of MD-80's! How old is that airport???

@phill1174

I’d guess that’s late 90’s based on the the Eagle ERJ’s in the bottom of the pic

 

[n156499000]

TWA sure had a lot of MD-80's! How old is that airport???

@phill1174

That's post AA merger, so 2001ish. It looks like there's a PW powered 757 in full AA colors (not the hybrid with silver fuselage and TWA titles) so possibly even 2002, though it would have to be very early 2002 as by the time I moved out of STL in 2003 I don't think there were more than a handful of 717s and 767s left in the TWA livery.

 

[Maximilian_Jenius]

That's post AA merger, so 2001ish. It looks like there's a PW powered 757 in full AA colors (not the hybrid with silver fuselage and TWA titles) so possibly even 2002, though it would have to be very early 2002 as by the time I moved out of STL in 2003 I don't think there were more than a handful of 717s and 767s left in the TWA livery.

The PW powered 757's went to Delta, right?

 

[n156499000]

The PW powered 757's went to Delta, right?

Mostly. A few went to Europe, two made their way to Ethiopia, and at least one ended up with the USAF. 17 of the 27 TW 757s ended up at Delta.

 

[Skåning]

There’s a few MD-95s in that picture too!

 

[MikeD]

There’s a few MD-95s in that picture too!

Nomenclature = Correct.

 

[FlyingAccountant]

TWA sure had a lot of MD-80's! How old is that airport???

@phill1174

I'd say that picture is from late 2001 or early 2002.

Most if not all of the former TWA aircraft were in the hybrid scheme by summer 2002, so this had to be prior to that.

 

[Maximilian_Jenius]

I'd say that picture is from late 2001 or early 2002.

Most if not all of the former TWA aircraft were in the hybrid scheme by summer 2002, so this had to be prior to that.

Best TWA livery, ever!

 

[FlyingAccountant]

The PW powered 757's went to Delta, right?

Most of them did, yeah. AA didn't like them because they inherited crappy leases on them from TWA and they were significantly different from the native AA 757s. Not the least of which was having four exit doors per side to AA's three door config. Not sure if this was true, but supposedly the overhead cockpit switches flipped a different way from AA's 757s as well which made commonality difficult. I'm pretty sure they were gone by 2008ish and they were flown by former TW pilots until the end.

From a passenger perspective, the TW 757s were much nicer than AA's were. The TW's had a nice little mini cabin in economy behind the third exit door. They also had the fold down LCD screens for IFE while AA's didn't have anything.