TWA

I love it when some small, seemingly innocuous, object I’ve collected reminds me that it’s not just “mine,” that it belongs to a much larger story. Sometimes I know that Big Picture story, other times I don’t; here’s a case that illustrates the latter.

TWA Convair 880 In-Flight Card

Recently, Rollie Puterbaugh contacted me, through the Collectors’ Quest Community, about adding scans of one of my travel and tourism ephemera items to his website. The specific item he was interested in was the laminated in-flight instruction card for TWA’s Convair 880 jet and he wanted to add the image to his project, the Flight 383 & 128 Memorial Project.

I’d never made the connection between that plastic-covered in-flight card and the tragic crash, but once I did, I was only too happy to have “my” card become part of those stories — especially as the stories are not only historical research and collection of artifacts, but the stories of the people involved in the tragic events, and the project works to create a physical memorial. So I asked Rollie to share some more information about the project and his involvement.

Tell us how you became involved in the memorial project.

In 2005, I gathered my previous research about the accident and began the process of locating the property and property owner where the Boeing 727 had hit the hillside. After “finding” and then gaining access to the property in 2005, I hiked up to the site of the November 8, 1965 crash site of AA Flight 383.

AA Flight 383, November 8, 1965 (Photo Courtesty of Kenton County Kentucky Public Library)

After posting the information on the internet, I was stunned by the inquiries I would receive in the following years from family members of victims and witnesses. I realized that the accident was not well documented because of the number of hits and comments I was receiving on the FOTKI site.

In January 2009, I decided to expand my research and scope on the story of Flight 383. The angle I decided on was the life changing effect this event had on hundreds of people; victims, families, witnesses, and first responders, so I began documenting and gathering data on all these groups. Somehow I gained credibility in Hebron, Kentucky where these accidents occurred and the next thing I knew, I was involved in writing the story of two disasters and attempting to place two memorials in the area to honor the participants of both Flights AA 383 and TWA 128.

TWA Flight 128, November 20, 1967 (Photo Courtesty of Kenton County Kentucky Public Library)

Today, I am active with the Flight 383/128 Memorial Group of Hebron, Kentucky in historic research and the pursuit of a memorial to honor all those who were impacted by the Cincinnati aviation events of the 1960’s.

Mark Free, Harvey Pelley, and Linda Holbrook, Members of the Flight 383/128 Memorial Project

Please understand that at this point the project is a gigantic team effort from people all over the country, including Mark Free (Witness TWA Flight 128), Harvey Pelley (First Responder Flights 383/128), and Linda Holbrook (Telephone operator the night of November 20,1967), who are contributing their stories, images, or time to the effort. It is no longer a one man project…

The members of Flight 383/128 Memorial Group do not want future generations to see just statistics about these calamities and forget the people and events that played out in the “Hills of Hebron” on the nights of November 8,1965 and November 20, 1967. All of them had “stories” that were lost on those fateful Monday nights.

Bruce Hart, Decca Records Employee, Victim of AA Flight 383, Photo Courtesy of Dorian Hart-Cochrane

Are there other parts of the story the group is looking for?

People can help simply by contacting us if they had relatives onboard these flights or have any other information about the disasters, including, as in your case, owning items directly related to American Airlines or TWA in the 1960’s {specifically the Boeing 727 and Convair 880 aircraft}.

I am looking for a TWA Sytem TimeTable for the Fall of 1967 and an American Airlines System TimeTable for the Fall of 1965. I am also looking for a Kentucky roadmap from the 1960’s. I am interested in posting the covers and the pages showing the Flight schedule for the flights involved in the air disasters in the Cincinnati area during this period. I would also be interested in purchasing these items if someone was interested in selling them.

If you have personal stories, information and/or items you think Rollie and the Flight 383 & 128 Memorial Project might be interested in, you can message him via his profile in the Collectors’ Quest Community or email him at rollie13@msn.com.

If you’re interesting in the memorial project, you can keep up via the group’s newsletters — and you can support the group with donations. Contributions for a memorial in Hebron, Kentucky to American Airlines Flight 383 and TWA Flight 128 can be made by visiting any local branch of the Bank of Kentucky or by mailing a check made payable to “Flight 383/128 Memorial Project” and mailed to:

The Bank of Kentucky, Inc.
Attention: Joy Wilson
1065 Burlington Pike
Florence Ky 41042

Joy’s phone number is: 859-372-5176.

I was a late bloomer: I never flew on an airplane until I was an adult, and it wasn’t any further than I’ve driven in a car. And, it wasn’t a special event — the flying that is, although Christmas is always a little special — so it had all the romance and pleasure of riding in a school bus.

If I were a decade or two younger, it would have been a bit more magical — lifting free from the ground, cruising at a couple hundred miles an hour, crossing states when I could barely conceive the size of my neighborhood…plus, everyone know that kids get their own little set of plastic wings, just like the pilots. That would almost be worth all the ear-popping and turbulence a kid can get. What most kids don’t know is that airlines quite often provide something a bit more than a jewelry trinket: many airlines give certificates to passengers on extra-special flights. While this is mostly for kids, they’re sometimes given for some special events, like long non-stop flights or the first flight of an aircraft.

Certificates of this sort have been around almost as long as airlines. As an ephemera collectible these can be quite rare, especially blank certificates. Certificates found in the marketplace tend to be filled-in, usually by a flight attendant or representative from the airlines. Also, because these are given to kids in the middle of travelling, they’re often stained and creased. For a rather limited-edition object, a lot of artistic style went into a lot of these certificates; I’m surprised how few there are on the internet. Have no fear, though: I have a couple. These two are my favorites:

This certificate came from TWA, awarded for crossing the great Atlantic Ocean on behalf of King Neptune himself. In 1953, crossing the Atlantic by airplane was still quite exotic for the average person. In the 1930s, some transatlantic flights via both airplane and zeppelin occurred, but even in the post-WWII years long-distance flights were still a luxury. The first non-stop Transatlantic flight ever was in 1919, only 35 years before this certificate was issued. This particular certificate notes the flight from Paris to New York — the same distance Lindbergh flew entirely on his own 25 years before. According to the gold labels at the bottom, Margaret, the recipient of this certificate, flew the route twice.

If flying across the Atlantic seemed big, how about crossing to the other half of the world? In 1970, Janett cross the Equator on an Ethiopian Airlines plane and was awarded this certificate. Although not as impressive as an endorsement by King Neptune himself, the certificate bestows upon the bearer the title of “Aviaticus Solaris Empyrus,” a mish-mosh of pseudo-latin that sounds quite impressive. The purpose of the certificates is not so much to certify anything important, but to engender a positive relationship with the passengers. As if the flight isn’t memorable enough, having one of these sheets in a scrapbook would help remind a kid exactly what it meant when they boarded the plane. Children love bright colors, fanciful elephants, and elaborate titles, making these certificates great artifacts of pop art and airline memorabilia that’s not very common.