Frye soon established a reputation as an excellent pilot and instructor. The new Long Beach airport hosted a Memorial Day Air Meet (May 30, 1925) where 25,000 fans witnessed 50 pilots and their planes compete in 10 events for cups and cash prizes. Jack won the "Dead Stick Landing" contest.
Among the students at the Burdett School who also became an important part of TWA's roots in later years were Paul Richter and Walt Hamilton. The trio of "Jack, Paul and Ham" became very close friends and in early 1926 they pooled their resources ($5000) and bought Fuller's interests. This included the goodwill of the business, 14 planes, the repair shop and equipment, a well established flying school and air taxi service.
On February 3, 1926, the Aero Corporation of California was formed with a total investment of $50,000.
Aero Corp obtained the Regional Distributorship for the American-built Fokker aircraft. At the time, this included the single-motor six-place high wing monoplane called the Universal. Aero Corp established branch offices in Phoenix and Tucson for the sale and maintenance of the Alexander and Fokker aircraft.
On November 26, 1927, Standard Airlines, a subsidiary of Aero Corp, inaugurated a three-times-a-week schedule between Los Angeles and Phoenix-Tucson. This is a good example of Jack Frye's firm belief there was a bright future flying passengers on a regular schedule as the company did not have an airmail contract. Under Jack's leadership, business was great and, at one time, as many as 86 men were employed in the shops. Aero Corp's maintenance and engineering were considered among the best in the country. The flying school was among the first to be accredited by the Department of Commerce and also ranked among the best.
By March 30, 1930, Western Air and Express had "taken-over" Aero Corp/Standard through controlling stock purchases. Twelve shares of Aero Corp/Standard stock were exchanged for one WAE. What is a credit to Jack Frye's leadership was that the original $50,000 subscribed to form the corporation in February 1926 was now worth (on paper) $2,500,000. It had been his policy not to pay annual dividends; all profits were reinvested to modernize the fleet and expansion operations. Frye was now on WAE's Board of Directors and Chief of Operations.
Postmaster General Walter F. Brown had his own ideas on how new airmail route contracts would be awarded which resulted in the infamous "Spoils Conferences" with certain airline executives. Brown ordered the merger and terms between WAE, TAT-Maddux and Pittsbergh Aviation Industries Corp. The new T&WA was formed and began service in October 1930 on the "central route" from Newark to Burbank. This was the end of Aero Corp's activities although the property was carried on WAE's books as an asset for several more years. Frye was elected VP-Operations of the new T&WA.
Predasessor to the DC-3 & CH-47
On February 18, 1934, Frye, Edward Rickenbacker and a team of T&WA pilots flew the mail from Burbank to Newark, with three stops in the record time of 13 hours and two minutes. When the mail contracts were re-awarded to the airlines in May of 1934, Frye again made headlines when he piloted a Northrop Gamma with a load of mail across the country, with one stop in a new record (commercial) time of 11 hours 30 minutes! At the end of 1934, Jack Frye was elected president of T&WA and Paul Richter VP-Operations. Later, Walter Hamilton was promoted to VP-Maintenance and Overhaul.
In January of 1936 the Air transport Association of America was formed and Jack Frye was among the original directors. Others included such well known airline presidents during the '30s as C.R. Smith, Bill Patterson, Edward Rickenbacker, Tom Braniff and Bob Six. Also in 1936, Frye was a VP with the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences.
Under Frye's leadership, TWA was an industry leader with regard to researching the problems and benefits of high-altitude flying. The DC-1 was used for a while, flown by Tommy Tomlinson. In June of 1939 the trio of "Jack, Paul and Ham" was broken when Hamilton resigned to accept an executive position with Douglas Aircraft Company.
Jack Frye personally induced Howard Hughes to secretly purchase the majority of TWA's outstanding stock in early 1939. Although five of the Stratoliners were due for delivery in mid-1940, Hughes and Frye were negotiating with Lockheed for the proposed 300-mph Constellation. Due to the war emergency, production of the Constellations was delayed and it was'nt until early 1944 when the prototype C-69 was completed. On April 17, 1944, Hughes and Frye set a new cross-country speed record when they flew the C-69 from Burbank to Washington D.C., in six hours 58 minutes! Frye kept a seperate office in Washington during the war and was a strong lobbyist on behalf of TWA.
Later after disagreements with Hughes, Frye and Richter resigned from TWA. Jack went with General Aniline and Film Corporation as president until he resigned in 1955 to form a new aircraft manufacturing company. This was tentatively know as the "Frye-Robertson Aircraft Company", based in Fort Worth, with plans to build the Frye F-1 transport. Later he would begin developing a new commuter plane called the "SAFARI"
Walt Hamilton returned to TWA in early 1946, but in March of that year passed away at the age of 44. Paul Richter passed away in May of 1949 at the age of 53. In February 1959, Jack Frye was killed in an auto accident near the entrance to the Tucson Airport. He was age 54.
On June 20, 1992, Jack Frye was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame. TWA Senior VP-Flight Operations Capt. J.G. Colpitts accepted the award on his behalf. Jack joined a very exclusive group of airline presidents who were previously honored: William Patterson, United (1976); Edward Rickenbacker, Eastern (1965); Robert Six, Continental (1980); C.R. Smith, American (1974; Juan Trippe, Pan Am (1970). They were fierce competitors back in the formative years of the nations major airlines.
