This film features TWA Boeing 707 N761TW SuperJet. It is an overview of the TWA operations and training procedures with a TWA international port-of-call film in the middle.
We begin at what looks like a Trans World Airways west coast terminal and see shots from inside the 707 cockpit on landing and takeoff.
Next, the aircraft is flown to the new Mid-Continent International Airport near Kansas City, Kansas. TWA formally signed an agreement to move its overhaul base to the airport in 1954 in which the city built and owned the $18 million base but lease it back to TWA.
The film shows overhaul facility and process at MCI airport. A nice overview of the maintenance process by TWA, including the removal of all the seats and sanding down of the paint.
We then are taken to the TWA transportation training center in downtown Kansas City where pilots and engineers are being trained. The facility had an early motion simulator that had a small television screen in front of the cockpit. You'd get a better experience today with Flight Simulator. The terrain projected in front of the cockpit was a huge model of the airport being practiced. The film shows a view of the massive model, hung on a wall that the television camera tracks.
TWA cabin attendants are trained in full size cabin and trained in service with a smile. Food service in the Royal Ambassador cabin, first class, used crystal glasses, had a range of appetizers, a custom menu, and what appears to even be a personal chef for the in-flight preparation of gourmet meals.
I was surprised to see that beverages served in economy service for a nominal cost. I guess we've come full circle in coach.
Next we trip back to the Royal Ambassador cabin where we watch the steward put up the screen and the stewardess passes out revolutionary headphones. The passengers watch a travel film about all the international places TWA goes and our film then picks up the travelogue at that point.
We see a look at the many international cities visited. London, Dublin, Paris, Frankfurt, Geneva, Lisbon, Granada, Madrid, Venice, Pisa, Rome, Athens, Jerusalem, Suez Canal, Cairo, Bombay, and New Delhi. In each city we are taken to the popular sites for us to see.
The irony of this film is that the featured aircraft, N761TW, a Boeing 707-331 was destroyed when a bomb exploded in the rear part of the aircraft while it was parked at Las Vegas-McCarran International Airport. This followed a ransom demand of $2 Million from TWA or they would blow-up the aircraft.
The aircraft was also involved in a ground loop with substantial damage at the Paris airport. This accident occurred May 29, 1964, a few years after the filming of this movie in 1960.
In even more irony, after the TWA 707 was destroyed in the bombing, the registration number was reissued and that aircraft was destroyed in an accident.
Note to self, don't ask for registration N761TW if I get an aircraft.
The film has some damage, a vertical line that runs through parts of the film but is completely watchable.
In NTSC DVD format and region-free with a total run time length of 30 minutes. Please note that because of the age and rarity of these films, quality can vary. Packaged in a clear plastic C-Shell case without paper graphics.
