Jack Frye
William John "Jack" Frye (March 18, 1904 – February 3, 1959) was an aviation pioneer in the airline industry. Frye founded Standard Air Lines which eventually took him into a merger with Trans World Airlines (TWA). Frye is credited for turning TWA into a world-class airline during his tenure as president from 1934 to 1947. He was called "The Flying President" among his peers. At age 24, he was and to this day the youngest airline executive of all time.
For the baseball player, see Jack Frye (baseball).
Jack Frye
March 18, 1904
February 3, 1959 (aged 54)
TWA president (1934–1947)
Airline Pioneer
Daughter - Nevajac Frye, b: 1953
Early life[edit]
Frye was born in Sweetwater, Oklahoma on March 18, 1904, to cattle ranchers William and Nellie Frye.[1][2] He had a younger brother, Donald, and a younger sister, Ople.[3] 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.[4][5] In 1922, Frye left for California with his brother Don.[1]
Marriage[edit]
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.[1]
Later life[edit]
After a dispute with Hughes in 1946, Frye resigned as president of TWA on February 21, 1947.[17] 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,[18] and its subsidiaries General Dyestuffs Corporation,[19] and Ansco.[20] Frye remained President of General Aniline until 1955, when the Eisenhower administration unwound these holdings through the Office of Alien Property Custodian.[21]
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,[22][23] if Frye could find financing. Ernst Zindel, who designed the Junkers Ju 52, was retained as an assistant. However, the project was cancelled.[24]
Death and honors[edit]
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.[1] 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.[25] 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.[26] In 2006, Frye was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame[27] at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.[28] Frye was elected into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1992.[10]
In Martin Scorsese's 2004 biopic of Howard Hughes, The Aviator, Frye was portrayed by actor Danny Huston.[29]