Finding Aids

The engineering and research unit of All American Aviation, once the principal feeder airline for the mid-Atlantic region, became the All American Engineering Company in 1953. Their records document the early evolution of All American Aviation, the development of its system of air pick-up service, and its use in postal and military applications.

Cyril C. Thompson (1892-1976) had a long career in the accounting, management and public relations sides of the aviation industry, joining near the beginning of commercial aviation in 1928 and retiring just as the era of commercial jets began. Thompson was as an executive of United Air Lines for eighteen years, and later an airport planner, consultant, and prolific author and speaker. The papers of Cyril C. Thompson consist of a selection of items that he retained as mementos of the different stages of his career, plus materials and drafts for an unpublished biography of Idaho Senator William E. Borah and a never-completed personal history of United Air Lines on which he was working at the time of his death.

Ransome Airlines, Pan Am Express (PAE), and Trans World Express (TWE) are predecessor and successor domestic airline companies. Ransome Airlines was a regional commuter service that operated between 1967 and 1986. Pan American World Airways acquired Ransome Airlines in April 1986 and renamed the company Pan Am Express. It operated domestic routes for the first time in the parent company's history. When Pan American World Airways went bankrupt in 1991, their wholly owned subsidiary was purchased by Trans World Airlines and became Trans World Express. It continued to fly domestic routes until 1995. This collection of Ransome Airlines, Pan Am Express, and Trans World Express records documents the three airlines from the initial establishment, through each transition, to the final dissolution. While not a complete company archive, the records provide a representative and detailed view of high-level operations at Ransome Airlines, PAE, and TWE through the activities of various executives. The collection contains the papers of five company presidents, three directors of finance, two directors of public relations, one director of personnel, one director of planning and administration, and one member of the accounting department. It will be of high research value to aviation historians interested in the effects of deregulation, aircraft acquisitions, financial planning, company mergers and transitions, and bankruptcy. The collection will also interest labor historians involved in collective bargaining research.