SeniorDispatcher:
As an aside, you may find it ironic that TWA was the airline that I always wanted to work for. Attending Jr. HS in Overland Park in the late 1960s, myself and another student arranged a career day field trip to TWA’s sims that (at the time) were located downtown, across the river from MKC. In fact, my folks were renting a house owned by a TWA pilot who was flying freighters over in Saudi. Dave Meyer..something, IIRC…
The sims and the ground schools for pilots and flight attendants were in an old building at 1301 Baltimore Avenue that TWA rented for $800 per month in perpetuity. That was the way it was when I started in January, 1964. Several years later the simulators moved out to MCI and the flight attendant training moved to Overland Park.
I was based at MKC for my first captain assignment on the DC-9 for part of 1967 and 68, then I returned to LAX. My then-wife and I lived in Mission, KS. I didn't know it at the time but the (in)famous Dr. Phil was a high school student right down the street in, I believe, Merriam (sp?)
For my first 8, or so, years TWA had dispatch in LAX, MKC, and JFK. So, I interacted with both LAX and MKC dispatch on a regular in-person basis in those days. One of them at LAX was outstanding and quite helpful. The others were just there.
The senior vice president of flight ops was Ed Frankum, aka "The Black Knight."
TWA was a great airline until the bankers took over and formed Trans World Corporation. Then, the slide downhill began, at first ever so slowly. TWA was bigger than AAL before the bankers took over and almost as big as UAL. They could have grown, but the bankers used the airline as a cash cow for other ventures.