Trans World Airlines

She was known as The Spirit of Long Beach. N984TW was the last MD ever produced, delivered to TWA 20 years ago. Today she flies her final revenue flight. A thread.

She started life with Air France in 1976 and joined our fleet as N129TW in 1996, then went into storage at Marana in early 1997. Still out there in the Arizona desert. Great shot shared by @n194at, photo by Atamvir. #FlyTWA

Fort Lauderdale, April 27, 2000. Our 757-231 N726TW on the ramp in globe livery. She was delivered new to us in November 1999 and moved over to American with the merger in 2001. Photo: Ken Fielding, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons #FlyTWA

Our TriStar N31013 at Boston, July 1991. She joined us in 1973 and stayed in the fleet into the mid-'90s. Beautiful catch from @lemwerdersights. #FlyTWA

Los Angeles, December 7, 1982. Our 707-331B N8732 climbing out of 24L, a Pan Am TriStar rolling behind her. Anybody else still hear that StarStream roar when a jet rolls past? She joined us in 1969 and later gave her parts to the KC-135 program. Photo: Ted Quackenbush, GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons #FlyTWA

Chicago O'Hare, July 1973. Our L-1011 TriStar N31009, two months after she joined our fleet, wearing the original twin-globe look on her tail. She flew for us for 20 years before moving on to Air Ops in 1993. Photo: Jon Proctor, GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons #FlyTWA

Our 767-300ER N691LF taxiing at Miami on April 25, 2000. She began life with Condor in 1991, joined us in February 1994, and stayed until the American merger in 2001. Did you ever fly with us out of Miami? Photo: Ken Fielding, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons #FlyTWA

A great look at one of our MD-80s at LAX in 1994. By the '90s the MD-80 family was the workhorse of our domestic fleet, with much of it flying out of our St. Louis hub. Thanks for sharing, @n194at! #FlyTWA

Athens, June 1985. Our Boeing 747SP-31 N57203 holding short at Hellinikon. The SP was a shortened, longer-range 747, and we flew three of them from 1980 until they joined American Airlines in 1986. #FlyTWA

St. Louis, July 2001. Our Boeing 717-231 N420TW on the ramp at Lambert. The 717 was the last new airplane type to join our fleet, and it carried our globe livery through our final year. Did you ever fly with us on a 717? #FlyTWA

Our Moonliner II, restored and standing at the National Airline History Museum in Kansas City. From 1956 it sat atop our Kansas City headquarters, a 22-foot little sister to the 76-foot TWA Moonliner in Disneyland's Tomorrowland, which imagined a trip to the Moon in the far-off year of 1986. #FlyTWA

Chicago O'Hare, September 1959. Passengers board our Lockheed L-1649A Starliner N7316C, our "Jetstream." The Starliner was the last and longest-legged Constellation, built to fly nonstop across the Atlantic. #FlyTWA

Paris, July 1987. Our Boeing 727-31 N859TW "Star of Paris" at Charles de Gaulle. Our 727s worked routes across the U.S. and Europe for decades, and that tri-jet sound was unmistakable. #FlyTWA

Boston, August 1990. Our MD-82 N954U taxiing past the harbor. The MD-80s were the backbone of our domestic flying in the '90s, with many of them working out of St. Louis. Did you ever connect through St. Louis with us? #FlyTWA

Our TWA Flight Center at Idlewild opened in May 1962, just months after Eero Saarinen passed away, so he never saw his masterpiece finished. Thanks to @vittok for sharing this beauty. #FlyTWA

Loading up our Douglas DC-1 "City of Los Angeles" around 1934. Douglas built just one DC-1, and they built it for us. It led straight to the DC-2 and DC-3. #FlyTWA

Our Northrop Alpha NC11Y, still gleaming at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. In the early 1930s these sleek all-metal Alphas carried our airmail coast to coast. #FlyTWA

April 1957. Passengers board our Martin 2-0-2A N93212 on a rainy ramp. Our twin-engine Martins kept smaller cities connected to the TWA network through the 1950s. #FlyTWA

LaGuardia, August 1973. Our Douglas DC-9-14 N1051T, one of the very first DC-9s ever built, ready for another quick hop. Did you ever fly with us on a DC-9? #FlyTWA

Columbus, Ohio, 1940. Our Douglas DC-3 being readied for takeoff, with the ground crew in their whites and a TWA fuel truck standing by. Port Columbus had been part of our story since our first coast-to-coast air-rail service in 1929. #FlyTWA

September 1959, and our Lockheed L-1649A Jetstream N7316C at the gate. The last and longest-range member of the Constellation family, she flew our passengers nonstop across the Atlantic in style. #FlyTWA