Sedona's Celebrity Love Story

With a passion for flight Jack created the first Trans-Continental air service for our vast country, later, with the development of the Lockheed Constellation airliner, the first scheduled Trans-Atlantic air service, and soon after, Round-the-World passenger service. There are few people on this planet who have not been affected by this magnanimous man's vision, for it is he who envisioned the first pressurized modern airliner, designed to fly above inclement weather!

As an avid entrepreneur from the onset, Jack Frye at 18 (1926), bought a half ownership in a struggling air operation venture in Los Angeles California. One year later, he included two partners, Walter A. Hamilton and Paul E. Richter, Jr. This operation eventually became known as Standard Airlines and Aero Corporation, with Jack Frye as president of both.

To list all the associations of Jack Frye would be quite impossible! To give one an inkling, he was inducted into Harvard Business School's 'Twentieth Century Greatest Business Leaders Hall of Fame' (at just 1000 inductees). Frye is certainly well-placed having exercised phenomenal business connections and accomplishments in a very short life of just 54 years! On June 20, 1992, William John Frye received his highest posthumous honor as inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame at Dayton Ohio (a black-tie affair attended by 1000 guests). As one of the greatest commercial aviation legends in our country, this high-flying entrepreneur is now listed alongside his friends and peers at this world-famous 'Hall of Fame'.

Image shows TWA President Frye at a press conference exhibiting his vison and proposed inauguration of TWA's new round-the-world service, borne of his design, service which was only possible with the Lockheed Constellation 049. This, truly, was the pinnacle of TWA  reigning supreme as the world's premier passenger airline, a monumental milestone indeed! (Image captured at Frye's TWA office at the Airline Terminal 80 East 42nd Street, NYC., furnished in 'TWA-Red' leather furniture (which matched the color of lettering on TWA's fleet). October 11, 1944

Helen Frye, truly a remarkable woman, married Jack Frye at the onset of the 1940's and was to witness the years in which TWA really matured as a world airline. Jack had just brought his friend Howard Hughes online (1939) after which TWA enjoyed a seemingly endless flow of capital. A time-period appropriately coined the 'Camelot Years of TWA', the beloved airline truly soared!

Jack and Helen Frye were one of the first 'power couples' in a time when wives were expected to be seen and not heard! Standing solidly beside her husband (not behind him) Helen offered support and an innate knowledge of execution. Helen Frye, however, was much more than a social figurehead. Previously married to a direct descendant of one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in American history she gained much experience observing an exclusive 'man's world' of money, power, and business. At the side of Jack Frye, one of the nation's most powerful and influential corporate leaders, Helen was an invaluable asset and was treated accordingly by Jack Frye and Howard Hughes.

Stunning image of Mrs. Jack Frye (1943) with her two nieces (Sisty & Sheryl) at Clarksburg West Virginia. Helen and Jack at this timeframe were truly 'Mr. & Mrs. TWA'. Helen would later state to the press that at the end of her tenue as Mrs. Jack Frye that she became exhausted with all the wining, dining, and entertaining expected of her for TWA and would often escape to their Sedona Ranch to recharge, with or without her over-worked husband. In this image, the Frye's flew out to W.V. to see Helen's family via Jack's TWA Lockheed Electra Jr. 12A NC18137, (per Helen's family).

(Right to Left) Irma Protzmann Hannegan (wife of Robert Hannegan U.S. Postmaster General &  Chairman of Democratic National Committee), Kathryn Murphy Nunan (wife of Joseph D.  Nunan Jr. Internal Revenue Commissioner), President of TWA, Jack Frye & wife Helen Varner Vanderbilt Frye, & Harriet Appelwick (Frye TWA Lockheed Lodestar V.I.P. Hostess) doorway, others unknown. Image was taken at the deplaning of a flight with Jack and Helen Frye, the aircraft shown is TWA Lockheed Lodestar NC33604. Location was likely Washington D.C. (Washington National Airport) DCA. The circumstances are not known, another flight close to this timeframe was in connection with a Democratic junket (vacation) the Fryes took to Florida with Robert Hannegan (Chairman of the Democratic National Committee) and his wife Irma. The passengers shown are some of the most politically connected of the Roosevelt administration. Jack, too, was one of the most powerful men of the Democratic Party in the 1940's and 1950’s (Roosevelt and Truman administrations). Further exploration can be found on page ' TWA Lockheed Lodestar 18 NC33604'. The Lodestar could board 14 passengers with 3 crew members (1945) 

"A long time ago in a decidedly different time, over the spires of Sedona a silver airship climbed. Banking, dropping, low to the ground, Jack and Helen Frye had found their little town. Property rugged, too rough to land, they both vowed to return as soon as they can. Return they did, with maps in hand, staking their claim to this most beautiful land. A vision, Jack and Helen willed, became the House of Apache Fires which took years to build. On the Wings of the Wind, Jack and Helen Frye came, Smoke Trail Ranch they soon tamed. These two celebrities, travelers from afar, in the end, became Sedona's First Celebrity Stars!"

Whenever Jack was at the Sedona Ranch or anywhere else in the country his life was consumed with the operation and responsibility of TWA. On his shoulders rested the safety of thousands of airline passengers and the management of the many employees, all of which enabled TWA to flourish and succeed! Jack was a rancher at heart, a lover of nature and rural living, yet his career with TWA consumed his life, his beloved Sedona only enjoyed in stolen moments. Jack & Helen Frye (shown) at Smoke Trail Ranch Sedona, ready to be driven to the private Frye airship at Cornville where they would board Jack's executive plane TWA Lockheed Electra Jr. 12A, NC18137 for perhaps L.A, Kansas City, Washington D.C., or N.Y.C.