User:Madduxinc/sandbox

John Luther Maddux (July 15, 1888 - July 27, 1937) was a luxury car dealer, business executive, aviation pioneer and inventor. On June 15, 1927, he announced plans in the NY Times "for a $10,000,000 air passenger line linking San Francisco, Los Angeles, El Paso, St. Louis and probably Mexico City, operating Ford tri-motored, all-metal twelve-passenger planes.”  He eventually acquired the largest fleet in aviation, which later became TWA.

Early Life
Born in Anniston, Alabama, “Jack” Maddux was the son of James and Mary Maddux and one of six children. In 1900, he and his family traveled across the country and became part owners of a garage in Berkeley, California When not working as a mechanic, Maddux was an early professional race car driver. In 1917, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy as a submariner and went off to fight for his country in “The Great War.”

Maddux Airlines
The Maddux Airline's inaugural flight was on September 22, 1927. The airline's Ford 4-AT Tri-motor airplane carried 12 passengers from San Diego to Los Angeles, California. By 1927, Maddux Airlines had carried 1400 passengers. In 1928, Maddux started passenger service from Los Angeles to San Francisco with scheduled stops in Oakland, Fresno, Visalia and Bakersfield. Service also began from San Diego to Agua Caliente, Tijuana, in Mexico, in November. 9440 passengers were transported that year and over a million miles were flown.

In February 1929, passenger service to Phoenix, Arizona began. Other local short-hop flights were also added. On August 26, 1929 a Maddux Tri-motor, along with other aircraft, escorted the famous LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin airship to Mines Field (now Los Angeles International Airport) when it stopped there during its around the world flight. Maddux eventually hired and trained personnel to maintain, service and fly a large airline, as well as building a network of ticketing, baggage handling, and way stations across the United States before merging with Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) in 1929. In 1930, TAT-Maddux merged with its former competitor Western Air Express to form Transcontinental & Western Air (T&WA), which later became TWA.