Happy Memorial Day
Did Air National Guardman Freddy Trump Jr. fly to the Middle East?
Happy Memorial Day my dear substackers! I hope this Memorial Day contains reminiscence of the American troops you have known, and cherished.
This weekend, President Trump’s son Don Jr. is getting married. The nuptials bring up coverage of President Trump’s family. President Trump has four siblings. His eldest brother is the late Freddy Trump Jr., who surfaces in presidential speeches as one of the president’s inspirations. In a 2016 interview with Vanity Fair, President Trump credited his brother for his own habits:
Every day he lectured me, 'Look at the mess I'm in. If I ever catch you smoking, you'll be sorry, drinking even a glass of booze because you'll like it too much.' ...Freddy did a good job.
Freddy was the eldest son of Fred Trump III and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump. Pushed into the New York real estate business, Freddy rebelled against his father’s wishes and chose to fly. Entering the Air National Guard, Freddy made second lieutenant. He was a skilled and accomplished pilot, flying for Trans World Airlines (“TWA”).
TWA was a successful, risk-taking enterprise. They chose American manufacturers and workers even if their products were untested:
In 1946, TWA introduced the first of its new Lockheed Constellations on its transcontinental New York to Los Angeles route, an aircraft renowned for its speed and comfort. Indeed, TWA Constellation services were seen as offering a far superior experience to that of United Airlines, which continued to use the slower and noisier Douglas DC-4s. That same year, TWA began transatlantic operations for the first time, operating between New York City and Paris, France.
The Boeing 747 jumbo jet was also a gamble by TWA. No one had chosen this super jet for commercial travel before, instead relying on trusted McDonell Douglas aircraft preferred by the U.S. military. This gamble paid off. In July 1969, TWA officially replaced New York archrival Pan Am as the world’s number-one transatlantic airline.
When Freddy Trump Jr. flew for TWA, he was flying into major Middle Eastern cities renowned for their tourism throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Bahrain International Airport and Iraq’s Basra International Airport are both on the TWA itinerary. Did Trump Jr. fly to both? If he did, he would have encountered the complex world of Middle Eastern politics. Bahrain, for example, was arguably an extension of Iran until 1969. Farsi is still spoken in Bahrain.
These airports - Bahrain International and Basra International - are full of history. They reflect a myriad of people, who struggled for independence and won. They may be pinpoints on a map to us, or to TWA, or to rich and powerful lobbies. But they have been visited and enjoyed by Americans, including American pilots. They do not deserve to be destroyed in pointless wars.