According to TWA’s historical accounts, Kansas City’s former hometown airline first transported a pope in 1965, when it flew Pope Paul VI roundtrip from Rome to New York to address the United Nations.
Riddle recalls that in 1979, TWA outmaneuvered Pan-American for the right to fly Pope John Paul II back to Rome from the United States after the first of his seven trips here.
That was good publicity for TWA. But it was bad news for Riddle and his union colleagues at TWA’s overhaul base near Kansas City International Airport.
They were given just three days to build a bed and other accoutrements for the overnight flight to Rome. To make the pontiff comfortable, TWA converted a first-class lounge area on one of its 747s into a bedroom.
Riddle and his colleagues built a bed frame to sit on the tracks of seats removed from the plane. They made a mattress of foam and a seat belt for the bed. “I always made the comment that the pope didn’t have a seat belt, he had a bed belt,†Riddle says.
They made and upholstered a headboard and footboard, and sewed gray curtains that hung around the bed for privacy. They even made the sheets — percale — and a cotton chenille comforter.
They built a footstool. And they took a table out of a 707 and covered it with vinyl for the pope to use for his meals and writing.
The first time Riddle visited the museum to see the bed, a volunteer started giving him the lowdown on its history. “I said, ‘Honey, I know the whole story,’ †Riddle says.
After the 1979 flight, the bed sat in a warehouse for years. But TWA agreed to donate it after the museum learned about it.
The bed didn’t stay put very long, though, before TWA needed it back for a second papal flight. The airline packed up the bed and took it away. When TWA brought it back, it sent back more than just the bed, curator Adrienne Nastav says.
The Pope Room includes menus from the flights, John Paul’s toothbrush and toothpaste, and a vase with three yellow roses and three white carnations — his favorite flowers.
His last visit to the United States was in January 1999, and Linn Kalahurka of the Northland remembers it well. She was a TWA flight attendant when the airline took the pope back to Rome.
The crew spent two days in training learning about the pontiff’s security procedures, how to address him — “Holy Father†— and what he liked to eat. She remembers that he was a breakfast man and liked eggs.
Crew members brought rosaries and Bibles for the pope to bless. Kalahurka had him bless a cross, which now hangs in her home.
“It was hard for me to believe that I was with the Holy Father,†says Kalahurka, a member of St. Therese parish in the Northland. “I remember standing there thinking ‘I can’t believe this.’ â€
TWA dubbed itself the “official papal charter.†It called its specially configured jets Shepherd I.
And TWA?
That stood for Traveling With Angels.
