on september 20, 1932, the development contract was signed with douglas aircraft company and the douglas dc-1 was delivered to twa in december 1933, the sole example of its type. on february 18, 1934, frye (pilot) and eastern air lines' head eddie rickenbacker (co-pilot), flew the dc-1 from glendale, california, to newark, new jersey, setting a transcontinental record of 13 hours and 4 minutes. on april 17, frye was elected president of twa. throughout 1934, tommy tomlinson set further load and distance records with the dc-1. at the same time, twa used its northrop gamma as an "experimental overweather laboratory", in a desire to fly at altitudes above the weather.