TWA Corporate Headquarters' Building - TWA Moonliner II

TWA Moonliner II

During TWA's heyday, its corporate headquarters building was easily identified by the 22-foot-tall (6.7 m) TWA Moonliner II rocket that stood on the roof's southwest corner. It was modeled after the original 76-foot-tall (23 m), one-third scale TWA Moonliner at Disneyland's Tomorrowland attraction; TWA was the Moonliner's corporate sponsor until 1962. Their replica Moonliner II was then removed from the building's roof by the airline's new owners, shortly after Howard Hughes sold his controlling interest in the airline. The iconic rocket was then sold to SpaceCraft, a Kansas City, MO travel-trailer company.

When SpaceCraft moved to Concordia, MO in 1970, the by then all-white Moonliner II moved with them. It continued to slowly fall into disrepair for another 25 years while sitting at their campground facility, located just south of Interstate 70 between Kansas City and St. Louis. The deteriorated rocket replica was then sold and painstakenly restored, down to its original red and white TWA markings, by its new owner, a longtime Disney collector. TWA's Moonliner II is now on display at Kansas City's National Airline History Museum located at the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport; at this location, the restored rocket stands about five miles (8 km) from its original TWA roof-top location.

The historic restoration of the TWA headquarters building led to the fabrication of a brand new Moonliner II replica begun in March 2006 by the Kansas City office of the Bratton Corporation. The completed replica was installed on September 29 of that year at the same southwest corner roof location as the original.