web-catalog        Post DeRegulation Air Mail First Flights         Delta Air Lines

Aerodacious (Aviation + Audacious = Aerodacious) eMail: Aerodacious Page US011Delta (Revised 01/26/2008)

Background: The Airline Deregulation Act took effect of December 1, 1978. The main purpose of the Act was to remove government control from commercial aviation and expose the passenger airline industry to market forces. This Act changed the face of civil aviation in the US. Air Mail would continue to be carried by Air Carriers but the old system of CAM and FAM routes would evolve into Air Mail flown by individual US airlines to both domestic and foreign destinations.

        Huff Daland Dusters was founded in 1924 in Macon GA by several partners including Collett E Woolman becoming the world's first aerial crop dusting company. Huff Daland Dusters moved to Monroe LA in 1925. In 1928 HDD was purchased by CE Woolman and renamed Delta Air Service after the Mississippi Delta. In 1929 Delta operated passenger flights over a route stretching from Dallas TX to Jackson MS. This route system was expanded to Atlanta GA in 1930 and DAS was renamed the Delta Air Corporation.

         This lasted to 1934 when DAC was again re-named to become Delta Air Lines. A year later DAL offered the first night service flying a Stinson Model A and became the first airline to fly an aircraft with two pilots. In 1941 DAL moved its headquarters from Monroe LA to Atlanta GA. DAL was awarded AM-54 and on July 15, 1941 began flight service between Atlanta GA and Cincinnati OH.

McDonnell Douglas DC-9

DL-D3W	790615	Atlanta GA	Delta Air Lines	SL Leffingwell	$3.00
DL-D3Wf	790615	Atlanta GA	Delta Air Lines	SL Leffingwell	$3.00
DL-D4E	790615	Austin TX	Delta Air Lines	SL Leffingwell	$3.00

Lockheed L-1011

DL-F5	790617	Atlanta GA-Frankfurt Germany	Delta Air Lines	Ray Bonnell & Ron Rice	$3.00
DL-F5f	790617	Atlanta GA-Frankfurt Germany	Delta Air Lines	Ray Bonnell & Ron Rice	$3.00

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