Aerial Crop Dusting Develops
If the boll weevil insect had not spread from the Mexican area in the early 1890s to devastate the cotton fields of the southern U.S., there might not have been a Delta Air Lines.

When the insect spread to the Mississippi Valley, such a serious economic threat faced the South that the U.S. Bureau of Entomology set up a laboratory in Tallulah, Louisiana, as the base for large-scale cotton insect research in the early 1920s.

What was needed was a method of applying calcium arsenate, a dry powder insecticide, that would be faster and more effective than sprinkling by hand, mule-drawn wagon or tractor. Application by air seemed most practical. From 1918 there were various attempts at aerial crop-dusting. The first successful small experiments came in 1921, when the Ohio Department of Agriculture dusted catalpa trees against moths.

Dr. B.R. Coad, director of the Delta Laboratory in Tallulah, learned of the work in Ohio and was able to obtain a government grant, Army-loaned Curtiss Jennies and De Havilland DH-4s and Army pilots for further aircraft dusting in the Louisiana cotton fields in 1922-1924. A frequent and interested observer of the experiments was C. E. Woolman, a young district agent of the Extension Department of Louisiana State University, aviation enthusiast and future principal founder of Delta Air Lines.

The work of Coad and his team of entomologists and pilots resulted in improved calcium arsenate insecticide, improved aircraft dispensing equipment (insecticide hoppers and agitators) and new application procedures. Crop-dusting become a viable commercial possibility—the first serious development in agricultural aviation.

Huff Daland Dusters
Huff Daland Dusters started operations in 1924 at Macon, Georgia, but a lack of experience and the small number of cotton fields in the area resulted in an unsuccessful first season. Dr. Coad, from the Louisiana government laboratory, suggested that the Dusters move to the area. In 1925, headquarters were established in Monroe, Louisiana.

On May 30, 1925, Woolman left the Agriculture Extension Service to take charge of Huff Daland's entomological work as vice president and field manager. To the company he brought a genial personality, integrity and a stubborn resistance to failure.

The parent company Huff, Daland Manufacturing in New York, built the first planes ever specifically designed for dusting, and the Huff Daland Dusters fleet became the largest privately owned aircraft fleet in the world with 18 planes. The number soon grew to 25 small planes and some larger planes, called "Ton of Dust."

Peruvian Operations
Since the dusting company income sharply decreased after the summer growing season, Huff Daland shifted operations in the winter to the southern hemisphere: Mexico in 1925, and Peru in 1927.

It was in Peru that Woolman was first involved with passenger service by air, when he and operations manager Harold R. Harris successfully secured Peruvian air traffic rights over stiff competition. In an agreement with the financiers of Pan Am, the Huff Daland Dusters' airline and air mail contracts were operated by Peruvian Airways Corporation, a Pan Am subsidiary. Service was inaugurated on September 13, 1928, from Lima to Paita and Talara, with a 6-passenger Fairchild FC-2 flown by Huff Daland Dusters pilot Dan Tobin. Peruvian Airways Corporation was absorbed into Pan American-Grace Airways (Panagra) in 1929.

Delta Air Service
Returning to Monroe in 1928, Woolman found the parent company, Keystone Aircraft (formerly Huff Daland), attempting to sell the dusting division. He quickly aroused the interest of Monroe businessmen who purchased the dusting operations. The new company was named Delta Air Service, and then Delta Air Corporation ("Delta" for the Mississippi Delta region).

D.Y. Smith was the first president and Woolman retained his title of vice president and general manager. Delta sold its South American dusters to a Peruvian firm. U.S. dusting operations continued until 1966, but new undertakings were underway in 1928, with the purchase of three five-passenger, 90-mile-per-hour Travel Air monoplanes.

Passenger Operations
On June 17, 1929, Delta Air Service operated its first passenger flight over a route that stretched from Dallas, Texas, to Jackson, Mississippi, with stops in Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana. As additional planes were delivered from the factory, service was extended eastward to Birmingham, Alabama, and westward to Fort Worth, Texas.

Delta's new activity represented a bold financial venture since the route was operated without benefit of a mail contract, and revenue from airmail was needed to supplement passenger operation expenses.

The year 1930 brought news that the Post Office Department had awarded the badly needed airmail contract for the southern route to a rival airline. Dusting operations were expanded and Dr. Coad joined Delta as chief entomologist.

In 1934, Delta had an opportunity to win back the route it had pioneered as the U.S. Post Office canceled all airmail contracts and called for new bids. Delta's bid won the airmail contract for the route from Fort Worth, Texas, to Charleston, South Carolina, via Atlanta, Georgia. Delta's first airmail flight on July 4, 1934, was flown by Stinson T aircraft. The planes were capable of carrying seven passengers and the mail at speeds of 100 miles per hour. From this point the airlines climb to prominence in air transportation was firmly established.

Future Partners
While Delta was developing its southern route, three other pioneer airlines, each destined to play key roles in Delta's future, were also growing: two in the West and one in the Northeast. Chicago and Southern Airlines (C&S) became part of Delta through a merger in 1953. Northeast Airlines merged with Delta in 1972. Western Airlines merged into Delta in 1987.

Chicago and Southern (C & S) Airlines
Chicago and Southern's founder, Carleton Putnam, began his career in law and politics before discovering aviation. While walking down a New York City street one day, he saw an airplane for sale and bought it. He arranged for flying lessons packaged as a cross-country flight, and by the time he reached California, Putnam had decided to try his hand in the field of air transportation.

Putnam's new airline, Pacific Seaboard Air Lines, made its first flight on June 25, 1933, without benefit of an airmail contract. Flying from Los Angeles along the seaboard route to San Francisco, the airline stopped at Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Paso Robles, Salinas and Monterey, California.

In 1934, the U.S. Post Office's call for new bids on all airmail routes gave Putnam hope for financial stability, and he sought one of these contracts. When his bid for the Chicago-New Orleans route won, he shifted operations to the Mississippi Valley.

Putnam's airline inaugurated mail service between Chicago and New Orleans via Memphis, Tennessee, on June 3, 1934; passengers were first flown on July 13, 1934. In December 1935, the company name changed to Chicago and Southern Airlines.

Northeast Airlines
Meanwhile, Boston and Maine Airways, made its first flight on August 11, 1933, from Boston to Portland and Bangor, Maine, using eight-passenger Stinson T planes. A subsidiary of the Boston and Maine Railroad Company, the carrier's first flights were operated under contract by National Airways whose founders included Paul Collins, one of the country's first airmail pilots; Samuel J. Solomon, a pioneer airport operator; Eugene Vidal, a West Point graduate; and Amelia Earhart, the famed aviatrix.

The first company headquarters were located in a hangar on a hay field at Scarboro, Maine, just south of the Portland Airport. At the end of the winter, a heated hangar became available in Boston, and headquarters were transferred there.

In 1937, Boston and Maine purchased National Airways' assets, including its airmail contract, and in November 1940, the airline was renamed Northeast Airlines.

Western Airlines
Western Air Express was incorporated on July 13, 1925. Harris Hanshue, first president and general manager, and Major Corliss Mosely, vice president and director of operations, bid for the new airmail route from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, Utah, and were granted the route in November 1925. The new airlines first flight took the mail from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City on April 17, 1926.

The first passengers were carried, riding on folding seats in the mail compartment, on May 3, 1926, from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles.

Mail routes were expanded, and in May 1928, new passenger service was added between Los Angeles and San Francisco. On board, passengers were served meals prepared by a posh Los Angeles restaurant. By mid-1930, Western had the largest air system in the world, covering 16,000 miles with 40 aircraft.

Fortunes took a sudden change in 1930 with the passage of the Watres Bill, which forced a merger of the routes of Western and Transcontinental Air Transport. Western was left with only a few routes and the company payroll was cut by two-thirds.

Still, Western kept flying its original Los Angeles to Salt Lake City route. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Western began to regroup by operating in conjunction with United Air Lines as "through" flights. National Park Airways became a part of Western in 1937, expanding the company into the Montana region.

The year 1941 saw Western Air Express change its name to Western Airlines as passengers overtook airmail as Western's primary business.

Delta Moves to Atlanta
The year 1941 also brought a major change at Delta Air Lines as the company's headquarters and maintenance overhaul base moved from Monroe to Atlanta.

World War II
That same year moved the four young airlines--Delta, C&S, Northeast and Western--into World War II and a period when growth slowed, then stopped, as they directed their energies to the war effort. When the fighting was over, the four airlines renewed expansion efforts as their airplanes, personnel and passengers returned from the war.

On October 29, 1945, the Company's name was changed from Delta Air Corporation to Delta Air Lines, Inc.

C & S Merger
Like many airlines in the early 1950s, C&S began to consider the prospect of a merger as a method of expanding its route system. With the complementary character of the Delta and C&S route systems and the fact that both companies shared a common business philosophy, a merger appeared natural. On May 1, 1953, the Civil Aeronautics Board formally transferred the routes of Chicago and Southern to Delta Air Lines.

The years following the merger saw new growth and strengthening of the company's prominence in air transportation.

Jet Leaders: Delta and Northeast

Delta became a jet leader among the world's airlines: the first to introduce the Douglas DC-8 (in 1959), Convair 880 (in 1960) and Douglas DC-9 (in 1965) to passenger service.

While Delta was setting the industry lead in jet service, Northeast, too, was busy introducing jets. In 1959, the airline became one of the first U.S. carriers offering Boeing 707 service when it started jet flights between New York and Miami.

In 1965, Storer Broadcasting Company purchased Northeast, and the next year the carrier acquired a new image as Northeast aircraft became known as "Yellowbirds" because of their new yellow and white exteriors. "Yellowbird" would become a household word in the area served.

Northeast Merger
In the late 1960s, Northeast received several new routes, but its financial problems failed to improve. It was these difficulties that led to the search for a merger partner, and on August 1, 1972, the merger between Delta and Northeast Airlines became effective.

Western Airlines Expands
Meanwhile, Western expanded its route system to the international destinations of Mexico City, Mexico, and Calgary, Canada, in the late 1950s. The airlines jet age arrived in June 1959, when the first Western jet flew from Los Angeles to Seattle, and in July 1969, the long-sought California - Hawaii service began.

Delta Route Expansion and Deregulation
Delta's route system expanded considerably in the 1970s, not only through the Northeast merger, but also through a series of route awards by the Civil Aeronautics Board. Delta's first transatlantic route was inaugurated April 30, 1978, from Atlanta to London.

The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 brought more changes virtually overnight than had been experienced in the entire forty years that the airlines spent under formal government regulation. Delta continued a steady, controlled growth amid the frenzied expansion of some competitors.

Western Merger
For Western, deregulation led to financial difficulties. In early 1984, Western was losing one million dollars a day and its future looked bleak. But by 1985, the airline made nearly a $100 million turnaround.

On September 9, 1986, Delta and Western announced a merger agreement providing for Delta's acquisition of Western. Operations of the two airlines merged on April 1, 1987.

Acquisitions and Alliances
During the decade of the 1990s and into a new century, Delta became a global airline, made important regional and international partnerships and weathered financial challenges.

In 1991, Delta acquired the transatlantic routes of a bankrupt Pan Am and became a major provider of service across the Atlantic. Delta also purchased the Pan Am Shuttle with its frequent service between New York - Boston and New York - Washington, DC.

The Delta Connection program (started in 1984) grew during the 1990s, establishing a nationwide network of regional airlines to support Delta's mainline and hub traffic. In 1999 and 2000 Delta acquired its Connection partners Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) and Comair.

In 2000, Delta offered more choices and flexibility in international travel through SkyTeam, a global alliance that now partners Delta with Aeromexico, Air France, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines, and Korean Air.

Delta celebrates 75 years of experience in 2004
Delta's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Leo Mullin notes: "It is…the strength of the foundation we have laid and the steps we take going forward that provide the best indicator of Delta's future."

In 1929, the company first dedicated itself to "Speed, Safety and Comfort" in service. With a continuing commitment to customer satisfaction, Delta aims to be the best airline in the world today.

Transforming Delta
On Sept. 14, 2005, Delta took a necessary step to secure Delta's future by voluntarily filing to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The decision to file allowed Delta to address the company's financial challenges while reorganizing the company for the long-term. Persistent record-high fuel prices and the aggressive pricing pressures brought on by low-cost carriers outpaced and masked the significant progress Delta had made with their Transformation Plan.

By Summer 2006, Delta will accomplish a major international expansion that positions Delta as the world's No. 1 airline across the Atlantic and the fastest growing U.S. carrier to Latin America and the Caribbean

Historical Highlights

• The five-passenger, 90-mile-per-hour Travel Air launched Delta's passenger service on June 17, 1929.
• In 1940, Delta's first "stewardesses" introduced a new level of customer service.
• Delta pioneered the use of the hub and spoke system in 1955. Planes were scheduled to bring passengers to a hub airport where travelers connected to other Delta flights enroute to destinations far and near.
• Delta entered the jet age in 1959, by beginning the world's first Douglas DC-8 service.
• In one day in 1991, Delta became a major transatlantic carrier by buying Pan Am's Atlantic routes.
• In 1997, Delta became the first airline to board over 2 million passengers in one city (Atlanta, Georgia) in one month.
• As the Official Airline of the Olympic Games in 1996 and 2002, Delta had the honor of carrying the Olympic flame from Greece to the United States.
• Today, Delta is the world's second largest airline in terms of passengers carried and the leading U.S. carrier across the Atlantic.