Post-War Stearmans Replace Earlier Dusters
When Delta's headquarters moved to Atlanta in 1941, the crop-dusting operations stayed based in Monroe, Louisiana. The Dusting Division contributed to World War II efforts on the Home Front: dusting food and cotton crops, and also mosquito breeding areas to prevent malaria near military bases and war plants.
"During the war years, we dusted more than ever because there was national food problem, and the economy needed food and cotton. The Dusting Division had an 'A' priority on anything including pilots."
Gene Berry, 1965
After the war, Delta acquired surplus military Boeing Stearman PT-17 planes and converted them for crop-dusting work. Boeing Stearmans gradually replaced the older Huff Daland Dusters.
By December 1954, Delta's Agricultural Division (the renamed Dusting Division) owned 31 Boeing Stearmans and 2 Huff Daland Dusters.
Delta stopped dusting in 1966, and sold its dusting operations in 1967.
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