Our newest exhibition "Handled with Care: 100 Years of Air Cargo" is now open at the Delta Flight Museum in the Jet Age Hangar. The exhibition was created in cooperation with Delta Cargo and takes a look back on how essential cargo operations has been throughout the history of aviation.
Delta Cargo employees celebrate the opening of "Handled with Care"
Before passenger travel became feasible airmail began crossing land and ocean to bring people together. These early efforts led to major improvements in navigation as night flying became essential to keeping airmail moving. As aircraft became larger and moving passengers became possible, early airlines relied on airmail and other shipments to stay in the black.
Delta used the Lockheed L-100 Hercules (model above) exclusively for cargo and aircraft maintenance support from 1966 to 1973. The freight hand controller from a Boeing B-767 is a reminder that with the introduction of wide-body jets, many passenger airlines no longer needed exclusive cargo aircraft.
Delta Cargo introduced DASH® Critical (pink box) to provide customers the ability to ship time sensitive material on the next flight.
While passenger travel has ebbed and flowed with economic upswings and downturns, air cargo has remained a consistent revenue source for airlines including Delta. This exhibition will be on view through April 2019.