In 1958 Delta launched a comprehensive airport and in-flight experience for customers on select first class Royal Service Douglas DC-7 flights serving Atlanta, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, New Orleans, New York, Houston, Baltimore, Chicago, Miami, Caracas, Havana, Montego Bay, St. Louis and Memphis.
New amenities on Delta's Royal Service luxury flights included three flight attendants (instead of the usual two) for the "finest and the swiftest service available," complimentary champagne, choice of entrées at mealtime or canapés and cocktails in the afternoon, and Muzak tape recordings played during boarding. However, our favorite amenity of Royal Service were the kiddie wings.
Above is an example from our collection of the first Junior Stewardess Wings Delta presented to young girls in 1958. Delta's kiddie wings have changed over the years but nothing beats the original! The first iterations were stamped metal.
The introduction of the Delta Widget in 1959 saw the kiddie wings change slightly to help incorporate it. Eventually the kiddie wings went from stamped metal to a molded plastic.
For a short time, Delta discontinued kiddie wings for stickers, but kiddie wings returned in 2010, now featuring the Red Widget logo. The latest version of Delta kiddie wings (shown above) was introduced in 2019.
Let's take a look at some other kiddie wings from Delta's family of airlines!
Northeast Airlines
Love the pilgrim logo!
Western Airlines
Looking good, Western!
West Coast Airlines
A rare kiddie wing from WCA!
Northwest Airlines
How about that NWA kiddie half-wing!
North Central Airlines, Southern Airways, and Republic
What a family!
Pan Am
Pan Am always has style!
National Airlines
The Sun King logo is one of the best!
These are just a few of our favorite kiddie wings and you can see more in our online collections. Please share any of yours in the comments! We would love to see them!
Austin Coleman
Registrar