Pre-Delta Airline Years
The name Delta is traced back to Telulah, LA in 1909 as an agricultural lab, the Delta Lab. Scientists were working on a control for boll weevil insects that were attacking cotton crops across the Mississippi Delta. The entomologist Dr. B.R. Coad was hired by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to head the Delta Lab and was assisted by C.E. Woolman. Woolman was a young college graduate of the University of Illinois who had been hired by the USDA through the Extension Office of Louisiana State University (LSU). In 1916 Dr. Coad and Woolman created a dry powder made of lead arson that appeared to be a defense against the boll weevil. This was a huge accomplishment but they needed a technique for spreading …show more content…
The number soon exceeded 25 planes including the larger ones called Ton of Dust planes. In 1928, Woolman, with the financial backing of D.Y. Smith, purchased the Huff Daland Dusters Division, changing the name to Delta Air Service. The name Delta derived from the Mississippi River delta and their company secretary, Ms. Catherine Fitzgerald suggested this name. She later became an executive for the company. D.Y. Smith became the first President of Delta Air Service and C.E. Woolman kept his position of Vice President and General Manager. Also in 1928, the crop dusting in Peru became a dangerous operation due to the eruption of the revolution. They sold their crop dusting planes to revolutionaries to be used as military planes. He also sold the airmail route to the Pan American Grace forming the nucleus of the Panagra Corporation. Woolman purchased three, five passenger monoplanes and secured the inaugural passenger service from Love Field in Dallas, Texas to Jackson, Mississippi with stops in Shreveport and Monroe, Lousiana. Later in the year, they also secured routes to Birmingham, Alabama, Meridian, Mississippi and Fort Worth, Texas. Although they had been growing, Delta had to suspend passenger airline services due to lack of ability to secure a Commercial Airmail Contract in 1930. Without this contract, the company could not afford to continue passenger flights only. This was a huge setback, they decided to expand the dusting operation, and Dr. Coed joined the team as the Chief Entomologist. After the numerous airmail scandals and the post office canceled all airmail contracts, Congress enacted the Airmail Act of 1934. This enabled them to obtain a low-bid airmail contract from Fort Worth, Texas to Charleston, South Carolina via Atlanta, the Capital City of Georgia. With this contract,
The name Delta is traced back to Telulah, LA in 1909 as an agricultural lab, the Delta Lab. Scientists were working on a control for boll weevil insects that were attacking cotton crops across the Mississippi Delta. The entomologist Dr. B.R. Coad was hired by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to head the Delta Lab and was assisted by C.E. Woolman. Woolman was a young college graduate of the University of Illinois who had been hired by the USDA through the Extension Office of Louisiana State University (LSU). In 1916 Dr. Coad and Woolman created a dry powder made of lead arson that appeared to be a defense against the boll weevil. This was a huge accomplishment but they needed a technique for spreading …show more content…
The number soon exceeded 25 planes including the larger ones called Ton of Dust planes. In 1928, Woolman, with the financial backing of D.Y. Smith, purchased the Huff Daland Dusters Division, changing the name to Delta Air Service. The name Delta derived from the Mississippi River delta and their company secretary, Ms. Catherine Fitzgerald suggested this name. She later became an executive for the company. D.Y. Smith became the first President of Delta Air Service and C.E. Woolman kept his position of Vice President and General Manager. Also in 1928, the crop dusting in Peru became a dangerous operation due to the eruption of the revolution. They sold their crop dusting planes to revolutionaries to be used as military planes. He also sold the airmail route to the Pan American Grace forming the nucleus of the Panagra Corporation. Woolman purchased three, five passenger monoplanes and secured the inaugural passenger service from Love Field in Dallas, Texas to Jackson, Mississippi with stops in Shreveport and Monroe, Lousiana. Later in the year, they also secured routes to Birmingham, Alabama, Meridian, Mississippi and Fort Worth, Texas. Although they had been growing, Delta had to suspend passenger airline services due to lack of ability to secure a Commercial Airmail Contract in 1930. Without this contract, the company could not afford to continue passenger flights only. This was a huge setback, they decided to expand the dusting operation, and Dr. Coed joined the team as the Chief Entomologist. After the numerous airmail scandals and the post office canceled all airmail contracts, Congress enacted the Airmail Act of 1934. This enabled them to obtain a low-bid airmail contract from Fort Worth, Texas to Charleston, South Carolina via Atlanta, the Capital City of Georgia. With this contract,