Delta Airlines

Delta Airlines

Who would have thought that a major airline of today could contribute it's success to Boll Weevil insects that decimated the cotton fields of the south. Some say there would not have been a Delta Airlines at all if it were not for the Boll Weevil infestation of the early 1920's. Even the name came from the Mississippi Delta where the Boll Weevil's plagued many cotton fields. According to the book Delta Airlines by Jones, C.E. Woolman was the assistant district agent working for the U.S. Department of agriculture's bureau of Entomology laboratory in Tullulah, Louisiana. Woolman was an agricultural engineering graduate from the University of Illinois and could be categorized as an aviation enthusiast. Along with Dr. B.R. Coad, Woolman developed a promising weapon against the insect but needed a more efficient means to spread it across a vast area. Congress gave the researchers a small grant that allowed them to acquire two ex-US Army Curtiss Jenny Aircraft. However, it was not until 1923 that things started to happen for the two researchers. A man by the name of George Post, a New York Businessman from Huff-Daland Airplanes, Inc. was flying south when he was forced to land because of mechanical problems with his airplane. He landed in Tullulah and discovered Coad and Woolman's experimental dusting operation. He considered this to be a commercial opportunity he could not pass up. After convincing management, the Huff-Daland Dusters started at Macon, Georgia, in 1924. However, there was not much success so the operation moved to Monroe Louisiana. From Monroe, the business quickly grew but it was only seasonal so Wollman decided to diversify and set up operations in Peru. It was while in Peru that Woolman and his company secured South American airmail rights to fly between Peru and Ecuador. This was when Woolman first appreciated the possible value of a passenger service in 1927. When back in Monroe, Woolman secured some private financing from private businessmen and started his own Aviation Company. Delta's first aircraft were three five passenger Travel Air 4000s. On March 15, 1940, Delta added it's third crewmember, the Stewardess, to its air service on the DC-2 Aircraft. In 1941, Delta moved its general offices and overhaul base from Monroe to Atlanta. Through the years Delta merged with Northwestern and Western Airlines to become one of the largest airlines in the world.