Happy Birthday to us! 80 years young today. We’ve come a long way over the past 80 years (we’ve even come a long way over the past year!).
And now thanks to our very own Archives Manager Marie Force, you can follow Delta’s rich company history, from our beginnings as a crop-dusting operation, our first headquarters in Monroe, Louisiana, how we coined our name “Delta”, stories from our first flight attendants, info on our prop planes from the early days, and more.
To help us celebrate, check out the below pictorial history of Delta Air Lines Flight Attendants from YouTube user CruzerToo for more great images of our flight attendants over the years. Thanks, CruzerToo!
And check out the pdf link to our 80 year family tree in the comments below.
Pass the cake!
Katie
Delta Blog
June 17th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Happy 80th Birthday, Delta Air Lines!!!
June 18th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Happy Birthday Delta!!
June 18th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Thanks, Chris M. and Darien Red Sox! There is a pretty cool “family tree” of our mergers over the past 80 years that I’ll try to post soon also. Stay tuned!
June 18th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Katie: Interested, I clicked on the “company history” link… and from there another link about company slogans over time. Hmm…. that page is now five YEARS out-of-date. Time to tell the content manager that Delta has now been flying for 80… not 75 years.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Lars-Erik, great catch! Our content developer was able to update this page last night after seeing your comment. Check it out and many thanks!
Also - Here’s the high res link to the 80 year family tree as promised.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Happy Birthday DELTA AIR LINES !!!!
I have been loving to fly DELTA since 1975 when my SAV–ATL-DFW=AUS trip- the ATL-DFW was N9997 wide-ride 747 service.
Bad Tstorms that day in the South and the “stewardess” from the 727 flt from SAV to ATL felt sorry for Mom and I ( last seat in smoking section)
Well we had the Penthouse upper deck all to ourselves and about 8 crew members wined and dined Mom, full hot meal with fillet ….I was in 2nd grade, so more into checking out the entire plane, and toy model 727 the pilot gave me in SAV. Full meal service in coach also - I wandered downstairs to walk the entire plane……and had another “stewardess” give me a private tour of the main galley w/ elevator to the “basement” kitchen. I couldn’t go down there but got to stand in the door and even to a 2nd grader it was tight! plus I was feeling bumps and got nervous- I was given a tall ginger all, chocolate cake, a coloring book while 2 crew members sat me down one helped me color while the other held my had.
We hit some bad storms and the plane dropped - carts hit the top of R4 Door and another “stewardess” fell who was trying to get every last pax served their hot meal ! I was so scared but was assured I’m safer in this modern airplane than being in my house, that and the goodies , claiming into blue Texas skies, and all the attention, I was soon heading back upstairs to tell Mom- ” you gotta check out the back part”
. I still have postcards from the seat pockets. That was my first 747 and first wide-body flight - next summer we flew on N601BN to HNL the legendary “orange pumpkin”. ..growing up a Braniffbrat - I always wanted to fly Delta again…….later in life…living in Atlanta I really got my chance. and now I’d love to fly Branif International again. Delta gave me …DC9s 727-2, DC-8 -stretches,, DC10s (half in Western livery) L10 Tristars in all versions, one of the first 767 flights ATL = EWR on “spirit of DL” and of course the rest of the fleet. Now I have to fly the 747-400 in Delta colors…..or even see one land in ATL
Thank you for always being ready when I have been, for all the great memories of top notch Royal Medallion service flights with whole center rows to lay down in, usually a empty seat next to me in coach, for the whole can of Dusty’s Punch, and even some second meals if left over, and the can of Bud in an airsick bag- while in the last row on an oversold, delayed , retirement flight TPA-ATL L1011 that i cleared wait list for… “fast break” service (orange, water or Sprite only and the back t cabin didn’t get service due to turbulence and our final for landing bells. I can list more DL “above and beyond ” experiences.
I hope to be on a DL flight down to ATL with a bag full of history real soon to share with DL!!
June 19th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Happy belated birthday Delta.
I missed out on purchasing the cool family tree and the 80th poster that was on sale at DeltaShop.com, is there any way you can make them available again? I didn’t realize it was a limited offer…
June 21st, 2009 at 7:39 am
Katie,
Thanks for posting my Special Flight Attendant Tribute on the Delta Blog. Putting this tribute together was a lobor of love.
Retired Captain Ron Stowe aka CruzerToo
June 22nd, 2009 at 12:47 am
Happy Birthday.
Is there a PDF of the chart available? Too tiny to read it all in the image posted.
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:08 am
braniffbud, great memories. Thank you for sharing!
SAN767DL, Thanks for the bday wishes. Try this link at DeltaShop.com for custom orders. Good luck!
CruzerToo, It’s our pleasure. Thank you for sharing your video with us all!
HWGeek, sure! See my previous comment here and let me know if you have any issues.
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Thanks Katie, missed it in your previous post.
July 10th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Katie,
It is wonderful to now see the DNA of my other favorite airline in history, North Central, with Herman the mallard duck, in the same family tree as Delta. Remember, any DC-9 in the Delta fleet bearing the letters NC at the back of the registration number is a former North Central aircraft. Is Delta considering heritage liveries at all?
July 13th, 2009 at 8:52 am
DeltaMD-90Flyer, Great info, thanks! We’re not considering heritage liveries at this time (still trying to consolidate our current fleet! See an update of our planes in current Delta livery here) but we’ll definitely let you know here on the Blog if that changes.