This July 4th is a special one Delta! We celebrate 75 years of carrying the mail by air. On July 4, 1934, 7-passenger Stinson T planes took off to fly Air Mail Route 24, between Fort Worth, Texas, and Charleston, South Carolina.
Here is the one piece of commemorative mail from that day, now housed in the Delta Archives:
Winning an air mail contract made possible Delta’s real transition from crop duster to passenger-carrying airline. With the revenue from the mail, we soon started up passenger service again, which had been suspended since 1930, and grew into a national airline.
Happy 4th of July everyone!
Marie Force
Archives Manager
July 2nd, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Wow, it is amazing to have a piece of mail from the original flight? Do you know how Delta was able to track that down? Or maybe Delta mailed it to them self?
Anyhow HAPPY BIRTHDAY and hopefully many more to come!
David
http://www.theairlineblog.com
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:01 am
didn’t know you guys carried mail cool.
July 16th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Marie, Do you know how I could find out where Delta flew in 1942? I’m a novelist working on a novel set during 1942 and trying to find information on an airline that flew passengers domestically during that time. Destination Hollywood/LA. Any help or direction would be so appreciated!
Cara Putman
http://www.caraputman.com
July 16th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
David: We believe a first flight letter collector gave this piece of mail to the Delta Archives probably in the 1980s, but unfortunately that’s all the info I have. Most of our earlier mail collection was built by generous donor contributions, but starting with jet service in the late 1950s, we also have a lot of mail that the company mailed to itself.
July 16th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Cara: Interesting question! Here’s a Delta route map from 1942: http://www.airtimes.com/cgat/usb/delta/detail/insidecover-dl420323.jpg
Timetable collector websites are a great resource for airline routes and flight schedules.
AirTimes: http://www.airtimes.com/index.htm
Airline Timetable Images: http://www.timetableimages.com/
Just let me know if you need more help. Marie