Check out recent, colorful slide shows from several news sites, highlighting Delta history and innovations (sneak peek here of a Delta Boeing 747 first class in 1970):
CNN.com highlights changes in air travel since the late 1970s.
New York Times style blog features vintage Delta flight attendant uniforms.
Enjoy!
Marie Force
Archives Manager
Ship 7110
Believe it or not, airplanes have that “new car” smell. If you don’t believe me, just ask any of the more than 80 employees that accompanied Delta’s newest Boeing 777-200LR from the factory in Seattle to the company’s headquarters in Atlanta last Thursday. Delta CEO Richard Anderson joined employees for the delivery events.
The employees are all members of Delta’s annual Chairman’s Club, which honors 100 peer-nominated employees for consistently demonstrating dedication and determination to the highest standards of service to customers, fellow employees and the communities Delta serves worldwide each year. While not a Chairman’s Club member, I had the honor of attending the event as a reporter for Delta’s internal employee communications publications.
The festivities kicked off on Wednesday with employees receiving a VIP tour of Boeing’s factory and Future of Flight Museum. While some guests then opted to hit the gift shop. others group stood atop a hill near the factory’s runway and clapped, cheered, and cried as they saw Delta’s 777-200LR take off for its ferry flight to Seattle International Airport. That evening, we sat down with Boeing and Delta leaders for dinner at Boeing’s Museum of Flight.
Boeing and Delta 777 Dinner
Thursday morning, we wiped the sleep from our eyes and headed to Delta’s hangar at Seattle International Airport. On the bus ride over, attendees swapped flying stories and filled the bus with laughter as a light rain continued to fall over Seattle. After noshing on a light breakfast, we boarded the air stairs, loaded our bags, and strapped in. While the plane featured Delta’s full-flat seats in BusinessElite, everyone sat in economy so that the seats would be available during flight for us to explore.
During the four and a half hour flight back to Atlanta-which felt like just a few minutes- we explored the cabin and dined on a four course meal. Flight attendants gave away prizes to those who answered tough trivia questions posed over the PA (e.g., When was the war of 1812?). We explored the aircraft’s in-seat entertainment system, taking in the latest Oscar-winning movies while munching on Haagen Dazs ice cream sundaes.
The employees on that plane told me they will remember different moments from the event that will stay with them forever. One said for him, it will be the moment the doors to the hangar opened and revealed the mammoth aircraft. Another told me she will remember meeting so many employees that shared a deep passion for Delta and its success. But there is one thing that all participants will surely remember: the smell of the new leather seats and the feel of the brand new aircraft as they boarded the plane for its inaugural flight home.
Shiela Brown & Janice Grant on 777 Delivery
Have you been on the Boeing 777-200LR? Share your experience with us.
Rachel W., Writer, Corporate Communications
Check out one of my favorite items from the Delta Archives! It’s an airsickness bag, but also onboard entertainment from the mid-1960s, before we had audio headsets and movies on flights.
One side of the bag has a gin rummy score pad; the other side has a fun “Aviation Quiz” testing passengers with questions about Delta history and the early Jet Age industry (click on image to enlarge):
Be sure to let us know how well you do with the quiz!
Marie Force
Archives Manager
It’s been 70 years since our first flight attendant, Birdie Perkins, flew from Atlanta to Fort Worth, Texas, on the inaugural flight of our 14-passenger Douglas DC-2 on March 16, 1940. The trip took five hours in those days, and the stewardesses worked in unpressurized, unair-conditioned cabins, but the job had glamour! “You felt like a little celeb,” remembered Sybil Harmon, another of our early flight attendants.
Check out all the colorful uniforms and insignia worn by Delta flight attendants from 1940-today at the new Delta Museum’s Uniform Timeline.
Learn more about 1940s Delta In-Flight Service.
See an earlier post for a video tribute to Delta flight attendants through the years.
Thank you, flight attendants, for all you do!
Marie Force
Archives Manager
You know our aircraft hangars you see from the Atlanta airport runways with the neon “Fly Delta Jets” sign? They’re just one part of an enormous maintenance complex, our Techical Operations Center (TOC), which opened as a new Jet Overhaul Base in December 1960. This photo shows the “Fly Delta Jets” sign being installed on the roof in 1968:
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The original Jet Base occupied 55 acres with 9 acres of buildings. By 1998, the TOC had expanded up to 63 acres under roof.
Delta’s cantilevered hangar was an engineering marvel in 1960. It had a clear-span length of 170 feet, making the 420-foot hangar the longest of its type attempted at that time. It also had the largest doors (open area) of any such structure in the United States, to accomodate our growing Douglas DC-8 and Convair 880 jet fleet.
For more “eye-opening facts” and photos, see this 1960 brochure “Delta Opens New Jet Base at Atlanta Airport.”
Although access to the TOC is restricted, you can visit our original 1940s Hangars 1 and 2, which we outgrew when the jets arrived. Today they house the Delta Museum and its collection of historic aircraft.
Marie Force
