If you visit at a time when Museum Volunteer Capt. Jim
Daigneau is here, consider yourself lucky! Jim is a Delta captain on the Airbus 320 and often stops by before or
after a flight. He’s been with Delta
since July 1989, and has had a long-time love affair with aviation.
Ever since he was a kid, Jim’s dream was to fly
airplanes. On his 16th birthday,
his father took him on his first flight, and he was hooked from there. Jim flew civilian aircraft and worked at a local
airport through college, and then joined the U.S. Navy, flying a variety of
carrier aircraft for 16 years. He was
hired with Delta in 1989 as a Boeing 727 flight engineer and has since worked
his way up to flight instructor, first officer, and now captain.
When Jim is at the Museum, he can usually be found giving a
tour, chatting with visitors or working at one of our fundraising events. Despite having flown Boeing 767 The Spirit of Delta as part of his regular Delta work, his favorite aircraft is still the
DC-3.
However, Jim's volunteer contributions are not just limited to his on-site activities here at the Delta Flight Museum. Recently, Jim became interested in the history of our 1940s Link Trainer, located in Historic Hangar 2 beside our modern Boeing 737 Simulator. He assisted with the renovation of the Link instructor's desk, which we just put on display with the pilot trainer.
Jim put in many hours of research and networking with other museums and individuals to ensure that the instruments and maps you see on the desk are as historically accurate as possible.
Jim also wrote a 9-page paper, collecting the information he gathered while researching the history of our Link Trainer. To learn all about the Link family, Delta's Link history, our "Blue Box" pilot trainer and instructor's desk--and more--check out Jim's report (PDF format) here.
The next time you come to visit, keep an eye out for Jim and
say hello!
Judy Bean
Manager – Surplus Sales & Volunteers