Aircraft Make & Model:
Various makes and models; listed below
Reason Aquired:
For instrument training, flight school, route surveys, charter service and other company use. These planes were not used for scheduled passenger or mail service.
Narrative:
Trainers & survey aircraft 1928-1946
Delta aircraft not used in scheduled passengers or mail/freight service:
- Travel Air 2000 biplane (NC4316, MSN 369) with OX-5 engine and room for a pilot and two passengers. Paint scheme of Travel Air Blue fuselage and tail with silver-colored wings. Built March 12, 1928. Listed on bill of sale of Huff Daland Dusters' assets in November 1928, when C.E. Woolman and a group of local inventors purchased the company and formed Delta Air Service. Used for training, charters, surveys and Delta executive travel. Nicknamed "Miss Tallulah" after the Mississippi city where USDA aerial crop-dusting testing launched Huff Daland Dusters, Delta's predecessor company. Retired September 1, 1937.
- Command-Aire 3C3-T biplane used as a trainer at a flight school operated by Delta in the late 1920s to 1930s.
- Stearman C3B (NC8837, MSN 247) operated as an instrument trainer from August 20, 1934-March 31, 1937.
- Curtiss Robin 4C-2 (NC510N, MSN 704) rented for training and survey flights in 1934, from owner Bernard Biedenharn.
- Curtiss CW-1 Junior (NC10956, MSN 704) also used as a trainer.
- Fairchild FC-2 (NR3984, MSN 51) purchased from C.S. Robinson early in 1940.
- Lockheed 12 Electra Junior (NC14999, MSN 1266, ex-USAAF C-40A 38-582) used for pilot training and route surveys. Originally built for the U.S. Army Air Corps as a C-40A with tricycle landing gear. Delta purchased as surplus from the U.S. Defense Plant Corp. in 1945. Retired by Delta on July 11, 1946, and sold to Transair, Inc.
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