Roots:  
From Crop Duster to Airline; 
The Origins of Delta Air Lines to World War II 
 
by 
 
James John Hoogerwerf 
 
 
 
 
A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of 
Auburn University 
in partial fulfillment of the 
requirements for the Degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy 
 
Auburn, Alabama 
December 13, 2010 
 
 
 
 
Keywords: Delta Laboratory, Huff Daland, Delta Air Lines, B. R. Coad, 
 Harold R. Harris, C.E. Woolman 
 
Copyright 2010 by James John Hoogerwerf 
 
 
Approved by 
 
William F. Trimble, Chair, Professor of History 
James R. Hansen, Professor of History 
Alan D. Meyer, Assistant Professor of History 
Tiffany A. Thomas, Assistant Professor of History 
 
 
 
 
 
 ii
 
 
 
 
 
Dedication 
 
 
This dissertation is  
dedicated to the memory of 
Dr. W. David Lewis 
Distinguished University Professor of History 
Auburn University  
(1931-2007)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 iii 
 
 
 
 
 
Abstract 
 
 
 Delta Air Lines (Delta) is one of the great surviving legacy airlines of the first 
century of flight. In the annals of American aviation history its origins are unique. Delta?s 
beginning can be traced to the arrival of the boll weevil from Mexico into Texas in 1892. 
Unlike other national airlines that were nurtured on mail subsidies, Delta evolved from 
experiments using airplanes to counter the cotton weevil scourge from the air.  
 The iconic book on the subject is Delta: The History of an Airline authored by 
two eminent Auburn University history professors, W. David Lewis and Wesley Phillips 
Newton. This dissertation explores more closely the circumstances and people involved 
in Delta?s early years up to World War II. It is chronologically organized and written in a 
narrative style. It argues Delta?s development was the result of a decades-long 
incremental and evolutionary process and not the calculated result of a grand design or 
the special insight of any one person. Various individuals, influenced by diverse cultural, 
political, and economic factors, interacted to frame the outcome. The socio-technological 
system that is Delta today originated from a complex set of seemingly unrelated 
circumstances. The slightest variation might have modified, sidetracked, or even 
terminated the process.  
 The search for primary source material determined the methodology undertaken 
for this study. The investigation led to each of the cities where Delta had an early 
connection and to libraries and repositories across the United States and in South 
 iv
America. A variety of diverse primary source materials, including government 
publications, newspaper articles, interviews, library subject files, and archival 
repositories, was accessed. Much of this information was unavailable to historians Lewis 
and Newton. 
 This study explains how in its early years a large American legacy airline evolved 
from a small crop dusting company chartered to help save cotton from the boll weevil 
infestation in the southern United States. More Broadly, it contributes to the 
understanding of the origins of commercial aviation in the United States and the world. 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 v
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table of Contents 
 
 
Dedication...????????????????????????????.??ii 
Abstract?????????????????????.???????..???iii 
List of Illustrations??????????????.?????????????.vi 
Introduction???????????????..???????????????1 
Chapter 1 Into the Delta?????????????????????????.14 
Chapter 2 Borgias of the Air.......................................................................................?...35 
Chapter 3 A Corporate Pioneer in the Delta??????????????..???53 
Chapter 4 The Eagle and the Condor.................................................................................76 
Chapter 5 Insight??????????????.?????????????...96 
Chapter 6 Airmail and the West Coast Project??????.???????..?.?118 
Chapter 7 Metamorphosis??????????????????????.?...144 
Chapter 8 Delta Air Service, Inc?????????????????????..163 
Chapter 9 Southern Stars????????????????????????.184 
Conclusion?...????????????????????????????205 
Bibliography ????????????????????????????...210 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 vi
 
 
 
 
 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 
Illustration 1 ?Undesirable Citizens????????????????????.....22 
Illustration 2 B. R. Coad in his office at the Delta Laboratory??????????..26 
Illustration 3 Aircraft dusting Catalpa trees at Troy, Ohio????????????37 
Illustration 4 Air suction type hopper before installation..................................................45 
Illustration 5 Air suction hopper installed in aircraft??????????????.46 
Illustration 6 Assembly of ground based cotton dusting machines????????...54 
Illustration 7 Aerial view of various duster machines in action??????????55 
Illustration 8 George B. Post at demonstration event??????????????68 
Illustration 9 Collett Everman Woolman??????????????????...83 
Illustration 10 Huff Daland Duster aircraft in Peru????.????????..??97 
Illustration 11 Harold R. Harris meets Peruvian President Legu?a?????????99 
 
Illustration 12 Smoot Field?????????????????????..??106 
 
Illustration 13 Selman Field with shipping crates ready for Peru?????????108 
 
Illustration 14 Harold R. Harris in Peru?...?????????????????112 
Illustration 15 Tobin, Woolman, and possibly Stan Webber before flying to Ecuador...139 
Illustration 16 Group in front of large duster????????????????...150 
Illustration 17 Delta Air Service personnel with Travel Air 6000????????...170 
 
Illustration 18 Employee group photo taken May 13, 1933???????????175  
 
Illustration 19 Group posing with a Lockheed Electra on March 14, 1939?????.189 
 vii
Illustration 20 Thomas Prioleau (?Pre?) Ball (ca. 1936)?????????..??...191 
 
Illustration 21 Eva Parrish (ca. 1940).???????????????????.195 
 
Illustration 22 C. E. Woolman, Clarence E. Faulk, Pat Higgins????????......200 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Introduction 
 
 This study began with the planting of an idea in my mind by a comment of a 
Delta Air Lines captain made in approximately 1973. I was serving as a junior second 
officer aboard a Douglas DC-8 jetliner cruising comfortably above the flatlands of the 
Mississippi River Delta region on the way to Atlanta, Delta?s major hub city in Georgia. 
Over Monroe, Louisiana, the senior captain made the comment to his fellow 
crewmembers, ?There?s Monroe, where Delta got its start.?   
 The statement begged the question, how could this major air carrier have 
originated in such a small place? The stock answer bordered on mythology--the 
Mississippi Delta region gave its name to the airline which evolved from a small crop 
dusting company called Huff Daland Dusters under the tutelage of Delta?s founder, 
Collett Everman (?C. E.?) Woolman. But how did that happen?  
 A few years later, in 1979, Auburn University history professors W. David Lewis 
and Wesley Phillips Newton wrote Delta: The History of an Airline (Delta). The book 
was written under contract for the company and the authors were granted unrestricted 
access to the corporation?s business records, correspondence, and personnel. A 
complimentary copy was presented to each employee to commemorate Delta?s fiftieth 
anniversary of the beginning of passenger service in 1929. A book signing was held for 
grateful employees patiently waiting in a long snaking line at the Jet Base, Delta?s 
massive maintenance complex located between the runways at the Atlanta airport, where 
 2 
Lewis and Newton graciously autographed hundreds of copies.   
 In the annals of American aviation Delta?s beginning is unique. Unlike other 
national airlines promoted by federal government mail subsidies through the post office, 
Delta evolved from a crop dusting company organized to counter the cotton boll weevil 
scourge from the air. It was a private venture without government assistance. Delta is a 
comprehensive history of the company through 1979. Chapters one through five cover 
the early years to the outbreak of World War II. 
I found these chapters interesting but the story sketchy. Overall Delta is an 
excellent study of the airline?s first fifty years. It is only with those early years to the 
outbreak of World War II that I take issue. In fairness Lewis and Newton used what 
information they had available to position the airline broadly in the context of 
commercial aviation?s development as an industry. They do this admirably, but there had 
to be more to the story of Delta?s beginning. Woolman is a key figure, but to what extent 
is he responsible for the emergence of the airline? Harold R. Harris, George B. Post, Bert 
Raymond Coad, and Richard F. Hoyt are identified. Were their roles as significant as 
Woolman?s? 
 An in-depth explanation of the circumstances and people involved in the 
development of Delta Air Lines was needed. Whereas Lewis and Newton take more of an 
outsider?s perspective of Delta?s early years, I take a closer insider look to address the 
question of Delta?s origins. This paper is not a revisionist history. Rather I suggest the 
two perspectives are complementary. Seldom does either conflict or overlap with the 
other. For example, Lewis and Newton devote an entire chapter to the period from 1931 
to 1934, characterized as the ?doldrums.? Delta failed to get a mail contract and reverted 
 3 
to crop dusting in order to survive. Because I did not find new primary source material, 
my discussion on Delta?s survival during this time is limited. Instead, I explore an aspect 
of Woolman?s personality by his compassion for his friend, B. R. Coad, who was indicted 
for defrauding the government in 1931. Therefore, for the most complete understanding 
of Delta?s early history, Lewis and Newton?s book and this study should be read together. 
 This dissertation is a narrative history of the origins of Delta Air Lines to World 
War II. It is organized chronologically and argues the development of Delta Air Lines 
was the result of a decades-long incremental and evolutionary process and not the 
calculated result of a grand design or the special insight of any one person. Various 
individuals, influenced by diverse cultural, political, and economic factors, interact to 
frame the outcome.   
 The socio-technological system that is Delta Air Lines today is, in its origins, the 
result of a complex set of circumstances. The slightest variation of any one might have 
modified, sidetracked, or even terminated the process. Key words in the title, Roots: 
From Crop Duster to Airline; The Origins of Delta Air Lines to World War II, are Roots 
and Origins. The story of Delta is literally from the ground up--it begins with the boll 
weevil infestation in the South. The word Origins suggests multiple beginnings--one 
could choose among a number of points where the airline started. This paper begins with 
the boll weevil when it crossed into Texas from Mexico in 1892. World War II is a 
demarcation for two reasons. First, the war drastically affected Delta?s and the country?s 
fortunes and second, during and after the war more complete corporate records are 
available and were used by historians Lewis and Newton in their writing of Delta.   
 In addition to the development of commercial aviation, this study makes 
 4 
connections between the histories of the southern social and economic condition when it 
discusses southern labor; scientific agriculture and the chemical industry with the use of 
calcium arsenate on cotton; southern industrialization with the evolution of crop dusting 
and airlines; technological innovation with the merger of aviation and agriculture to 
counter the boll weevil threat; and domestic and international business with the formation 
of airlines in North and South America. 
  Delta: The History of an Airline is the only scholarly work written on the origins 
of Delta Air Lines. The need for primary source material determined my methodology. 
Beginning in 1992 I sought out sources wherever they were likely to exist. The idea was 
to discover alternate sources beyond what was in Delta?s corporate files and those used 
by Lewis and Newton. The search has taken me to each of the cites where Delta had a 
connection such as Ogdensburg, New York, Tallulah, Louisiana, Atlanta and Macon, 
Georgia, and many others. My travels extended to both coasts of the United States and to 
South America. In Seattle, Washington, I utilized the resources of the Harl V. Brackin 
Library at the Museum of Flight and on the east coast I visited the New York Public 
Library. In Lima I studied at the Biblioteca Nacional del Per? and in Santiago the 
Biblioteca Nacional de Chile. I was able to do this on my off time while serving as a pilot 
for Delta Air Lines or while on layovers between flights. After retiring from Delta in 
2001, I began studies and continued my research as a graduate student at Auburn 
University.  
 In this quest I was fortunate to locate and access a variety of diverse primary 
source materials including government publications, newspaper articles, interviews, 
library subject files, and archival repositories. Discoveries in each of these categories 
 5 
were insightful contributions to the subject. Some of the more important used are 
highlighted here. 
 The experiments conducted at Tallulah, Louisiana, during 1922 are thoroughly 
discussed in USDA, Department Bulletin 1204 (January 1924), ?Dusting Cotton by 
Airplanes? by Bert R. Coad,  Entomologist, Bureau of Entomology; E. Johnson, 
Agricultural Engineer, Bureau of Public Roads; and First Lt. G.L. McNeil, Twenty-
Second Observation Squadron, U. S. Air Service. The conduct of these experiments and 
their successful outcome merged aviation and agricultural technologies and led to the 
formation of the world?s first aerial crop dusting company, Huff Daland Dusters. 
For a number of reasons the publication, ?Boll Weevil Control by Airplane,? 
Georgia State College of Agriculture, Extension Division Bulletin 301 (Nov. 1924) by 
George B. Post is significant. First, it discusses two individuals prominent in the 
experimental and early developmental stages of aerial dusting, George Post, of the Huff 
Daland Company in New York and Bert Coad, head of the entomological research 
laboratory in Tallulah. Second, it summarizes the advantages of the airplane over 
terrestrial application methods and outlines a crop dusting business plan. Third, the 
publication appears not to have been widely circulated, enhancing its significance to this 
dissertation as a contemporary source.  
An invaluable source was found in newsprint. During the 1920s and 1930s 
national and local newspapers regularly reported aviation-related news. Events pertaining 
to the early years of crop dusting and passenger service were of interest to communities 
and reported in the papers. A visit to these places, especially the smaller cities, often 
yielded results from a review of papers only available on microfilm in the local library. 
 6 
The first published use of the airplane in the aerial fight against insect pests 
appeared in National Geographic magazine (March 1922),  ?Fighting Insects With 
Airplanes, An Account of the Successful Use of the Flying Machine in Dusting Tall 
Trees Infested With Leaf-Eating Caterpillars? by C. R. Nellie and J. S. Houser. This 
success led to experiments conducted on low-growing cotton fields in Louisiana. Two 
journal articles discuss these aerial experiments: Eldon W. Downs and George F. 
Lemmer, ?Origins of Aerial Crop Dusting,? Agricultural History 30 (1965) and T. C. 
Cleveland and C. R. Parencia, ?History of the USDA Cotton Insects Research Laboratory 
Tallulah, Louisiana, 1909-1973,? Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America 
(1976). They hardly do justice for such a significant enterprise but are scholarly treatises 
and the annotated references were helpful to this study. The story of aerial applications is 
told in Mabry I. Anderson, Low And Slow: An Insider?s History of Agricultural Aviation 
(San Francisco, 1986) but, while it is a comprehensive and interesting history of crop 
dusting, its sources are unfortunately not cited and the bibliography is limited. 
Oral histories are important sources and I interviewed several individuals from the 
period. Significant among them are three sessions conducted with Capt. Thomas Prioleau 
(?Pre?) Ball, who began his career with Delta Air Lines as a station manager in 
Charleston, South Carolina, and was one of the company?s earliest pilots. The Ball 
interviews are a prominent component of the final chapter of this dissertation. I was 
fortunate to meet Larry Michaud of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and 
Forestry. Michaud interviewed Eugene (?Steve?) Stevens, one of the original duster 
pilots with Huff Daland Dusters, and he graciously shared his tapes, which I transcribed.  
Stevens?s comments provide a contemporary insight on events from an often contrary 
 7 
perspective. He was one of the earliest crop duster pilots and quit Huff Daland Dusters to 
start his own crop dusting company. Useful interviews of other prominent individuals are 
found in the Delta Air Lines Corporate Archives. 
A number of local libraries in cities with a Delta footprint have Delta Air Lines 
subject files. Of particular importance are the materials provided by the Ogdensburg, 
New York, Public Library, in its Huff Daland Collection. This collection has a helpful 
file of newspaper clippings arranged chronologically pertaining to Huff Daland 
Company, its aircraft, and people. Pictures of early Huff Daland models and other 
reference materials are also available.  
I was fortunate to review the Harold R. Harris Papers at the Wright State 
University Department of Special Collections and Archives. These were accessioned in 
April 1990, and therefore were unavailable to Lewis and Newton at the time of their 
writing. Harris played a role in the early years of the evolution of Delta Air Lines and this 
dissertation would have been at a significant loss without the use of this collection. In 
particular the ?Report to the President and Board of Directors of Huff Daland Dusters, 
Incorporated for 1927? by the operating managers and ?South American Survey Trip? 
report by Harris were indispensable. 
Finally, primary source material at the Delta Air Lines Corporate Archives 
rounded out the quest for original documentation on the evolution of Delta Air Lines. I 
am grateful for having been granted access to this repository; the dissertation could not 
have been completed otherwise. In particular, the archive provides the most complete 
documentation on C. E. Woolman. Other sources are the Woolman Papers in the Special 
Collections at Hill Memorial Library, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and the 
 8 
Woolman file in the archives at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Library.  
On a theoretical level, the evolution of Delta Air Lines fits within the 
historiography of technology by arguing that its early development was a consequence of 
human needs. Many individuals played a part and Delta?s emergence corresponds to 
Thomas Parke Hughes?s understanding of technology as being driven by society, for 
better or worse. Hughes, scholar, professor and author, defines technology ?as a mode of 
creation? and in Human-Built World: How to Think About Technology and Culture he 
expounds on the theme that ?humans have been engaged in creating a living and working 
place.?1 Although technology is the main thread in Hughes?s history, it does not 
determine history's course. For better or worse it is up to society to apply technological 
solutions to its problems. Likewise, technology is the main thread in Delta?s evolution 
but it was individual participants in society who collectively determined its course.  
Delta evolved from the application of technology to the needs of society by 
individuals actively engaged in that society to solve society?s problems. Planters were 
threatened by the boll weevil, and scientists responded by developing methods of control. 
Calcium arsenate was found to be an effective agent, but it was difficult to apply. The 
idea of using an airplane to dispense dust significantly applied the airplane?s agility to 
solve the problem. Carrying passengers and mail took advantage of the airplane?s speed 
to meet society?s need of rapid transportation and communication.  
Chapter one sets the geological, geographic, and cultural stage of the Mississippi 
Delta that is the namesake of the airline. The Mississippi River is the dominant feature  
 
                                                 
1Thomas Parke Hughes, Human-Built World: How to Think About Technology 
and Culture, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 177, 179. 
 
 9 
and imposes its character on the region. The river?s action flattened the land, nurtured the 
soil, and created the Delta. The river was tamed and the land cleared after the Civil War. 
Cotton was the dominant agricultural crop. This chapter proposes Southern planters 
feared the boll weevil would cause them to lose their labor and was a reason the 
government?s laboratory was located in the Delta. The boll weevil threat, its 
consequences, and the role of the Delta Laboratory, under the direction of Coad, are 
essential for understanding the beginnings of Delta Air Lines. 
If chapter one introduces the terrestrial background of Delta Air Line?s evolution, 
chapter two brings the airplane into the history. The airplane was first used to dust trees 
in Ohio. The experiment was successful and suggested the possibility of using airplanes 
to dust low-growing crops. The flatlands of the Mississippi Delta were a logical site to 
undertake tests that required aircraft to fly low over the fields. The military provided 
training airplanes, and the facilities of the Delta Laboratory were made available for the 
experiments. The results from the first year of testing were astonishing, and, though they 
were first undertaken for cotton leaf worm control, researchers anticipated that aerial 
applications could be used to counter the boll weevil. Experiments undertaken the 
following year used more powerful military aircraft and confirmed dusting from the air 
was equally as effective against the boll weevil. 
Chapter three focuses on the Huff Daland Company in Ogdensburg, New York. 
The chapter explores the reason it was located there, its success in building military 
aircraft, and the company?s intent to produce commercial aircraft. George B. Post and 
Catherine FitzGerald were two early employees of the company who participated in the 
evolution of Delta Air Lines.  
 10 
Huff Daland Dusters, the world?s first crop dusting company, was formed as a 
subsidiary to the Huff Daland Company. When Huff Daland Company outgrew its 
facilities in New York, it moved to Bristol, Pennsylvania. Once there the company 
reorganized with the help of New York aviation financier Richard F. Hoyt and became 
Keystone Aircraft Corporation. The subsidiary, Huff Daland Dusters, retained its original 
name. 
In chapter four the scene shifts to South America. The chapter begins with a 
discussion of the political and economic situation in Peru which foreign investors found 
attractive. Peruvian planters were having a problem with cotton pests and Pedro Beltran 
traveled to the United States to seek assistance. At the Delta Laboratory, Coad directed 
him to Huff Daland Dusters. The company decided to send a representative to Peru and 
asked C. E. Woolman to travel to Lima and seek a concession. This chapter includes a 
limited biography of Woolman. It discusses the reasons he was chosen to represent the 
company and his activities while in Peru. 
Harold R. Harris followed Woolman to Peru with an expedition of personnel, 
equipment, and supplies. Chapter five addresses Harris?s reception by Peruvian planters, 
military officers, and government leaders. Harris, an experienced military and civilian 
aviator, had a special insight into aviation possibilities in Latin America. While he was 
there the Army Air Corps Pan American Good Will Flight stopped in Lima on a survey 
flight around South America. Harris discussed the route and experiences with the military 
aviators. In the meantime, back in the United States, the Mississippi River flood affected 
Huff Daland Dusters?s 1927 operations. When Harris left Peru he traveled on a circuitous 
route around the continent exploring the potential for airmail and mapping routes. On his 
 11 
return to the United States he disembarked in New York with a map and a plan for 
developing air routes in South America.  
Chapter six focuses on Harris?s meeting with aviation financier Hoyt and Pan 
American?s developer Juan Trippe to deliver his report. This chapter explores ties with 
the formation of Pan American Airways. Huff Daland Dusters?s presence in Peru 
extended Pan American?s route. Woolman returned to Peru with his family and a dual 
mandate. On the one hand he serviced the dusting contracts for 1928. On the other hand, 
he negotiated with the government for a mail and passenger concession. Then Woolman 
returned to the United States. Pan American joined with the W. R. Grace Company to 
form Peruvian Airways which was superseded by Pan American Grace Airways 
(Panagra). Harris went to Peru and became general manager of Panagra.  
Chapter seven is an in-depth discussion of how Huff Daland Dusters became 
Delta Air Service. As the domestic air transportation system was being consolidated, the 
Huff Daland operating team, Harris, Woolman, and the company?s comptroller, Irwin E. 
Auerbach, were not immediately able to buy the company?s assets. Therefore, it was a 
surprise to Harris when he learned Hoyt was ready to sell. Woolman was in Peru, so it 
was up to Harris and Auerbach to negotiate a deal. While these talks were going on, 
Harris was appointed to manage Peruvian Airways and dispatched to Peru. When he and 
Woolman were away, Auerbach attempted to sell the company by himself. The betrayal 
was discovered when Woolman returned. He worked through the situation and Delta Air 
Service was established; Huff Daland Dusters was dissolved. Both Woolman and Harris 
shared the proceeds from the sale of the Peruvian assets. From now on Woolman?s future 
was inextricably tied to the airline. 
 12 
Delta Air Service was a short-lived firm. Chapter eight discusses the company?s 
initial operations leading up to the beginning of passenger service in 1929 and it 
addresses the mystery of lost corporate records for the 1930s. The airline operated 
without a mail contract and was forced to cease operations when Postmaster General 
Walter Folger Brown gave the Southern Transcontinental route to American Airways. 
The company changed its name to Delta Air Corporation and survived by dusting cotton 
and providing aircraft services. At this time B. R. Coad was indicted for defrauding the 
government. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt restored cancelled mail contracts 
following the ?spoils conference? fiasco, Delta commenced passenger service along an 
extended route from Charleston, South Carolina to Fort Worth, Texas.  
The final chapter shifts the focus of the airline from Monroe, Louisiana to 
Atlanta, Georgia. Delta?s trans-southern route connected the two, but Atlanta became the 
terminus, especially when Delta received a new north/south route from Cincinnati to 
Savannah. The ill-fated Stinson A trimotor led to the acquisition of new modern aircraft. 
Interviews with Ball provided a feeling for flying the route. This chapter addresses 
questions surrounding the move of Delta?s corporate offices from Monroe to Atlanta and 
the problem of raising capital.  
Delta?s family tree depicts mergers and acquisitions of multiple airlines spanning 
the first century of flight. Only just recently, Delta Air Lines merged with Northwest 
Airlines to connect another branch of aviation development to its genealogy. Delta, in its 
present form, represents the evolution of an extraordinary transportation system. My 
study contributes to an understanding of Delta?s origins and its maturation from a 
specialized crop dusting company to a corporation that subsequently grew into one of the 
 13 
world?s largest and longest surviving airlines.  
 14 
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 1 
Into the Delta 
 
The Mississippi Delta begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and 
ends in Catfish Row in Vicksburg.  
 
                                                                  David L. Cohn, God Shakes Creation 
 
 
  Historian James C. Cobb, in ?The Most Southern Place on Earth,? begins his 
treatise by describing the Yazoo/Mississippi Delta region as a throwback to an earlier 
time. There, the soil and climate were ideal for King Cotton, the land is flat, and blacks, 
following the Civil War, still labored under a white planter class, no longer as slaves, but 
as sharecroppers. More than a place, though, Cobb observes, the Delta is a feeling. One 
does not go to the Delta rather, one travels ??into the Delta? [italics added] the 
implication being that of passage back in time, to a setting--that if such a thing were 
possible--seemed even more southern than the rest of the state.? Cobb reexamines 
southern ?interaction with, rather than its isolation from the larger global and national 
setting,? and he discovers the Delta has become ?a part of the world rather than a world 
apart.?
1
                                                 
1
  James C. Cobb, The Most Southern Place on Earth (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 
vii-viii, xii. 
 With this outward perspective in mind this chapter looks into the Delta to 
understand those factors that first influenced the merger of agricultural and aeronautical 
technologies to combat the boll weevil, and then led to the development of Delta Air 
Lines. 
 15 
 The ?Delta,? for the purposes of this dissertation, includes the regions of 
Mississippi and Louisiana. As the prehistoric seas receded, sediments filled in the 
?Mississippi Embayment, a declivity covering approximately 35,000 square miles that 
begins 30 miles north of Cairo to Cape Girardeau, Missouri--geologically the head of the 
Mississippi Delta--and extends to the Gulf of Mexico. At one time the gulf itself reached 
to Cape Girardeau.?
2
 Because the Mississippi River drops only 290 feet in elevation, 
wending its way 1100 river miles from Cairo, Illinois, to the Gulf Mexico, the gentle 
slope would seem to tame the river?s power, but it is just the opposite. ?The Mississippi is 
never at rest. It roils. It follows no set course. Its waters and currents are not uniform. 
Rather, it moves south in layers and whorls, like an uncoiling rope.? The turbulence is so 
complex that studies of flowing water gave rise to the new science of chaos in the 1970s.
3
 
Among other factors, the hydraulics are governed by the tremendous volume of water 
conveyed. With its tributaries, the Mississippi drains 41 percent of the contiguous United 
States.
4
 Rain that falls as far west as Montana will disgorge into the Gulf of Mexico, as 
does rain from parts as far to the east as New York and Pennsylvania, via the Missouri, 
Ohio, and Mississippi rivers.
5
 Historically, seasonal high water crested the river?s banks and replenished Delta 
land with a layer of fresh topsoil and nutrients. The lush, dense vegetation that flourished 
 The immense volume of water is both a benefit and a 
liability, and delayed the Delta?s development. 
                                                 
2
  John M. Barry, Rising Tide:  The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America 
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), 39. 
 
3
  Ibid., 37, 38. 
 
4
  Cobb, Most Southern Place on Earth, 3. 
 
5
  Barry, Rising Tide, map 10-11.  
 16 
from this enrichment promised high yields for cotton growers, but at a price. The land 
first had to be cleared, the swamps drained, and the Mississippi and its tributaries tamed. 
These difficulties delayed the effort until after the Civil War. Then, it took a special breed 
of men--men of means having foresight and a world outlook--to challenge the Delta. 
With their resources and vision, they organized the human and mechanical energy 
necessary to clear the land, prepare the fields, build the levee system, and develop the 
Delta for agriculture.
6
 The Percy family of Mississippi epitomizes this Delta planter class. Historian 
Bertram Wyatt-Brown writes, ?The Percys helped to create the Deep South--not just as 
slaveholding frontiersmen, but as agents of change in the Post-War years.?
  
7
 Another 
historian observes, ?the wealth the Percys found in the delta?s swamps gave them the 
freedom to live the good life, [and] their wealth placed them above the criticism of the 
community. They usually knew what they wanted to do, and their wealth allowed them to 
do it.?
8
 Following the Civil War, many planters lost their land. Whether those who 
managed to hold on transformed themselves into a new entrepreneurial or industrial class 
is the subject of scholarly debate. Cobb agrees with C. Vann Woodward?s ?general 
blueprint? that ?survival or success as a planter described the experience of many 
prominent late nineteenth-century Delta planters whose interests and holdings actually 
 
                                                 
6
  Barry, Rising Tide, 97. 
 
7
  Bertram Wyatt-Brown, The House of Percy: Honor, Melancholy, and Imagination in a Southern 
Family (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 4. 
 
8
  Lewis Baker, The Percys of Mississippi: Politics and Literature in the New South (Baton Rouge: 
Louisiana State University Press 1983), 5. 
 
 17 
made them some combination of planter and merchant, or lawyer.?
9
 The Percys fall into 
this category. Their ?occupations as planters, lawyers, physicians, militia officers, 
corporation lawyers, and bank directors complemented their energetic civic work,?
10
 and 
LeRoy Percy (1860-1929) ?inherited his father?s love of the delta.? As the attorney 
representing the Yazoo-Mississippi Levee District, he became knowledgeable of flood 
control methods and established valuable personal relationships, ?thus binding his career 
to the Delta?s major concern, the levees.?
11
 Before the advent of the railroad, efficient transportation was confined to inland 
waterways. Mark Twain, in Life on the Mississippi, eloquently depicts the steamboat as 
the workhorse of Midwest expansion. With "about 1,250,000 square miles," he writes, 
the Mississippi river basin was the "Body of the Nation."
 His many activities included service as United 
States Senator representing Mississippi. 
12
 But water transportation 
limited interior settlement, whereas railroads, when they came, ?not only encouraged 
widespread cultivation of cotton, but?increased the value of all land, improved or not, in 
the Delta counties, where on average, land prices rose by nearly 50 percent between 1880 
and 1890.?
13
 The railroad gave planters, such as the Percys, access to national markets and 
 When Twain returned to the river in 1882, after an absence of twenty-one 
years, he noticed the change. There were few passenger steamboats left in operation on 
which to embark.  
                                                 
9
  Cobb, Most Southern Place on Earth, 92. 
 
10
  Wyatt-Brown, House of Percy, 4. 
 
11
  Baker, Percys of Mississippi, 15, 17. 
 
12
  Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi (New York: Signet Classic, 2001), preface. 
 
13
  Cobb, Most Southern Place on Earth, 82. 
 18 
transformed ?an essentially untamed wilderness frontier to a modern plantation 
kingdom.?
14
 With their connections to banks, railroads, world markets, and Wall Street, 
Delta planters looked outward. As their ties to national and world economies solidified, it 
highlighted the Delta?s separateness as a region and contributed to ?the Delta?s increasing 
socioeconomic and political isolation from the remainder of Mississippi.?
15
 Nevertheless, Delta land-holding elites continued to view themselves 
symbolically as planters. ?The Delta owner of extensive lands lived, not on a farm, but on 
a plantation. He was known not as a farmer, but as a planter,? which linked him with ?the 
antebellum past, reminiscent of the dream, if not always the reality, of what had been. It 
conjured up the lordship of the living and a touch of the romantic?
 
16
 and ?suggested 
aristocracy and inherited wealth, the habit of command, and a ?cavalier dash that mocked 
the dull virtue of caution and scorned the pedestrian uses of compound interest piling up 
in the bank.?
17
 In the aftermath of the Civil War, the value of slaves was lost and entrepreneurial 
incentives were redirected toward investment in land. ?Laborlords? became ?landlords.?
 More down to earth, though, a continuing concern for planters, whether in 
the Delta or elsewhere in the South, was with their labor. 
18
                                                 
14
  Ibid., 124. 
 
The potential return from the productivity and value of land, not slaves, was the new 
method of creating wealth, and cotton continued to be the dominant agricultural crop. 
 
15
  Ibid., 141, 145. 
 
16
  James C. Cobb, ed., The Mississippi Delta and the World: The Memoirs of David L. Cohn 
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995), 66. 
 
17
  Cobb, Most Southern Place on Earth, 131.   
 
18
  Gavin Wright, Old South, New South: Revolutions in the Southern Economy Since the Civil 
War (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996), 49. 
 19 
Cotton remained the foundation of the economic, social, and cultural life of the South.
19
 
Ex-slaves were lured to southern states, including Louisiana and Mississippi, with 
promises of ?enormous wages? and ?images of opportunity and even lushness.?
20
 Gavin Wright?s Old South, New South economic interpretation explains the 
southern condition. The system that evolved was the result of market forces. After the 
Civil War, output per acre of land became paramount. Labor was now a variable cost that 
had to be covered by the value of the crops grown, and this fostered a new relationship 
between landowners and freedmen. Blacks and poor white sharecroppers lived and 
worked on the land for a share of the crop, which, in a vicious cycle at the end of the 
season, was used to pay off their account at the plantation store (owned by the planter) 
for expenses.
  
21
 Sharecropping was, as Wright notes, a ?balance between the freedmen's 
desire for autonomy and the employer's interest in extracting work effort and having 
labor when it was needed." But, he adds, ?sharecropping was a high-turnover system, and 
indebtedness did not prevent blacks or whites from frequently changing landlords.?
22
 
Similarly, Cobb finds that indebtedness was not ?an absolute guarantee that a worker 
would stay put.?
23
 LeRoy Percy understood ?the delta?s dependence on black labor ? [and he] 
hoped an influx of white settlers would eventually end it.? His experiment to bring Italian 
  
                                                 
19
  Ibid., 19. 
 
20
  Leon F. Litwack, Been in the Storm so Long: The Aftermath of Slavery (New York: Vintage 
Books, 1979), 308. 
 
21
  The southern cotton culture is discussed in Pete Daniel, Breaking the Land: The 
Transformation of Cotton, Tobacco, and Rice Cultures Since 1880 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 
1985). 
 
22
  Wright, Old South, New South, 12, 85-86. 
 
23
  Cobb, Most Southern Place on Earth, 105. 
 20 
immigrants to the Delta failed, misunderstood and derailed by politics and purposeful 
misinformation. To one muckraker, Percy bitterly replied on the subject, ?we made the 
mistake of supposing you were a reputable newspaper correspondent, instead of 
recognizing the fact that you were merely a common, cheerful, and industrious liar.?
24
 The labor situation became even more critical as the boll weevil advanced across 
the South, averaging 40 to 160 miles per year.
 
When immigrants could not be attracted to the Delta, keeping labor in place was a 
nagging concern and a constant challenge. 
25
 It was first found near Brownsville, 
Texas, in 1892, where it had crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico. ?Growers were totally 
defenseless and havoc continued to engulf one county after another. By 1922 the boll 
weevil had spread across most of the Cotton Belt.?
26
 In Mississippi, LeRoy Percy ?feared 
their arrival would trigger a panic that would be more harmful than the insects 
themselves. ?One great danger to be guarded against,? he warned, ?is the stampeding of 
the Negro labor. This would bring about all of the loss that the weevil might ultimately 
cause, and could be fully as difficult to remedy.??
27
 Boll Weevil (Anthonomus grandis Boheman) is the common name for one of the 
group of ?snout beetles? that infect cotton plants. The female punctures the buds and 
 The Delta became the center of the 
fight against the boll weevil. 
                                                 
24
  Baker, Percys of Mississippi, 31. 
 
25
  C. R. Parencia, ?One hundred Twenty Years of Research on Cotton Insects in the United 
States,? USDA Agriculture Handbook 515 (1978): 6. 
 
26
  William A. Dickerson, Anthony L. Brasher, James T. Brumly, Frank R. Carter, William J. 
Grenfensette, and Aubrey Harris, eds., Boll Weevil Eradication in the United States Through 1999 
(Memphis: The Cotton Foundation Publisher, 2001), xxi. 
 
27
  Baker, Percys of Mississippi, 31. 
 21 
fluffy cotton bolls to lay her eggs inside. When the eggs hatch, larvae feed on the buds 
and bolls, which fall to the ground. Damaged bolls that remain on the plant are stunted or 
dwarfed. The life cycle of the boll weevil is about three weeks, allowing four or five 
generations to breed in one season. Since the 1870s, the United States government had 
helped farmers in fighting agricultural pests.
28
 The cotton leaf worm and bollworm were 
the focus of early cotton investigations, but the boll weevil rose in priority when the 
magnitude of the threat to southern agriculture was realized. In 1901, Congress funded 
the first boll weevil investigation under the direction of W. D. Hunter, who was to remain 
in charge of boll weevil investigations until his death in 1925.
 29
 A research laboratory, 
first established in Victoria, Texas, was relocated to Dallas in 1905, and later moved to 
Tallulah, in the Louisiana Delta. Not wholly reliant on federal efforts, states took 
independent action. Georgia quarantine laws, adopted in 1903, prohibited importation of 
living boll weevils and required cotton seed grown in Texas and Louisiana to be 
fumigated. The Louisiana legislature established the Crop Pest Commission in 1904.
30
 In 1907 the pest crossed the Mississippi River, threatening the large plantations of 
the Mississippi Delta. By this time ?all cotton growing states had previously enacted 
quarantines against the introduction of infested material, and the spread was almost 
entirely by natural dispersal.?
  
31
                                                 
28
   Eldon W. Downs and George F. Lemmer, ?Origins of Aerial Crop Dusting,? Agricultural 
History 30 (July, 1965): 123. 
 Weevils fly, but not far, seeking places of hibernation. 
Wind will affect the distance and direction they travel. Timbered regions, with an 
 
29
   Parencia, ?One hundred Twenty Years of Research,? 3, 5. 
 
30
   Ibid., 5. 
 
31
  Ibid. 
 
 22 
abundance of Spanish moss, provide the best protection from cool winter temperatures, 
and, it was discovered, ?hibernation in the fields [was] not of great importance, except in 
 
This cartoon, illustrating the invasion of the boll weevil east of the Mississippi River, 
appeared on the cover of The Cotton Journal, March 25, 1909. Photograph courtesy of 
the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.  
  
 23 
more southern localities.?
32
 
 LeRoy Percy, with his extensive holdings and favorable  
habitat for weevil propagation, promoted the government?s decision to relocate its  
 
research laboratory to the Delta.
33
 
 
As the boll weevil continued to spread to new areas, it became more and more 
apparent that the ?boll weevil problem? was a series of problems and that 
investigations should be conducted under different climatic, ecological, and 
agricultural conditions. Consequently, in 1909 the laboratory moved from Dallas, 
Tex., to Tallulah, La. This location was selected because it was near the southern 
edge of the Delta section where the boll weevil was expected to cause as much 
damage as anywhere in the South. The soils were fertile and with abundant 
rainfall plants normally continued to produce cotton until late in the season. Large 
areas of dense forest afforded good hibernation quarters, and with comparatively 
mild winters heavy infestations were the general rule.
34
 
 
 Founded in 1857, Tallulah is the parish seat of the largely agricultural Madison 
Parish. Known informally as the ?Delta Laboratory,? the Tallulah site proved to be a key 
location in the battle against the boll weevil. In what was named the ?Southern Field 
Crop Insect Investigations,? the laboratory operated under the Bureau of Entomology, 
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
35
                                                 
32
  W. D. Hunter and B. R. Coad, ?The Boll Weevil Problem,? USDA Farmers Bulletin 1329, 
(1923): 9. 
 Until methods of control or 
eradication were found, ?one great service of the Bureau of Entomology was in 
determining the limits of infestation each season? and another, hibernation-cage tests, 
determined winter survival percentages for already affected areas. In addition, inspections 
taken at widely separated points each year, usually in early June, surveyed a specific 
number of plants to determine the ratio of cotton plants per weevil. The ability to forecast 
 
33
  Baker, Percys of Mississippi, 31. 
 
34
  Parencia, ?One Hundred Twenty Years of Research,? 7. 
 
35
  T. C. Cleveland and C. R. Parencia, ?History of the USDA Cotton Insects Research Laboratory 
Tallulah, Louisiana, 1909-1973,? Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America (1976): 403. 
 
 24 
weevil damage was not foolproof. Local weather conditions greatly influenced damage 
from subsequent generations, so laboratory representatives periodically updated their 
assessment as the season progressed.
36
 Because a poison was not immediately available, studies of the life cycle of 
weevils at first suggested cultural methods of control. Early planting and the use of 
fertilizer quickened plant maturity and damage was moderated if the cotton was harvested 
before the weevils could rapidly reproduce and cause significant loss. Immediately 
destroying the cotton stalks eliminated them as a hibernation habitat.
 
37
 Chemical methods of control were tested, but with little initial success. Lead 
arsenate poison in powdered form was used by William Newell, a Georgia state 
entomologist. The results of experiments conducted in 1908, 1909, and later, proved 
?erratic.?  More heartening were experiments with calcium arsenate. In 1916, ?the most 
striking results were obtained in a plot in a field of heavily infested cotton that was 
treated in August. The weevils were effectively controlled, and a fair crop produced of 
cotton the owner had abandoned as an absolute loss.?
   
38
 Calcium arsenate was ?probably the first insecticide resulting from deliberately 
planned manufacture.?
  
39
                                                 
36
  Parencia, ?One Hundred Twenty Years of Research,? 5; Atlanta Constitution, July 10, 1921. 
 The idea originated from William C. Piver, a University of 
North Carolina graduate and young entrepreneur in the insecticide industry. He reasoned 
 
37
  P.B. Haney, W.J. Lewis, and W.R. Lambert, ?Cotton Production and the Boll Weevil in 
Georgia: History, Cost of Control, and Benefits of Eradication,? University of Georgia Research Bulletin 
428, The Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, 
(1996): 10. 
 
38
  Parencia, ?One Hundred Twenty Years of Research,? 8. 
 
39
  Lea S. Hitchner, ?The Insecticide Industry,? Insects, The Yearbook of Agriculture, USDA 
(Washington., D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1952), 451. 
 
 25 
if arsenic, the active ingredient in existing pesticides, could be combined with a more 
common and less expensive ingredient, such as lime, it would be cheaper to manufacture 
than other chemicals in use such as Paris Green (which contains a copper compound) or 
lead arsenate. Orders lagged for Piver?s product until the Delta Laboratory began 
experiments utilizing calcium arsenate in killing boll weevils. ?In 1918, on the basis of 
Government tests, a Federal Entomologist telegraphed Piver for 40 tons of the calcium 
arsenate - the largest single order he had ever received and a third larger than his yearly 
production.?
40
 With further refinement, calcium arsenate unlocked the door to effective pest 
control, not only of cotton, but for other crops as well, and became ?one of the most 
widely used materials throughout the Nation.?
  
41
 Research to improve the physical and 
chemical properties of calcium arsenate and rapidly expand its use against the boll weevil 
was almost entirely the result of work done at the Bureau of Entomology by its research 
laboratory in the Delta under the supervision of Bert Raymond Coad.
 42
 So involved was Coad in the fight, that his name has become synonymous with 
the boll weevil, but his background remains mostly a mystery. What is known is that 
Coad was born on July 4, 1893, in Murphysboro, Illinois, and graduated from high school 
there. During the summer months in 1910, he attended the University of Illinois, taking 
two courses in the college of science, presumably never graduating.
 
43
1966 noted he was survived by his wife, two sons, two daughters, and seven 
 His obituary in 
                                                 
40
  Ibid. 
 
41
  Ibid. 
 
42
  Parencia, ?One Hundred Twenty Years of Research,? 9. 
 
43
  Ellen Fearday, e-mail to author, March 16, 2000. 
 
 26 
grandchildren.
44
 
 Additional familial information on other formal education is lacking. 
Where he was between the years 1910 and 1913, and how he ended up in the Delta, is not 
known. He is often identified as ?Doctor Coad,? but evidence of an earned or honorary 
doctorate degree has not been discovered. Coad was the author or coauthor of many  
 
B. R. Coad in his office at the Delta Laboratory, Tallulah, Louisiana. May 19, 1915. 
Photograph courtesy of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. 
                                                 
44
  Delta Digest, (April, 1966), 12. 
 27 
 
government bulletins on the boll weevil. In these he was never titled, ?Dr.? The 
appellation of ?Doc? was probably first used informally, as a familiar term of respect, 
which then became the honorific. It appears he served an apprenticeship under the 
supervision of W. D. Hunter, and they coauthored several farmer bulletins. The number 
of bulletins Coad authored himself, the quality of his work, his leadership of the 
laboratory, and the esteem to which he was held by others, all attest to his credentials, 
whether formally or informally acquired. 
 Coad is described as a short, ?solemn man (until you get to know him),?
45
 and had 
?little patience with ceremony.?
46
 He is seen most often in photographs with a pipe, and 
was a ?good whiskey drinker.?
47
 Apparently an avid sportsman, in 1922, he was elected 
president of the Bear Lake Hunt Club in Madison Parish. Housed in an elevated single-
level structure with a wraparound porch, it was located approximately nine miles north of 
Tallulah and was likely a center of social activity as well as a base camp. With a 
membership limited to 100, the Vicksburg Herald reported in 1922, the ?members are 
looking forward to a good year of hunting and fishing.?
48
 
 President Theodore Roosevelt 
hunted there in 1907 and described the place in his inimical prose: 
Our new camp was beautifully situated on the bold, steep bank of Bear Lake - a 
tranquil stretch of water, part of an old river-bed, a couple of hundred yards 
broad, with winding length several miles. Giant cypress grew at the edge of the 
                                                 
45
  Madison (Tallulah, Louisiana) Journal, May 1, 1926. 
 
46
  Delta Digest, (April 1966), 12. 
 
47
  Eugene (?Steve?) Stevens, interview by Larry Michaud, Feb. 1984, Casper, Wyoming. Tapes 
and transcript in possession of author. 
 
48
  Madison (Tallulah, Louisiana), Journal, April 15, 1922. 
 
 28 
water, the singular cypress knees rising in every direction round about, while at 
the bottoms of the trunks themselves were often cavernous hollows opening 
beneath the surface of the water, some of them serving as dens for alligators.
49
 
 
  
Roosevelt was successful in tracking and shooting a bear on that outing. A few 
years earlier, during November 1902, Roosevelt and Stuyvesant Fish, president of the 
Illinois Central Railroad, were hunting bear in a similar setting across the Mississippi 
River, in the Sunflower River area of the Delta. Not one was found, except for one the 
guide captured, which he offered to Roosevelt. The president, sportsmanly refused to 
shoot the small black bear, prompting a German manufacturer to produce the first 
?Teddy?s bear.?
50
 LeRoy Percy, a good friend of the president, was among the guests on 
the week-long hunt.
51
 Coad was hired by the Delta Laboratory on April 1, 1913.
 
52
 Through November 
1914, as an entomological assistant, he participated in studies of ?the Thurberia weevil, 
Anthonomus gradis var. thurberia Pierce, a close relative of the boll weevil, in the ?wild 
cotton? of Arizona.?
53
 
 Succeeding G. D. Smith as the director of the Tallulah Laboratory 
in 1915, Coad supervised the laboratory?s development of calcium arsenate into an 
effective agent. 
During the first few years it was used, calcium arsenate was a crude product. First 
                                                 
49
  Theodore Roosevelt, ?Louisiana Canebrakes,? Scribners 43 (January 1908): 55-6. 
 
50
  Baker, Percys of Mississippi , 25; Barry, Rising Tide, 111. 
 
51
  Baker, Percys of Mississippi, 25. 
 
52
   Cleveland and Parencia, ?History of the USDA Cotton Insects Research Laboratory, 1976,? 
406. 
 
53
   B.R. Coad, ?Relation of the Arizona Wild Cotton Weevil to Cotton Planting in the Arid West,? 
Bulletin of the USDA, No. 233 (May 27, 1915): 2. 
 
 29 
the chemists at the Tallulah Laboratory stabilized its physical and chemical 
properties; the dust formulation they developed was considered the best ever, 
from the standpoint of the quantities necessary for good plant coverage. Then the 
Tallulah chemists produced calcium arsenates with varying percentages of water 
soluble arsenic and calcium arsenates containing no free lime; however, none of 
these replaced regular calcium arsenate. Meanwhile, field experiments were being 
conducted in Tallulah and in many places throughout the cotton belt to determine 
the poundage of the chemical and the intervals between applications that would 
give the most returns.
54
 
 
 
 Once modified as an effective insecticide, it was then necessary to develop a 
method of applying calcium arsenate to the plants. Again, the Delta Laboratory was 
instrumental in finding ways to disperse the agent and experimented with various types of 
machinery. Initially these consisted of terrestrial devices, as at this stage aerial 
applications were not being considered.  ?With the cooperation and aid of the Bureau of 
Public Roads, engineers stationed at Tallulah developed a rotary-type hand gun that could 
be used to dust 8 acres of cotton every 4 or 5 days; a 2-nozzle traction machine for 75-
150 acres; power operated machines for 200-300 acres; and tractor operated machines for 
still larger acreages.?
55
 The laboratory designed and tested all types of machinery and any 
innovations, Coad stated, are ?patented in the name of the public, which will prevent any 
manufacturer from naming anybody else.?
56
                                                 
54
 Cleveland and Parencia, ?History of the USDA Cotton Insects Research Laboratory 1976,? 403. 
 For example, the manufacturer of the ?Root 
Saddle Gun,? claimed the device operated from horses or mules, was ?constructed in 
accordance with the specifications of the Delta Laboratory United States Department of 
 
55
  Ibid.  
 
56
  Coad Testimony on Jan. 28, 1924, U.S. Congress, House, Subcommittee on Appropriations, 
Agricultural Appropriations Bill, 1925, Hearings, 68th Congress, 1st. Sess. (Washington, D.C.: 
Government Printing Office, 1924): 165. 
 
 30 
Agriculture, Tallulah, La. They have endorsed its use.?
57
 As poisons and machinery evolved, the laboratory not only recommended 
utilizing the right equipment, but emphasized the importance that planters dust in a timely 
manner. Coad said: 
  
 
We find every year that many farmers fail to realize their danger early enough and 
then start making desperate efforts to poison after the infestation has become very 
heavy. The [sic] scurry around trying to get calcium arsenate and dusting 
machinery, and nearly always there is considerable delay. Even when they get the 
poison and machinery, it is extremely difficult to control weevil infestation after it 
become [sic] severe. There are so many weevil stages present in the square and 
bolls that some of them come out every day and poison must be kept constantly 
on the plants if any good is to be done by it. This very greatly increases the 
expense of poisoning. Then, if there is even a short spell of rainy weather, such 
control that has been gained is lost and the farmer has gone to heavy expense for 
nothing.
58
 
 
 Depending on location, the combined cost of poison and machinery varied 
between five to fifteen dollars per acre.  This expense was prohibitive for tenants and 
small farmers, and it was ?these little farms [that] produce more than 75% of all cotton 
grown in the South? according to a report in the New York Times in 1921. Coad 
acknowledged the problem, stating it was ?the subject of serious consideration,? and that 
he anticipated a four dollar rate with increased availability of the material and possible 
reductions in freight rates.
59
 And machines were not inexpensive either. Depending on the type, the cost could 
vary from fifteen dollars for a hand gun, to six hundred for a two-mule wagon. Coad 
  
                                                 
57
  Madison (Tallulah, Louisiana) Journal, April. 27, 1923. 
 
58
  Ibid., June 3, 1922. 
 
59
  New York Times, Sept. 23, 1921. 
 
 31 
hoped ?that within the near future a dusting machine would be perfected that could be 
sold at a price that will fit the pocketbooks of the little farmers.?
60
 While developments proceeded in the laboratory, farmers in Texas not only 
successfully combated the boll weevil but increased the yield per acre by 35 percent over 
pre-weevil days. The New York Times reported: ?Controlling [the boll weevil] can easily 
be accomplished, as proven in the southwest, but can only be accomplished by intelligent, 
systematic, energetic, intensive cultivation, plus calcium arsenate poisoning, properly 
applied in those areas where infestation has reached more than 10 percent.?
 In addition to the 
expense of material and equipment, applying the poison was costly and inconvenient. 
Calcium arsenate would only stick to plants when dew was present on the cotton stalks, 
which only occurred at night. Coad, considering these factors in 1921, at the time did not 
seem to have contemplated aerial applications as a solution.  
61
 LeRoy 
Percy applied calcium arsenate to some of his fields and, according to his son, William 
Percy; he achieved ?a practically normal yield of high-grade cotton.?
62
 Coffee County agricultural agent John Pitman traveled to Texas in 1913 to learn 
first hand what to expect from the boll weevil when it arrived in Alabama. Returning 
 Intense 
cultivation, with judicious application of calcium arsenate, was proving to be a successful 
strategy. Another was the crop diversification approach, innovatively applied in 
Enterprise, in Coffee County, Alabama.  
home to Enterprise, he encouraged farmers to switch to corn, potatoes, peanuts, and other 
                                                 
60
  Ibid. 
 
61
  James A. Holloman, ?Holloman gives Method Used by Texas Farmers for Mastering weevil,? 
Atlanta Constitution, July 26, 1922. 
 
62
  New York Times, Sept. 23, 1921. 
 
 32 
crops to ?take better care of their land.?
63
 When the weevil arrived, Coffee County ginned 
only 10,000 bales of cotton, each weighing 500 pounds, in 1915 instead of the expected 
30,000.
64
 Realizing the economic effect, Enterprise banker, H. M. Sessions convinced 
farmer C. W. Baston to plant his 125 acres in peanuts. At the end of the season in 1916, 
Baston had earned $8,000, while Enterprise gins baled only 1,500 bales of cotton, down 
from 15,000 in 1914 and 5,000 in 1915. Thus encouraged, many farmers successfully 
followed Baston?s example the following year. To commemorate the community?s 
unexpected victory and economic windfall, a monument was erected in the town?s center 
in honor of the boll weevil. In changing farmer?s attitudes toward cotton, and substituting 
peanuts as the cash crop, the weevil brought prosperity to the region.
65
 The boll weevil did not respect Enterprise?s victory. Adjacent to Alabama, the 
arrival of the boll weevil in Georgia devastated that state?s cotton industry. From a high 
of 2.8 million bales ginned in 1914, the number decreased dramatically beginning with 
the weevil?s arrival in 1915, until only 600,000 bales were produced in 1923, even 
though Georgia leaders were proactive in insect control.
 
 
66
                                                 
63
  Roy Shoffer, Pest of Honor: The Story of the World?s Most Unusual Monument (n.p., 1988), 8. 
  Through the auspices of the 
Georgia State Board of Entomology (GSBE), established in 1898, William Newell, 
Georgia state entomologist and secretary of the board of the GSBE, originated the idea of 
dusting cotton with powdered lead arsenate. He also experimented with ?at least ten 
different insecticides.? In another effort, the GSBE sought to develop a resistant variety 
of cotton. By 1923, the boll weevil was the focus of GSBE investigations, and the state 
 
64
  Ibid., 10. 
 
65
  Ibid., 10-16. 
 
66
  Haney, Lewis, and Lambert, ?Cotton Production and the Boll Weevil in Georgia,? Abstract.     
        
 33 
began distributing calcium arsenate to farmers at cost.
67
 By 1922, the boll weevil had extended its reach to ?almost all of the important 
cotton-producing sections,? and the estimated annual direct loss was ?now well in excess 
of $200,000,000.?
 Looking ahead, Georgia?s 
proactive policy was a likely factor with the location of the world?s first aerial crop 
dusting company in Macon in 1926. 
68
 USDA Farmers? Bulletin No. 1329, ?The Boll-Weevil Problem,? by 
W. D. Hunter and Coad, summarized the recommended methods of direct and indirect 
control to date. The authors suggested cultural preferences, with poisoning as 
supplementary using specialized terrestrial or one or two mule-drawn traction machines. 
Interestingly, in light of the development of aerial applications to come, at this stage of 
mechanization to counter the boll weevil, engine-powered ground equipment was found 
to be ?too complicated for satisfactory operation except by expert labor.? Dusting, the 
bulletin suggested should be done in calm air and with moisture on the plants, meaning 
lots of night-time work for field hands. If that were not enough, in the event of heavy 
rain, dusting had to be repeated within twenty-four hours. Considering the fields would 
likely be too muddy, this might not be possible to accomplish.
69
 During the first two decades of the twentieth century, considerable progress was 
made in meeting the threat of the boll weevil. The bug would not be eradicated, but could 
be controlled by a combination of methods. Cultural, or indirect, methods supplemented 
by the direct application of calcium arsenate, were a solution, but, as with all change, new 
  
                                                 
67
  Ibid., 8, 12. 
 
68
  W. D. Hunter and B. R. Coad, ?The Boll Weevil Problem,? USDA Farmers Bulletin No. 1329 
(Jan. 30, 1923): 2-4. 
 
69
  Ibid., 16. 
 34 
problems arose. Recommended methods of pest control were expensive and labor-
intensive to implement. A new means to dispense poison efficiently and effectively was 
required. First used in the North against tree insects and brought to the Delta for testing 
against the ravenous weevil, the technology was the airplane. Its application innovatively 
merged agriculture and aviation.  
 35 
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 2 
 
Borgias of the Air         
                                                              
The poisoner steers close to the brush, shoots his calcium arsenate, and mixes 
death with Miss Weevils morning tipple. 
 
            Harris Dickson, Saturday Evening Post  
 
 In the spring of 1921, the city entomologist for Cleveland, Ohio, had a problem. 
With the spray equipment he was using, C. R. Neillie was having trouble reaching the 
tops of large, closely spaced trees in a city park. It occurred to him that an airplane, or 
airship, could easily do the job. He contacted state agricultural authorities, and J. S. 
Houser, a forest entomologist with the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, was 
assigned to help him. Together they enlisted the assistance of the Army Air Service at 
McCook Field in Dayton, the service?s aviation research and development center.
1
 Cooperation between the war and agriculture departments was not new. Army 
aircraft were already participating in diverse agricultural activities. Military planes were 
scouting for forest fires in California and Oregon, and the departments had even shared a 
common tragedy. Lt. William H. Tillisch, an army aviator, and E. L. Diven, with the 
Department of Agriculture along as an aerial observer in the aircraft, died on August 7, 
1919, in a crash while looking for violators of Texas crop-control laws. During World 
War I, a cotton-free zone was declared to prevent the spread of pink boll worms from 
Mexico. Aerial searches proved to be much more rapid and successful in finding outlaw 
  
                                                 
1
 Downs and Lemmer, ?Origins of Aerial Crop Dusting,? 124. 
 36 
cotton fields than ground patrols conducted on horseback The agricultural inspectors in 
Texas were enthusiastic with the results.
2
 Neillie and Houser, in their discussions for dispensing insecticides from the air, 
encountered mixed reactions. Some were favorable, but more often they were greeted 
with skepticism and ?much good-natured chaffing.? Fortunately, the officials at McCook 
were supportive of the endeavor and ?entered into the undertaking in a whole-hearted 
manner.? Major Thurman H. Bane, director of McCook Field, and Major Harold S. 
Martin, chief engineer, gave ?priority over everything in the Field for one entire day.?
  
3
 
Mr. Etienne Darmoy, ?a tough, intelligent little Frenchman?
4
 designed a hopper, which 
?consisted of an irregularly shaped flat metal box with a capacity for holding a little more 
than 100 pounds of lead powder.? It was mounted outside the fuselage of a Curtis JN-6, 
adjacent to the observer?s position.
5
 An outbreak of Catalpa Sphinx (Ceratomia catalpae Bdv) in a grove of catalpa 
trees belonging to Harry A. Carver presented Neillie, Houser, and the air service with the 
opportunity to put the idea to a practical test. Located about twenty miles from Dayton, 
 This was not a very aerodynamic arrangement, but it 
served the purpose. To operate the hopper, the observer opened a sliding gate at the 
bottom, and turned a crank which rotated a metering mechanism that fed the powder into 
the aircraft?s slipstream.  
                                                 
2
 Ibid., 123-24. 
 
3
 C. R. Neillie and J. S. Houser, ?Fighting Insects With Airplanes. An Account of the Successful 
Use of the Flying-Machine in Dusting Tall Trees Infested with Leaf-Eating Caterpillars,? National 
Geographic Society 2 (March 1922): 333. The article incorrectly identifies Lt. J. A. Macready as the 
?Acting Chief of the Flying Section.? He was Harold R. Harris?s assistant. Harold R. Harris to Mabry I. 
Anderson, Oct. 15, 1987, file 1, box 3, Harold R. Harris Papers, MS ? 214, Wright State University 
Department of Special Collections and Archives (hereafter cited as Harris Papers, WSUSCA). 
 
            
4
 Mabry I. Anderson, Low & Slow: An Insider?s History of Agricultural Aviation (San Francisco: 
California Farmer Publishing Company, 1986), 7. 
 
            
5
 Neillie and Houser, ?Fighting Insects With Airplanes,? 336. 
 37 
near Troy, Ohio, the grove was situated on level ground, about 800 feet long and 325 feet 
wide, with trees 25 to 30 feet tall. The adjacent field was unobstructed, allowing for a 
low-flying airplane to pass by. Operating out of McCook on August 3, 1921, Lt. John A. 
Macready, with Darmoy handling the dispenser, made six passes, releasing some 175 
pounds of poison in about 54 seconds. According to Neillie and Houser, ?the plane flew  
 
 
Airplane dispensing poison dust on a grove of Catalpa trees near Troy, Ohio. August 3, 
1921. Photograph from author?s collection. 
 
 
 38 
at a speed of eighty miles an hour at an altitude of from 20 to 35 feet and in a line 53 
yards to the windward and parallel the grove. The dense cloud of poison dust thrown out 
behind the moving plane was grasped by the wind and floated through and over the 
grove, covering the foliage in its passage.? The experiment was successful beyond 
everyone?s expectations. The material was placed with precision, and, carried by the 
wind, it dispersed throughout the grove. An assessment determined that less than 1 
percent of the insects remained alive on the trees.
6
 Based on the Troy experiment Julius A. Truesdell, in a January 8, 1922, New York 
Times article, wrote that using aircraft to counter the cotton boll weevil was in the 
planning stages: ?The Committees on Agriculture in House and Senate will this Winter 
take up and discuss an appropriation for the purpose of utilizing the available airplanes of 
the army in experiments over a wide area of test in spraying calcium arsenate to poison 
the weevil. The Department of Agriculture has taken up the matter and the details of the 
problem of airplane spraying are being examined in the light of up-to-date experience.?
 These results were circulated widely 
in agricultural and aviation journals, but developments forged ahead of the published 
reports.  
7
 On February 8, Truesdell appeared before the House of Representatives 
Committee on Agriculture at a hearing on the ?Use of Aircraft.? He identified himself as 
?a farmer from Bluemont, Va.? and declared, ?I am not here representing anybody in 
particular--no associations, no chambers of commerce even, but just simply with an idea, 
and that is the use of the airplane to spray cotton and control the boll weevil.? The Troy 
 
                                                 
6
 Ibid., 337, 338. 
 
7
 Julius A. Truesdell, ?Spraying from Air,? New York Times, Jan. 8, 1922.  
 
 39 
success, Truesdell said, ?suggested to me--I suppose it has to a great many people--the 
use of the airplane to spray cotton.? While Truesdell does not claim to be the first, his is 
the earliest documentation of the idea. He testified that he had spoken with Coad (the 
transcript misspells his name, Cowles) who agreed, reportedly saying, ?it presented a 
proposition that ought to be considered.?
8
 L. O. Howard, chief of the Bureau of 
Entomology, Department of Agriculture, who followed Truesdell in appearing before the 
House committee, believed an arrangement could be worked out with the post office 
department or war department ?to try an experiment with the use of the airplane--I think 
it can be done -- this coming season.?
9
 Support for the idea to dust cotton by air sprang from the New York Times story 
and Truesdell?s and Howard?s congressional testimony. In a National Geographic article 
(published subsequently to Truesdell?s testimony)  Neillie and Houser echoed the idea 
that airplanes could be used to apply poison successfully to low-growing plants such as 
cotton.
 In fact, flights were conducted in August with 
satisfactory results.  
10
 Coad, while he thought airplane dusting should be considered, later equivocated, 
saying, it ?might sound foolish.? His attitude completely changed following tests he 
supervised in Tallulah late in August 1922. He declared ?it proved fairly practical, and 
 Their concurrence likely originated from discussions with Truesdell, who had 
inquired about the Troy test, and was thus not an original idea of their own.  
                                                 
            
8
 Julius A. Truesdell testimony, Feb. 8, 1922, U. S. Congress, House, Committee on Agriculture, 
Use of Aircraft Hearings, 67th Congress, 2nd Sess. (Washington, D.C.: Government printing Office, 1922), 
5. 
 
            
9
 L. O. Howard testimony, Feb. 8, 1922, U. S. Congress, House, Committee on Agriculture, Use of 
Aircraft Hearings, 67th Congress, 2nd Sess. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1922), 10. 
 
           
10
 Neillie and Houser, ?Fighting Insects With Airplanes,? 338. 
 
 40 
not only that, it cost less to use an airplane than the ordinary ground machine.?
11
 
Encouraged, he optimistically predicted ?a great future for airplanes in insect control.?
12
 The airmen who flew in the Troy experiments, Lt. Macready and Darmoy, had not 
encountered any difficulties with the flight (other than the asymmetric drag from the 
hopper). Problems might arise from spraying low-growing crops, but the Troy flight was 
pretty straightforward: ?What had been a big thing to them [the entomologists] had been 
a short, easy flying job for us.?
  
13
 The Troy success stimulated further experimentation. Truesdell reported: 
  
 
It is on this decidedly interesting trial of the airplane in spraying that the 
Department of Agriculture is expecting to build up the plan to fight the cotton boll 
weevil.  There are many details that stand in the way of such an effort. In the first 
place spraying for the boll weevil is done at night, when the dew has gathered on 
the plant and the insect in taking a drink, gets the poison into his ?pantry.? At first 
the field men of the department said the idea of using the airplane for spraying 
cotton could not be made to work because of this condition. But the army air 
service men at once said the night flying under the suggested conditions was 
feasible. 
  ?We have men trained for just this sort of flying.? said one officer who 
took up the subject. ?We have observation planes, bombing plane, pursuit planes, 
all planned for night work, and the service is full of men who are equal to all that 
is called for in this proposition?
14
 
 
 The Delta Laboratory, centrally located in the heart of the Cotton Belt, in the 
flatlands of the Mississippi Delta, was a logical site to conduct low-level flight 
operations. The war department dispatched aircraft from Maxwell Field, at Montgomery, 
                                                 
               
11
 Bert R. Coad testimony, May 8, 1924, U.S. Congress, Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations 
Bill 1925, Hearings, 68th Congress, 1st. Sess. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1924), 157. 
 
12
 Downs and Lemmer, ?Origins of Aerial Crop Dusting,? 129. 
 
13
 Anderson, Low & Slow, 7. 
 
14
 Julius A. Truesdell, ?Spraying from Air,? New York Times, Jan. 8, 1922.  
 
 41 
Alabama, to augment the facilities and personnel of the laboratory. Flights operated not 
against the boll weevil, as contemplated, but against the cotton leaf worm (Alabama 
argillacea, Hubn.). An outbreak in July 1922 proved timely. Because the boll weevil 
affects internal parts of the cotton plant, applications would be more difficult to assess 
than from the more readily observable damage of leaf-feeding insects.
15
 The activities and accomplishments that took place in 1922 appeared in USDA, 
Department Bulletin No. 1204, January 1924, titled, ?Dusting Cotton by Airplanes.? The 
three authors and their affiliations, Coad,  Bureau of Entomology; E. Johnson, 
Agricultural Engineer, Bureau of Public Roads; and Guy L. McNeil, First Lt., Twenty-
Second Observation Squadron, U.S. Air Service; highlight the cooperative nature of the 
undertaking. In a footnote, the authors specifically acknowledge the help of several 
assistants in this epochal work: ?In conducting the experiments described in this bulletin 
the writers were assisted by a number of men from the Delta Laboratory force at Tallulah, 
La. They are particularly indebted to the following: A. J. Chapman, R. H Flake, S. B. 
Hendricks, R. L. Hodges, I. T. Jones, H. Kirkpatrick, P. D. Sanders, C. M. Smith, and M. 
T. Young.?
  The preliminary 
experiments that took place during the summer were rewarding and led to a more 
ambitious program the following season.  
16
                                                 
15
 Downs and Lemmer, ?Origins of Aerial Crop Dusting,? 129. 
 Conspicuously absent from this list is C. E. Woolman?s name. He is often 
identified in secondary literature as an assistant to Coad in the fight against the boll 
weevil, and his partner in the development of aerial techniques.  An inspection of 
Woolman?s field diaries from July 1916 through June 1919 and loose pages of his field 
 
16
 B. R. Coad, E. Johnson, and G. L. McNeil, ?Dusting Cotton From Airplanes,? USDA 
Department Bulletin No. 1204 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1924): 1. 
 
 42 
diary from January to November 1922, do not mention working with or meeting with 
Coad, though Woolman frequently visited Tallulah.
17
 What is remarkable is the rapidity in which interdepartmental resources were 
arranged, and the wholeheartedness of the military?s cooperation. The air service made a 
significant commitment to the project, and would have made more had funding been 
approved by Congress. When Truesdell appeared before the House committee, he 
testified that Gen. Mason Patrick, in charge of the Army Air Service, thought ?the use of 
commercial aircraft as being a great auxiliary for the maintenance of the Air Service of 
the Army.? In this light, Truesdell outlined a state/federal cooperative effort to utilize the 
aircraft?s mobility to centralize operations and efficiently dust cotton.  
 More time will pass before 
Woolman played a role in the evolution of Delta Air Lines. 
 
It is not expected that this thing can be done by individuals. The entomologists 
ought to divide the cotton country up into districts. They ought to maintain in 
each district a headquarters. The States Relations Service ought to be coordinated 
with it and you can arrange to transfer any areas that are to be sprayed. The plane 
can go under its own motive power to any field within a considerable distance, 
and there can be reserve airplanes. The expense of it will be very slight if it is 
taken up by the State and Federal Governments and distributed over the acreage, 
much less than spraying individually, as is done now, which is very expensive.
18
 
 
With the exception of the government?s involvement, Truesdell?s vision presciently 
described the economic benefit of centralized aerial applications, taking advantage of the 
aircraft?s speed and mobility to offset high operating costs. Historian Pete Daniel argues a 
similar model, substituting capital for labor, would lead to the end of the cotton culture in 
                                                 
17
 ?Field diaries.? Collett Everman Woolman Papers, 1916-1979, Louisiana State University 
Libraries Special Collections (hereafter cited as Woolman Papers, LSULSC). 
 
18
 Truesdell testimony, 7. 
 
 43 
the post World War II period.
19
 In 1922 two Hispano-powered Curtiss JN-6Hs, piloted by First Lt. Guy McNeil 
and First Lt. Charles T. Skow, were ordered to Tallulah from the Montgomery 
Intermediate Depot, Alabama, at Maxwell Field. Headquarters, 22
nd
 Squadron released 
them on detached duty to the Department of Agriculture under the authority of a 4
th
 
Corps Area Headquarters letter, dated August 10, 1922.
 Large operators, using expensive machinery to farm large 
tracts of land, drove small cotton farmers out of business. 
20
 McNeil and Skow were 
accompanied by three airmen and support equipment, including acetylene lights, which 
suggests night operations were contemplated, wind gauges, and other equipment. Skow 
participated from August 13 to August 26, when Lt. Simon replaced him.
21
 A meadow, 
just outside of town on Shirley Plantation, served as a landing field and operating base.
22
 Together, Lt. McNeil, Coad, and Johnson worked out a plan of action and 
coordinated the air operation. They sought to answer two questions. First, could aircraft 
be maneuvered in such a way to over fly entire cotton fields? Second, could the dust be 
distributed in such a manner so as to reach all parts of the plants, adhere to the stalks, and 
control the insects?
  
23
 When they arrived, the aircraft were not configured for dusting. The Troy hopper 
could not be used because it remained in Ohio. In May flights were conducted against the 
  
                                                 
19
 Pete Daniel, Lost Revolutions:  The South in the 1950s (Chapel Hill: University of North 
Carolina Press, 2000): 61. 
 
20
 ?Personal Report--Officers,? Guy L. McNeil, August 1922, Call number 167.4115-8, IRIS No. 
912098, Air Force Historical Research Agency (hereafter cited as AFHRA). 
 
21
 ?Personal Report--Officers,? Charles T. Skow, August 1922, Call number 167.4115 -8, IRIS 
No. 912498, AFHRA; Coad, Johnson, and McNeil, ?Dusting Cotton From Airplanes,? 2. 
 
22
 Downs and Lemmer, ?Origins of Aerial Crop Dusting,? 129.  
 
23
 Ibid.  
 
 44 
cankerworm on the ?beautiful estate of John. L. Serverance? near Cleveland, Ohio, and, 
in June, a grove of catalpa trees was treated near Casstown, Ohio. A severe rainstorm 
limited the effectiveness of the May test, but the Casstown treatment was ?very 
successful.?
24
 Without the Troy hopper, attempts were made to release bags of calcium 
arsenate by hand over the side, or through a hole in the bottom of the airplane. This 
method was unsatisfactory. The Troy hopper was eventually shipped to Tallulah, but it 
arrived too late to be of much use. By then two improved models, internally mounted, 
had been fabricated.
25
 The new hoppers were mounted inside the fuselage, taking up half the space of 
the observer?s compartment. One model was termed the ?hand cranked? type. The other 
had an ?air-suction? arrangement, with a funnel facing forward into the air stream, which 
created a suction effect at the discharge end to draw the dust out. Each design required 
the operator to stand in the reduced space of the aft crew position. Once completed no 
further attempts were made to improve the crude hoppers or perfect the mechanical 
deliver of the dust during the course of experiments that summer.
 
26
The Shirley and Hermione plantations near Tallulah were similar to many 
plantations heavily infected with leaf worms. They represented unique conditions and 
challenging flight operations and were therefore selected for the study. Shirley Plantation 
had smaller fields dotted with cabins, while Hermione Plantation permitted longer 
 Imperfect as they 
were, the new hoppers were used in the tests to verify aerial applications. 
                                                 
            
24
 ?Aircraft Declares War on Insects,? The Slipstream Monthly, 4 (1923): 24-25.  
 
            
25
 Coad, Johnson, and McNeil, ?Dusting Cotton From Airplanes,? 2, 7. 
 
            
26
 Ibid., 3-9. 
 
 45 
 
 
Air suction type hopper before installation--note discharge handle on right. The unit and 
its operator were located in the rear cockpit of the aircraft. Photograph courtesy Louisiana 
Department of Agriculture and Forestry. 
 
 46 
 
View of air suction hopper installed in Lieutenant McNeil?s Hispano-powered Curtiss 
JN-6H. August 31, 1922. Photograph courtesy Louisiana Department of Agriculture and 
Forestry. 
 
straight-line flights and the cabins were situated along the perimeter of the fields. A 
sketch map with the fields numbered identified sites targeted for the study. These maps 
were inadequate to the needs of pilots and researchers, and, as a part of the air service?s 
contribution, reconnaissance photos were taken and mosaic maps created depicting the 
various test fields. Unfortunately these maps were not available until later, and ?in 
arranging the program of work for the day, it frequently proved difficult to provide a 
description based on ground conditions which would exactly locate the area in mind. 
Such a mosaic map would also have been of great value in planning in advance the 
 47 
methods of flight for each field.?
27
  With the aircraft properly equipped and other preparations completed as best 
possible, the moment of truth was at hand. The ?first flights furnished an absolute 
surprise.? As it exited the plane, calcium arsenate was ?immediately broken up into a 
circular cloud which was quickly blown down among the plants.? The combination of the 
aircraft?s wash and propeller blast overcame the ?light breezes, or other slight air 
movements existing on the ground.? Flights continued under a variety of conditions, and 
careful records were kept, including readings ?taken at five-minute intervals on both 
wind velocity and wind direction throughout the day for the period of the experiment.?
 
28
 The scientists were ?astonished? to discover that adhesion of the chemical to 
plants was superior to that of ground equipment. The reason was not immediately 
understood, but this phenomenon obviated the need for night operations.
  
29
  George Post 
wrote: ?Reasons for this surprising adhesion were at first hand rather hard to find, but 
later tests have fully substantiated the correctness of the original observations, and it is 
now felt that the combined effect of the powerful air blast, and an appreciable amount of 
static electricity, formed during the violent ejection of the dust through the hopper orifice, 
are responsible for the usual results obtained.?
30
 The planes could be flown safely in the early morning and late afternoon. But 
?low flying during the middle of the day [was] dangerous on account of rough air, and 
  
                                                 
27
 Ibid., 9-12. 
 
28
 Ibid., 9, 15, 16. 
 
29
 Ibid., 21. 
 
              
30
 George B. Post, ?Boll Weevil Control by Airplane,? Georgia State College of Agriculture, 
Extension Division Bulletin 301 (Nov. 1924): 9. 
 
 48 
the air temperature [was] such that the motors overheat very badly in a short time.? In 
conducting the flights, the fundamentals of crop dusting were established. Each field was 
studied and treated individually, taking into consideration the wind direction and speed. 
To treat a field, a pilot entered the field by diving to the proper altitude, skimming swiftly 
over the tops of the plants, releasing the pesticide, zooming upward at the end, turning 
around, and flying back and forth, covering the entire field from one side to the other. 
With experience, pilots developed techniques to maneuver the aircraft ?to deliver dust 
into almost any field which would be encountered.? Flagmen directed pilots to insure 
thoroughness of treatment, but in almost all tests dust was applied unevenly due to faults 
in the feeders, necessitating repeat passes. Nonetheless, air applications were estimated to 
use two pounds of calcium arsenate per acre, whereas ground machines required five 
pounds. Coad, Johnson, and McNeil anticipated even greater efficiency would be 
achieved with an aircraft capable of carrying a larger payload, and with a more reliable 
dispensing system--one operated solely by the pilot.
31
 As the summer?s activities wound down, the results were encouraging. Pilots had 
demonstrated that aircraft could be operated successfully under a variety of conditions to 
dispense dust accurately and efficiently, at low altitude, during daytime. The question 
remained whether aerial applications would be successful against the boll weevil, but the 
prospects were promising. Following treatment for leaf worm control, ?it was suddenly 
noted that cotton squares not infested with the weevils were becoming fairly common, 
and by the end of the experimental period both plantations were blooming rather freely 
wherever the poisoning had been done.? The demonstrations appeared to show less 
  
                                                 
31
 Coad, Johnson, and McNeil, ?Dusting Cotton From Airplanes,? 21, 22-25, 31, 37. 
 
 49 
poison was needed to treat leaf worms than would be necessary to control the boll weevil. 
Whether the boll weevil could be controlled by aerial applications remained uncertain, 
but the team thought ?all records bearing on this question appear to furnish decidedly 
favorable indications of success.?
32
 With this encouraging information in hand, the Department of Agriculture 
appealed to Congress for $5,000,000 to buy calcium arsenate to distribute to farmers at 
cost, and spread it by using army aircraft.
 
33
 This subsidy would help small planters in 
particular, who found the cost ?burdensome.?
34
 But the money was not authorized, and 
the army was only able to send three aircraft to Louisiana in 1923.
35
 Lt. McNeil was 
ordered to return to Tallulah, with ?two flying sergeants and some enlisted men,? where 
he served as commander, Air Service Detachment, Delta Laboratory, from April through 
August.
36
 The airplanes used for the second round of tests were DeHavilland 4B models, 
powered by a 420-horsepower (HP) Liberty engine, and capable of carrying between 
500-700 pounds. ?The greater lift and power of this plane makes it possible to climb 
much more rapidly, and thus it could more easily avoid obstructions than the Curtiss. On 
the other hand in some flying its much larger size might prove a handicap.?
37
                                                 
32
 Ibid., 33, 40. 
 
Arrangements were also made by the Department of Agriculture to use the aircraft to take 
 
33
 ?Army Planes to Fight Louisiana Boll Weevil,? New York Times, March 14, 1923. 
 
34
 ?The Fight for Cotton,? New York Times, June 10, 1923. 
 
35
 ?Army Planes to Fight Louisiana Boll Weevil,? New York Times, March 14, 1923. 
 
36
 ?Aircraft Declares War on Insects,? The Slipstream Monthly, 4 (1923): 27. ?Personal Report - 
Officers,? Guy L. McNeil, April through August 1923, Call number 167.4115-8, IRIS No. 912098, 
AFHRA.  
 
37
 Coad, Johnson, and McNeil, ?Dusting Cotton From Airplanes,? 39. 
 
 50 
aerial photographs of selected fields to compare the surveys with the figures in official 
reports.
38
 There were two objectives for the 1923 tests. The first was to show the airplane 
could be economically and efficiently utilized to combat the boll weevil on a community-
wide basis. The other was to improve the delivery system. Better results were anticipated 
with the DH4B aircraft and a new dispenser. A. L. Morse, from the Engineering Division 
at McCook Field, was assigned to assist Coad in developing a more functional 
distributor. Morse reported, ?most of our time has been spent in testing many types of 
ventilators and mechanical agitators used in distributing the powder. Calcium arsenate is 
being used as poison to fight the insects. ?Generally 350 pounds of the powder are 
carried aloft at each test.?
 
39
 
  
The devices include the mechanical agitator, which prevents clogging of dust in 
the hopper, feed gates that equaled the width of the fuselage of the applicator 
aircraft and funnels or spreaders mounted underneath the fuselage and dust 
hopper to mix the dust with air and improve the uniformity of distribution of 
materials. The progress made under the supervision of Dr. Coad at the Delta 
Laboratory established aerial application of pesticides as a practical process.
40
  
 
 On the basis of the 1923 experiments, Coad went before Congress in 1924 
seeking money to develop a more suitable airplane than the military types used to date. 
?You have to have a plane for different purposes the same as motor vehicles.? In his 
testimony Coad disclosed that commercial organizations were prepared to begin aerial 
                                                 
38
 ?Photographs From Air to Fix Cotton Acreage,? New York Times, April 5, 1923. 
 
39
 ?Fighting Boll Weevil by Means of Airplanes,? Aviation (Aug. 20, 1923): 210-12; ?Aircraft 
Declares War on Insects,? The Slipstream Monthly, 4, (1923): 25. 
 
40
 Brian R. Baker, ?Early Dusting Experiments,? American Aviation Historical Society (Summer 
1969): 117. 
 
 51 
dusting in Greenville and San Antonio.
41
 ?On invitation of Coad, [Huff Daland] had representatives at Tallulah as early as 
1923 working on a special dusting airplane for agricultural officials.?
 The firms were not named, but it is likely there 
was only one firm and that was Huff Daland, Inc. in Ogdensburg, New York. George B. 
Post, a pilot with Huff Daland, traveled widely as he investigated commercial 
opportunities for his company.  
42
 Post recognized the advantages of airplane dusting. It would use less calcium 
arsenate to cover a given field. It could be applied during daytime and it did not require 
dew, so night applications would be eliminated. The calcium arsenate could be dispensed 
immediately after a heavy rain, with no delay from muddy fields. A single aircraft would 
cover 200-1000 acres per hour, as opposed to 30 acres by other means. Each airplane 
would be so efficient that it could replace fifty to seventy-five horse carts, and, because 
the airplane was so highly mobile, it could operate throughout the Cotton Belt. With 
airplanes, farmers could respond immediately to an unexpected discovery of an 
infestation.
 The airplane had 
to carry a good load, be highly maneuverable, and powerful enough to operate safely at 
low altitudes in confined areas. Several models and variations were tested in conjunction 
with the Delta Laboratory. 
43
 Much as Truesdell anticipated, Post envisioned a decentralized commercial 
operation with small units operating relatively independently throughout a cotton 
 
                                                 
41
 Coad Testimony, 157, 162. 
 
42
 Downs and Lemmer, ?Origins of Aerial Crop Dusting,? 131. 
 
43
 Post, ?Boll Weevil Control by Airplane,? 5-7. 
 
 52 
growing district. A centrally located repair depot would maintain the equipment and store 
aircraft over the winter. Post thought nine dusting units could be operated with three held 
in reserve. The nine units could treat approximately 65,000 acres per year. Dusting 
contracts would be obtained from farmers at a lower overall cost to them than previous 
methods.
44
 Encouraged, Coad addressed a letter to the Huff Daland Company in Ogdensburg, 
dated July 23, 1924. His purpose seems intended to lend scientific support for the 
viability of a fledgling company by confirming the airplane?s effectiveness in the war 
against the boll weevil to assuage lingering doubts of corporate officials on the verge of 
investing hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new business venture. Coad wrote, ?I 
would say that while airplane dusting is certainly in the developmental stage, the main 
features of whether or not it is successful and profitable have decidedly passed the 
experimental stage.?
 This is essentially the plan that was implemented, to be discussed in the next 
chapter.  
45
 
 He anticipated the technology was mature enough to be expanded 
into commercial use. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
44
 Ibid., 19-21. 
 
45
B. R. Coad to Huff Daland Dusters, Inc., July 23, 1924, in Post, ?Boll Weevil Control by 
Airplane,? 4-5. 
 53 
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 3                                                                          
Corporate Pioneer in the Delta 
 
[Richard F.] Hoyt was one of the of the earliest aviation financiers. In spite of his 
many and complicated financial transactions--a corollary of his principal business 
as a partner of Hayden, Stone--many fliers felt that he had a sportsman?s interest 
in aviation, and had furthered its development. 
 
Elsbeth Freudenthal, The Aviation Business:  
From Kitty Hawk to Wall Street 
 
 Following World War I the ready availability of a large numbers of surplus 
military aircraft reduced the availability of investment capital necessary to design and 
build new aircraft and retarded the advancement of the aviation industry. Nevertheless, 
some research and development did occur. A new private enterprise opened in 
Ogdensburg, in the Thousand Islands Region of New York, in 1920; it was the result of a 
United States Army competition to design an improved training aircraft.
1
 Thomas H. 
Huff and Elliott Daland, both engineers, designed the winning entry. Huff was the 
president and Daland vice-president of Huff Daland Airplane Company. They joined with 
Joseph Leyare to use the vacant factory space of his Leyare Boat Works in ?the 
construction of airplanes, hydroplanes and hydroairplanes.?
2
                                                 
1
 Ogdensburg Journal, Nov. 15, 1920. 
 Begun as a small enterprise 
in upstate New York, the company was to have a far-reaching and long-lasting influence 
on American aviation. 
 
2
 Ibid., April 26, 1920. 
 54 
 That Ogdensburg figured prominently in fostering the 1929 emergence of Delta 
Air Service in Monroe, Louisiana, is understood by historians, but it is important to keep 
in mind from the outset that this process was evolutionary and not the calculated result of 
a grand design or from any special insight. What is significant is that Huff and Daland 
were innovative aircraft designers and manufacturers who actively sought to adapt their 
military designs for commercial purposes. Their efforts propelled the Huff Daland 
Company to the forefront of American civil aviation. In seeking commercial applications,  
 
 
 
Cotton dusting machines assemble at Scott, Mississippi. August 1920. Photograph 
courtesy Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. 
 
 
 55 
the company modified one of its military models for agricultural purposes, after which a 
subsidiary, Huff Daland Dusters, under the management of George B. Post, became the 
world?s first crop dusting company. Eventually this firm evolved into Delta Air Lines, 
one of the great enterprises in the first century of flight.  
 
 
 
Mansford, Louisiana, September 21, 1925. Air view of different types of dusters: 
airplane duster, power duster, four-row mule, two row mule, saddle gun, and hand gun. 
Photograph courtesy of Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. 
 
Why Ogdensburg? The Ogdensburg Journal credits R. J. Donahue, president of 
the National Bank of Ogdensburg, for bringing the availability of the Leyare Boat Works 
to the attention of Thomas Huff and his associate Causten Brown, the secretary treasurer 
 56 
of the company.
3
 Joseph Leyare had personal experience in aircraft construction from 
working with Curtiss during World War I, and had produced high-speed watercraft.
4
 His 
vacant factory and a pool of skilled labor were immediately available. Because 
woodworking craftsmanship was a necessary skill in manufacturing boats as well as the 
aircraft of the era, the arrangement was mutually beneficial to Leyare, Huff, and the 
municipality. Another inducement to locate the company in the community came via the 
chamber of commerce, which ?agreed to raise the sum of $3000 to pay for the rental of 
the Leyare plant for a year and place it in readiness for occupancy.?
5
 Incorporated in 
Delaware in 1920 and initially known as the Ogdensburg Aeroway Corporation, the firm 
had capital stock of $150,000, but reportedly involved no local financing.
6
 Thomas Henri Huff was born in Glassboro, New Jersey, on June 22, 1892. He 
attended the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
where he instructed in aeronautical engineering from 1915 to1916. From 1917 to1919 he 
was chief engineer at the Standard Aero Corporation where Elliot Daland was similarly 
employed from 1918-1919. Daland, born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on January 3, 
1886, was educated in private schools and graduated from Harvard in 1909 with a B. A. 
degree. His advanced education included studies in applied science in 1910 and later, in 
1918, aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 
7
                                                 
3
 Ibid., April 19, June 2, 1920. 
 The 
 
4
 Ibid., April 26, 1920. 
 
5
 Ibid., May 20, 1920. 
 
6
 Ibid., June 2, 1920. 
 
7
  Writers Program, Works Project Administration, Who?s Who in Aviation, a Directory of Living 
Men and Women Who Have Contributed to the Growth of Aviation in the United States 1942-1943, 
(Chicago: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, 1942), 102, 209.  
 57 
Ogdensburg Journal was effusive in its praise of its new citizens and the opportunity they 
brought to the community: ?The men connected with the project are thoroughly 
acquainted with their business, splendid gentlemen and are backing the enterprise with all 
their energy to make it a great, big humming success.?
8
 One early employee, hired as a stenographer, was destined to have a long career 
with Delta Air Lines. Catherine FitzGerald was born in Ogdensburg on September 21, 
1897. Locally raised and educated at St. Mary?s Academy and the Ogdensburg Business 
School, by 1923 she was at work with Huff Daland, where she remained for two years 
until the company moved to Bristol, Pennsylvania, in 1925. A few months later she 
relocated to Monroe, Louisiana, in the Mississippi Delta, but for the time being she chose 
to remain close to home. 
 
 On June 30, 1920, George Post landed in Ogdensburg on a pioneering flight from 
New York City. Post shared the controls of an aircraft identified as a Huff Daland 
?Model F?
9
 flying boat with Lt. Virgil McKennea. Post, like Catherine FitzGerald, had 
ties to the area. He was the nephew of Col. William H. Post and related to a Mrs. Edward 
Crabb, both prominent Thousand Islands area residents.
10
                                                                                                                                                 
  
 During the summer, the flying 
boat created a sensation, carrying passengers at Casino Island, near Alexandria, and at the 
Ogdensburg fair. News articles reflect the delight of passengers, and people envisioned 
establishing an air route to New York City. This publicity buttressed the already 
favorable opinion of the company, even before the production of machines began.  
8
 Ogdensburg Journal, July 3, 1920. 
 
9
 Most likely a Curtiss Model F Flying Boat as Huff Daland had not yet produced any aircraft of 
its own. 
  
10
 Ogdensburg Journal, June 30; July 7, 22, 23, 1920.  
 
 58 
 George Birkbeck Post was born on January 9, 1897, in New York City. He 
attended Cornell University for three years studying mechanical engineering. He was 
briefly associated with the Standard Aero Corporation doing experimental work, 
coincidently at the same time as Thomas Huff and Elliot Daland. He attended navy 
primary flight training at Bayshore, Long Island, in 1918 and continued with advanced 
training at Pensacola. He held Naval Aviator Certificate number 1198. Before joining 
Huff Daland, Post had accumulated several hundred hours of flight time in many 
different types of aircraft.
11
 Post was an initial director of the Huff Daland Aero Corporation, a subsidiary 
sales company incorporated in June 1921, to market a new commercial, three-passenger 
design.
  
12
 He resigned from the parent Huff Daland Company in November and returned 
to New York, but early the following year, when a new military and passenger model was 
produced, joined Archibald Johnston and Philip H. Gray to open a sales office in Kansas 
City.
13
 Not until the fall of 1920--late, but nonetheless timely in meeting the army?s 
deadline--did Huff Daland complete its first airplane under its initial army contract. 
Identified as the H-D 4 and powered by a 140-HP A. B. C. Wasp engine, ?the fuselage is 
of special interest in that the lorogens [longerons] are carried directly to the upper wing, 
eliminating the use of the center section struts and wires. These give rigidity to the 
 A few years later Post played a seminal role in the formation of Huff Daland 
Dusters. 
                                                 
11
 ?Who?s Who in American Aeronautics,? Aviation (August 1921): 194. 
 
12
 New York Times, June 17, 1921. 
 
13
 Ogdensburg Journal, June 20, 1921; March 4, 1922. 
 
 59 
structure, an additional factor of safety for the pilot and student. A special feature of the 
design is the entire absence of any wires. It is of the rigid trussed type with the struts of 
special Huff-Daland design.? The aircraft was shipped ?by express? to McCook Field in 
Dayton, Ohio, for evaluation.
14
 In January 1921 the local newspaper proudly noted that 
the factory was busy building seven airplanes, ?one of them for a Boston party who 
expects to use it in passenger and freight service? and employed about fifty workers.
15
 In January 1922 Huff Daland won another competition and the government 
awarded a new contract, this time for an improved type of training airplane to be used by 
both the army and navy. The new design, named the ?Petrel,? exemplified the company?s 
philosophy of simplicity in design to facilitate production and repair, and to reduce 
costs.
 
The company?s intent to provide commercial machines was evident from its earliest days. 
16
 In a test flight, flown by Post with his sales associate Gray aboard, the ??Petrel? 
broke all records for speed and climb for a machine with a 90-horse power Curtiss 
motor.?
17
 Favorable tests were conducted at McCook Field where Lt. Harold R. Harris, 
who would soon work with Huff Daland Dusters, served as one of the army?s test 
pilots.
18
 Harris was born in 1897 in Chicago, but raised in Los Angeles, California. He 
graduated from the California Institute of Technology and served in Italy as an army pilot 
  
                                                 
14
 Ibid., Nov. 15, 1920. 
 
15
 Ibid., Jan. 20, 1921. 
 
16
 Ibid., March 4, 1922. 
 
17
 Ibid., March 9, 1922. 
 
18
 Ibid., March 4, June 10, 1922. 
 
 60 
conducting Caproni bomber operations during World War I.
19
 
 
After World War I, from 1918 to 1925, Harris served as Test Pilot and 
Chief of Flight Test Research for the Army Air Corps at McCook Field. He 
played an active role in setting up and operating the first lighted airway, an 80-
mile stretch of land between Columbus and Dayton, Ohio. In 1922, while a test 
pilot at McCook Field Harris, then a Lieutenant became the first [military] pilot in 
this country to resort to a parachute in an emergency when he bailed out of his 
disintegrating experimental pursuit plane near Dayton, Ohio. Also during this 
time Harris competed in many Aviation meets, and in 1926 held thirteen world 
flying records.
20
 
 
 Huff Daland expected to win the army competition with the Petrel and anticipated 
selling twenty commercial models in the coming year. Needing to expand its facilities, 
the company found extra space along the waterfront on Riverside Avenue.
21
 The two 
plants operated simultaneously and hummed with activity from a rush order from the 
government for pontoons to be delivered by early spring. In addition to its aircraft orders 
this contract kept the plants working night and day.
22
 Almost out of the blue, so to speak, a new opportunity materialized for an 
agricultural aircraft. The Ogdensburg Journal reported on Dec. 19, 1923 that ?T. Porter 
and Thomas Huff have been in Pensacola, Florida and Tallulah [sic], Miss. [sic], in 
connection with securing a contract for constructing machines to be used for spraying 
cotton fields with boll weevil exterminators.?
  
23
                                                 
19
 ?Brief Biographical Sketch,? Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 George Post had recently conducted tests 
with the Petrel on a visit to Tallulah, to determine its suitability for crop-dusting 
 
20
 Ibid. 
 
21
 Ibid., March 14; June 10, 1922. 
 
22
 Ogdensburg Advance, Nov. 8, Dec. 13, 1923. 
 
23
 Ogdensburg Journal, Dec.19, 1923. 
 
 61 
purposes. He departed from Tallulah en route to Brooks Field at San Antonio, Texas. 
About 200 miles into his flight, he had engine trouble and made a forced landing. 
Although he escaped without injury, the severely damaged aircraft was shipped back to 
Ogdensburg for extensive repairs.
24
 Possibly this incident gave rise to the apocryphal story that Post had lost power 
while flying over Tallulah, precipitating an unexpected landing. This supposed chance 
meeting with Coad and Woolman at the Delta Laboratory caused Post to discover the 
crop-dusting experiments underway. So the story goes, when he returned to Ogdensburg 
he then encouraged Huff Daland to design an aircraft to meet the special needs of 
agricultural flying. Clearly Post, Huff, and Daland were already aware of the activities at 
Tallulah, and the decision to develop an agricultural aircraft would not have required 
Post?s discovery. It is a testament to their decisiveness and the company?s manufacturing 
capabilities, that one of Huff Daland?s designs was quickly adapted for crop dusting 
purposes.  
  
These features were described years later in a letter by Woolman to Loyd 
Stearman in response to Stearman?s request for the characteristics of a successful duster 
design. 
 
  The most satisfactory airplane; and the airplane which is standard in our 
operations, is the old Keystone ?Puffer,? originally manufactured by Huff Daland 
Airplane Company, and which we have continued to build for our own use, and 
which seems to incorporate most of the desirable features; in fact, we have found 
nothing quite as satisfactory. 
 Generally speaking, a dusting plane should have a quick takeoff and a 
slow landing speed, good visibility (and I would emphasize this point), and should 
be very maneuverable. It should be ruggedly built, especially the landing gear 
which should be equipped with balloon or semi-balloon tires. It should have good 
load carrying capacity both from the standpoint of weight and cubic capacity 
                                                 
24
 Ibid., Dec. 11, 1923. 
 62 
which should be locate as near the center of gravity as possible. The opening of 
the dustbin should be sufficiently large and so located as to facilitate fast loading. 
The power plant should be ample for cruising at 80 or 90 m.p.h. with ample 
reserve for steep climbs in order to clear obstacles at the ends of the fields which 
are sometimes well over 100 ft. Gas capacity should be sufficient for four or five 
hours with the tanks located in the upper wings. Exhaust stacks should not 
exhaust over the top wing nor under the ship as sparks might ignite the 
inflammable dust.
25
 
 
With the exception of balloon tires, a later modification, and perhaps the location of 
exhaust stacks, these features were incorporated to meet the design specifications 
resulting from experiments conducted in 1922 at the Delta laboratory under Coad?s 
direction, using obsolescent aircraft on loan from the military.
26
 In April 1924, preparations were in progress for Huff Daland?s new type of 
flyer.
  
27
 Lt. Harris from McCook Field and Sgt. William McConnell from the Department 
of Agriculture, tested the prototype on July 28 and 30.
28
 The airplane then left for 
Tallulah on August 4, piloted by Sgt. McConnell and accompanied by Harris and Daland. 
Daland was along to spend some time with Coad and others in evaluating the 
experimental activities underway at the Delta Laboratory. 
29
  Huff Daland continued to design and test newer models. In February 1925, Harris 
tested a large duster aircraft under difficult conditions on the windy, ice-covered St. 
Lawrence River. Weather cancelled flight operations on the appointed day. A few days 
 
                                                 
25
 C. E. Woolman to Lloyd Stearman, April 19, 1944, copy courtesy Marie Force, Delta Air Lines 
Corporate Archives (hereafter cited as DALCA). 
 
26
 Post, ?Boll Weevil Control by Airplane,? 12-15. 
 
27
 Ogdensburg Journal, April 30, 1924. 
 
28
 Ibid., July 29, 30, 1924. 
 
29
 Ibid., August 4, 1924. 
 
 63 
later more favorable flying conditions permitted the test to proceed.
30
 On hand to observe 
the event were Flight Commander Hobbs with the Canadian Department of Aviation, 
Commander Zarr representing the Argentine air forces, and Elmer Johnson chief engineer 
at the Department of Agriculture laboratories at Tallulah, La. and other interested 
airplane representatives.
31
 This duster was capable of carrying a heavier load, lessening 
the need for more frequent landings with the smaller model. Demonstrations on peach 
orchards in Georgia conducted in November 1924 and again in March 1925, had 
determined the need for a larger capacity.  Oliver Snapp of the United States Peach Insect 
Laboratory, Fort Valley, Georgia, reported that ?in order to make commercial airplane 
dusting of peach orchards more economical the capacity of the hopper in the ships should 
be increased? requiring a larger ship.
32
 The test aircraft had the smaller capacity hopper.
33
 It was apparent Huff Daland was outgrowing its facilities in Ogdensburg. A larger 
factory was found in Bristol, Pennsylvania on thirty acres fronting the Delaware River.
 
34
 
The move was completed in September 1925, when the last three planes, built for the 
Argentine government, were shipped south as soon as they were finished, even before 
being test flown.
35
 During the five years Huff Daland was in Ogdensburg, the company improved 
 
                                                 
30
 Ibid., Feb. 27, March 2, 1925. 
 
31
 New York Times, March 2, 1925. 
 
32
 Oliver I. Snapp, ?Airplane Dusting of Peach Orchards,? Journal of Economic Entomology 19 
(June 1926): 453, 459.  
 
33
 Macon (Georgia) Daily Telegraph, Nov. 25, 1924; March 5, 19, 1925; Houston (Georgia) Home 
Journal, March 5, 1925. 
 
34
 Ogdensburg Journal, May 23, 1925; Bristol (Pennsylvania) Courier, May 21, 22, 1925. 
 
35
 Ogdensburg Journal, August 27, 1925; ?Announcing the opening of Huff Daland & Company?s 
new airplane factory at Bristol, Pa.,? Aviation (Oct. 5, 1925): 457. 
 
 64 
manufacturing processes and advanced airplane performance and design.
36
 The 
elimination of wire bracing by the use of stronger wing structures and the use of welded 
steel tubing in the construction of fuselages were two advancements.
37
 The company 
continually looked for new nonmilitary, commercial uses of aircraft. An ambulance 
design, photo-mapping plane, and crop-dusting models were all contemplated or 
developed.
38
 A person who played a little recognized role in the evolution of Delta Air Lines 
was Richard Farnsworth Hoyt. Notwithstanding his high profile in business, society, and 
sport, Hoyt is noteworthy for his promotion of aviation. As a New York banker and 
financier, Hoyt ?was regarded as Wall Street?s aviation oracle, a gatekeeper of its inside 
paradise, the man to see about any proposition that had to do with aviation.?
 The careers of many people began with the company in Ogdensburg. 
39
 In his 
capacity as a partner in the Hayden, Stone & Co, investment banking firm, with offices in 
New York and Boston, Hoyt played a crucial role in creating some of aviation?s giants 
such as Pan American Airways and the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. Not only did he help 
to broker deals, he held positions on several boards of directors. From his financial and 
executive perches, he wielded his power, influence, and vision.
40
                                                 
36
 For Huff Daland aircraft designs refer to Walt Boyne, ?Huff Daland in 3-D,? Wings 7 (1977): 5-
63. 
 And, almost inevitably 
it would seem, when Huff Daland outgrew its first home in upstate New York and moved 
to new quarters outside Philadelphia, Hoyt became involved in Delta?s evolution. 
 
37
 Ogdensburg Journal, Jan.17, 1922. 
 
38
 Ibid., May 10, 1923. 
 
39
 Marylin Bender and Selig Altschul, The Chosen Instrument:  Pan Am, Juan Trippe, the Rise and 
Fall of an American Entrepreneur (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982), 81. 
 
40
 ?Hoyt, Richard Farnsworth.? National Cyclopedia of American Biography 29 (New York: 
James T. White & Co., 1941): 160. 
 
 65 
 Hoyt was born on July 3, 1888, in Revere, Massachusetts. He attended the private 
Volkmann School and matriculated at Harvard where he graduated magna cum laude in 
1910. That same year he became employed by the New York investment firm Hayden 
Stone & Co. as a clerk. During World War I he worked under Col. J. G. Vincent at 
McCook Field, where the army concentrated its engine and aircraft development 
program. With the knowledge of aviation gained during the war, and as a testament to his 
capability, he rose rapidly in the firm and was named a partner in 1919. As chairman of 
the board of Wright Aeronautical Corporation, in 1929 Hoyt helped facilitate the merger 
of Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company with Wright Aeronautical to form the giant 
Curtiss-Wright Corporation, with himself in position as chairman of the board.
41
 Hoyt?s interest in aviation involved more than banking and finance. He took a 
personal interest in the field, becoming a pilot himself. In 1925 he served on the 
committee that arranged the New York Air Races held at Mitchel Field on Long Island.
  
42
 
He also served as chairman of the Committee on Aeronautics of the Merchants 
Association, which advocated the need for a New York City airport. ?The western side of 
Manhattan, across the Hudson River, is in many ways the logical point for a landing 
field,? he announced; ?Our committee is inclined to believe that a point somewhere on 
the Jersey Meadows is by far the most desirable location.?
43
                                                 
41
 Ibid.; International Cyclopedia of Aviation Biography, MS-167, file 30, box 13, Wright State 
University Department of Special Collections and Archives. 
 An alternate site was 
Governors Island, but the army refused to release it. Hoyt argued that ?commercial 
airports should be provided at public expense,? so as to prevent any single company from 
 
42
 New York Times, August 23, 1925. 
 
43
 Ibid., Sept. 30, 1926. 
 
 66 
?controlling service to the city.?
44
 Hoyt also donated money to help finance aerial pioneers. He backed the ill-fated 
attempt of the American Legion, piloted by Lt. Cdr. Noel Davis and Lt. Stanton Wooster, 
to cross the Atlantic in early 1927. Notwithstanding their unfortunate deaths on a test 
flight, he nevertheless praised Charles Lindbergh and Clarence Chamberlin and Charles 
Levine who were successful a few months later.
 
45
 In the meantime, success had propelled the Huff Daland Company into one of the 
largest aircraft manufacturers in the country. It relocated to the former Harriman 
Merchant Ship Building plant along the shoreline of the Delaware River at Bristol, 
Pennsylvania. By 1926, Huff Daland, facing an increased production tempo and higher 
development costs for newer models, needed new investment capital.
 
46
 At a special 
meeting of stockholders held at 25 Broad Street, New York, new stock was proffered and 
fully subscribed. Not surprisingly, 25 Broad Street was the business address of Richard F. 
Hoyt.
47
 At the meeting Thomas H. Huff announced his retirement, and in November 1926 
Edgar N. Gott, formerly of the Fokker and Boeing aircraft companies, was elected 
President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Keystone Aircraft Corporation, 
  
                                                 
44
 Carl Solberg, Conquest of the Skies: A History of Commercial Aviation in America (Boston: 
Little, Brown and Company, 1979), 120. 
 
45
 The aircraft was built by Keystone in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Ogdensburg Journal, Dec. 30, 
1927; New York Times, April 10, 27, June 27, 1927. 
 
46
Keystone Aircraft Corporation, ?Concerning Our Plant and Activities,? Keystone Aircraft 
Corporation, (no date): no page, folder 5, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
47
 Bristol (Pennsylvania) Courier, Nov. 8, 1926. 
 
 67 
the reorganized Huff Daland company.
48
 Gott became a member of the Hayden, Stone 
group, signifying his close association with Hoyt.
49
 Huff Daland Dusters emerged as a subsidiary of Huff Daland while it was still in 
Ogdensburg and before Hoyt took over. It was incorporated in Delaware on February 27, 
1925, and its business was broadly stated to include ?the carrying and transportation of 
passengers, goods, wares, and merchandise, for all kinds of commercial purposes, 
including agriculture and forestry, such as dusting, seeding, planting, and fertilizing, 
forestry patrol and survey, for aerial survey and photography, for any and all kinds of 
uses, for exhibiting or advertising purposes, at any place within or without the United 
States? [italics added in light of subsequent developments].
 The new company retained the 
objective of encouraging the commercial use of the airplane, and the duster subsidiary 
kept its original name. As the financial backer of Keystone and Huff Daland Dusters, 
Hoyt, it will be seen later, was instrumental in the emergence of Delta Air Lines.  
50
The dusting firm was capitalized at $250,000, and George B. Post was named a 
director and its general manager.
  
51
 Its operation was headquartered in Macon, Georgia, 
where eighteen aircraft, twelve pilots, and twenty mechanics were under the direction of 
Harris. Dan E. Tobin was chief pilot, and Roger William Riis was advertising manager.
52
                                                 
48
 John H. Van Deventer, Jr., ?The Story of Keystone and its Latest Contribution to the 
Advancement of Aviation,? Air Transportation (Jan. 19, 1929): 56; Keystone Aircraft Corporation, ?Who?s 
Who in the Keystone Aircraft Corporation,? Keystone Aircraft Corporation, (no date): no page, folder 5, 
box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 
49
 Bristol (Pennsylvania) Courier, Oct. 5, 1928. 
 
50
 ?Certificate of Incorporation of Huff Daland Dusters, Inc.,? folder 1, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
51
 Macon (Georgia) Daily Telegraph, Feb. 12, 19, 1925. 
 
52
 Ibid., Feb., March 1924. 
 
 68 
The business contracted with area farmers at a rate of $7.00 per acre.
53
 
  
 
From the cockpit of a Huff Daland Duster George B. Post is addressing a group of 
bankers and convention attendees near Macon, Georgia. Photograph courtesy Delta 
Corporate Archives. 
 
In an Aviation magazine article, Roger Riis reported that the eighteen aircraft would be 
situated in nine separate places.
54
 At each location, one of the two airplanes would be in 
reserve, while the other was working, and a pilot and the mechanics would live nearby. 
The nine bases, including the Macon site, were selected from more than forty surveyed. 
Harris was responsible for hiring the pilots and mechanics. Among those he selected were 
Tobin, N. L. Cote, Eugene Stevens, George Ott, Arthur Gray, Elliot Dunn, and, as chief 
of maintenance, Douglas Culver.
55
                                                 
53
 Ibid., Feb. 12, 1925. 
 One potential pilot, interviewed at Kelly Field by 
 
54
 Roger William Riis, ?Commercial Crop Dusting, Details of the operations of the Huff Daland 
Dusters,? Aviation 18  (May 25, 1925): 573. 
 
55
 Ibid., 
 69 
Harris, Charles A. Lindbergh, turned down the $2400 a year contract to dust cotton in 
Georgia because the pay seemed too low to him.
56
  Harris came to Macon as a consequence of arrangements made without his 
knowledge. Huff had met with Maj. Gen. Mason Patrick, head of the Army Air Service in 
Washington, who granted Harris a leave of absence from the army for a year if Harris 
agreed. Huff traveled to Dayton and approached Harris with the proposition, which he 
accepted. In February 1925, Harris left his position as chief of the Flight Test Branch, 
Engineering Division of the Air Service.
 
57
 Harris recollected: ?I must have known at the 
time but can?t remember now. Someone decided that the Duster headquarters should be 
in Macon, Georgia, so I moved to Macon from Dayton, Ohio.?
58
 Some background information is in order to understand the reasons why Huff 
Daland Dusters chose Macon for its headquarters in the first place, and to help explain 
why it stayed there so briefly before moving into the Delta. While experiments were 
taking place under the auspices of Coad at the Delta Laboratory, the state of Georgia took 
a proactive interest in directly assisting farmers. The Georgia Department of Agriculture 
credited cotton production as the most important factor in an estimated $27 million 
increase in the total value of Georgia?s crops and praised the State College of Agriculture 
and other agencies for assisting farmers in 1924. The report declared: ?During the year 
1924, according to the best available statistics on the use of calcium arsenate alone, or in 
preparations for poisoning boll weevil, Georgia was ahead of all the other states by a 
  
                                                                                                                                                 
 
56
 A. Scott Berg, Lindbergh (New York: G. B. Putnam?s Sons, 1989), 79. 
 
57
 Ogdensburg Journal, Jan. 5, 1925; unpublished manuscript ?Draft Sept. 85,? 1, folder 7, box 3, 
Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
58
 ?Draft Sept. 85,? 4, file 7, box 3, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
 70 
good deal [author?s italics]. The State board of Entomology endeavored to render every 
service possible in placing this poison at the disposal of Georgia farmers in time for its 
effective use.?
59
 This praise was justified when comparing the results of 1923 to 1924. In 1923, 
3,844,000 acres of cotton were planted with an average yield of 82 pounds per acre. In 
1924, there were 745,000 fewer acres planted, but the yield was 157 pounds per acre, a 
91 percent increase.
 
60
 Presumably a large measure of this success is attributable to the 
use of terrestrially applied calcium arsenate. Only a limited use of experimental aerial 
applications occurred in 1924. The board of trustees of the Georgia State College of 
Agriculture cooperated in organizing flight demonstrations at Athens on August 26 and at 
Cordele on August 28.
61
 Later that year, in November 1924, Oliver Snapp, in charge of 
the peach insect laboratory in Fort Valley, cooperated with Huff Daland to conduct 
preliminary experiments to determine the suitability of aircraft in dusting peach 
orchards.
62
 Experiments continued into 1925, encouraged by the Georgia State College of 
Agriculture with the support of the Department of Agriculture, the state?s Department of 
Agriculture, Board of Entomology, and Board of Health.
 
63
                                                 
59
 J. J. Brown, ?Annual Report of Georgia Department of Agriculture for 1924,? Georgia 
Department of Agriculture 99 (First Quarter 1925): 7-8. 
 As a result of this exposure 
there was a great deal of interest in having Huff Daland Dusters locate in the state and 
 
60
 J. J. Brown, ?Biennial Report of Georgia Department of Agriculture for 1925-1926,? Georgia 
Department of Agriculture 103 (First Quarter 1927): 56. 
 
61
 Post, ?Boll Weevil Control by Airplane,? 3. 
 
62
 Snapp, ?Airplane Dusting of Peach Orchards,? 450-51. 
 
63
 Post, ?Boll Weevil Control by Airplane,? 3. 
 
 71 
help in the fight against the boll weevil and other pests. It stands to reason that Huff 
Daland Dusters would want to locate where there was institutional support and where it 
had garnered such favorable publicity. Another inducement was that the Chamber of 
Commerce of Macon had built a hangar at its airfield at Camp Wheeler for Huff Daland?s 
use.
64
 Demonstration flights attracted a lot of interest for Huff Daland. It dusted peach 
orchards at Montezuma, Georgia, in March 1925.
  
65
 ?Growers in this section are 
enthusiastic over the demonstration,? reported the local paper. ?Mr. McHatton, of the 
State College, Athens, and Mr. Demaree of the federal government, working in the pecan 
industry, were here to witness the demonstration as more than a hundred growers looked 
on.?
66
 Harris claimed ?complete satisfaction,? and Snapp, ?considered the world?s 
leading peach authority,? commended Huff Daland for the demonstration.
67
 A total of 
250,000 peach trees were dusted by early June.
68
 Lynn McKenzie of Montezuma, 
Georgia, reported the success from dusting, ?I have never shipped more beautiful peaches 
in all my life, and I might say that I received more per package than any other grower in 
Montezuma.?
69
 Notwithstanding such effusive praise, the dusting of peach orchards in 1925 
proved to be inconclusive. ?Because weather conditions were unfavorable for the 
 
                                                 
64
 Riis, ?Commercial Crop Dusting?; Macon Daily Telegraph, Feb. 19, 1925. 
 
65
 Snapp, ?Airplane Dusting of Peach Orchards,? 451-52. 
 
66
 Macon (Georgia) Daily Telegraph, Nov. 25, 1924. 
 
67
 Ibid., March 24, 1925. 
 
68
 Ibid., June 7, 1925. 
 
69
 ?How Huff Daland Airplanes Can Protect Your Crops,? Huff Daland Dusters, Bulletin No. 3, 
folder 7, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 72 
development of both curculio and brown rot,? Snapp reported, ?the fruit from the 
orchards dusted from airplanes compared very favorably with that from orchards dusted 
from ground mule-drawn machine.? 
70
 Pecan orchards were dusted in early May and found highly satisfactory by C. H. 
Gaddie, field agent for the State Bureau of Entomology and E. H. Decker, an Albany 
entomologist. But the bulk of dusting would be on cotton when the boll weevil became 
active.
  
71
 The company planned to treat 60,000-65,000 acres from nine carefully selected 
separate locations.
72
 By June, the company had signed contracts in Georgia, Mississippi, 
North Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana.
73
 The Laurinburg, North Carolina, unit 
advertised its readiness to begin dusting in Scotland County on July 6, 1925.
74
 According 
to Woolman, another unit was located in Newellton, Tensas Parish, Louisiana.
75
 Abruptly on July 8, 1925, the Macon Daily Telegraph reported that Huff Daland 
would cease operations in Georgia because there was insufficient business. ?Officials of 
the company stated yesterday that less than 1000 acres of cotton had been dusted in 
Georgia near Vidalia this year which was not sufficient business to warrant continuing 
 
Everything appeared to be in readiness for a busy season; all that was necessary was for 
the boll weevil to make its appearance.  
                                                 
70
 Snapp, ?Airplane Dusting of Peach Orchards,? 453. 
 
71
 Macon (Georgia) Daily Telegraph, May 11, 1925. 
 
72
 Riis, ?Commercial Crop Dusting,? 573. 
 
73
 Macon (Georgia) Daily Telegraph, June 7, 1925; Bristol (Pennsylvania) Courier, June 11, 1925. 
 
74
 Laurinburg (North Carolina) Exchange, July 1925. 
 
75
 Madison (Tallulah, Louisiana) Journal, June 27, 1925. 
 
 73 
their operations in the state.?
76
 Expecting to dust 25,000 acres in Louisiana (with 12,000 
already completed) and 15,000 in North Carolina, the company chose to reallocate its 
resources.
77
  
 George Post said the decision was due to unforeseen business developments. 
 When we started here the company did not contemplate operating at such widely 
separate points and, in fact, it was a part of our program to concentrate our 
activities in one or two states. We found however, as the season progressed, that 
this was impossible and due to the demand of our service in various parts of the 
South, it was necessary to alter our plans and establish these two maintenance 
bases. Most of our personnel is now in the field and we are working out plans for 
the placing of our employees at points easily accessible to the sections where we 
will operate most extensively. Louis H. Kohler, auditor of the company will be in 
charge of the Louisiana base.
78
 
 
 Harold Harris, in his 1985 biographical notes, gives two reasons for the move out 
of Georgia: ?(A) the cotton farms were small and (B) the cotton was not long ( 1 1/4" 
each strand) staple and consequently didn't have as good a price on the market as the 
staple cotton grown in the Mississippi Delta."
79
                                                 
76
 Macon (Georgia) Daily Telegraph, July 6, 1925. 
 It appears the company began operations 
early in 1925 with the intention to dust Georgia peach orchards, followed by the prospect 
of dusting pecan trees. While this business was significant, the real money was to come 
from cotton dusting, which would begin later in the season. Apparently the need never 
arose to make aerial dusting a necessity for farmers. Boll weevil infestations are not 
uniform year to year. A total of 3,662,000 acres of cotton were planted in 1925 with a 
yield of 155 pounds per acre. While 18 percent more acreage was planted compared to 
 
77
 Ibid. 
 
78
 Ibid. 
 
79
 ?1985 biographical notes,? 4, file 7, box 3, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
 74 
1924, the yield per acre dropped only 1 percent, virtually unchanged.
80
 Woolman and Coad are often credited with the decision to relocate from Macon 
to Monroe, but their role is unknown. Along with the sound economic reasons outlined 
above, Harris attributes the move to help from Travis Oliver, head of the Bank of 
Monroe, who convinced the city to build a small airport for Huff Daland to use.  A dirt 
airstrip was built south of Monroe, known as ?Smoot Field,? presumably the name of the 
previous owners of the property.
 In 1925 planters 
did not need aerial dusting. 
81
 The move, Harris says, was "very worthwhile."
82
 The likely answer is from competition, which in the business of aerial 
applications was quickly forthcoming. On October 6, 1925, the articles of incorporation 
of the ?White Flying Dusters? located in Tallulah, Louisiana were filed. Article VIII gave 
the purpose: ?The object and purpose of said corporation is for the operation of flying 
machines for commercial purposes and especially for the purpose of dusting agricultural 
crops and orchards with insect poison in the State of Louisiana and elsewhere.?
 But 
the question remains: why Monroe, and not Tallulah--where both Woolman and 
particularly, Coad, were familiar? 
83
When Huff Daland Dusters Company moved into the Delta it was a pioneer much 
 Small 
independent operators could quickly set up shop and begin operations close to where 
farmers required their services. Huff Daland Dusters may have been the first crop dusting 
company, but small independent operators eclipsed its lead. 
                                                 
80
 J. J. Brown, ?Biennial Report of Georgia Department of Agriculture for 1925-1926,? Georgia 
Department of Agriculture 103 (First Quarter 1927): 56. 
 
81
 Ouachita (Monroe, Louisiana) Citizen, March 9, 1983. 
 
82
 ?1985 biographical notes,? 4, file 7, box 3, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
83
 Madison (Tallulah, Louisiana) Journal, Oct. 24, 1925. 
 75 
like the Percy family of earlier generations. It, too, had ties to cotton and an outward 
perspective. However its horizons stretched all the way to South America.  
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 76 
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 4                                                                       
 The Eagle and the Condor 
 
Such was the extent of Legu?a?s Yankeephilia that he ordered a portrait of 
President James Madison hung in the presidential palace and actually declared 
July fourth a national holiday in honor of the United States. 
 
Peter Flindell Klar?n, Peru, Society and Nationhood in the Andes. 
 
 Key events leading up to the formation of Delta Air Lines occurred in South 
America. While there is justification to the argument that Huff Daland Dusters shifted 
operations to the Andean country of Peru to utilize its agricultural equipment more 
efficiently south of the equator, where the seasons are reversed, the full explanation is 
more complex. Even with the ease of transit through the Panama Canal, opened in 1914, 
the idea of shipping aircraft back and forth was not genuinely practical. The off-season 
was used to refurbish and repair equipment, and winter dusting opportunities, though 
limited, existed much closer to Monroe, in Mexico and California, than in South 
America. Also, the price of cotton in the world market was declining and competitive 
instincts were soon aroused locally by Huff Daland?s presence. Therefore, to understand 
more fully the adventure in South America, one must look at the circumstances existing 
there that made it so attractive for the company to send men, equipment, and supplies to 
Peru as that nation sought to modernize. 
 In Peruvian historiography, the period from 1895 to 1919 is generally known as 
the ?Aristocratic Republic,? characterized by seeming political stability. The Civilista and 
 77 
Democrata parties cooperated to overthrow the repressive regime of Andres Caceres, and 
then governed through an elite oligarchy, ?an informal group,? as historian Peter Klar?n 
writes, ?known as the ?Twenty-Four Friends,? [that] met regularly at the exclusive Club 
National to discuss the management of national affairs.? Bound by ?family and kinship? 
and ?culturally and intellectually? oriented toward Europe, particularly France, these 
elitists ?hardly knew the rest of the country.? One of its members, Augusto B. Legu?a, 
following a term as treasury minister, served as president for four years, from 1908-1912. 
Subsequent discord within the dominant Civilista party and Legu?a?s attempt to rig the 
1911 congressional elections, permanently weakened the Civilistas and ended his 
presidency. He was exiled in London and New York where he used his time contacting 
business and financial leaders who would be helpful in reconstructing Peru?s battered 
post World War I economy. Legu?a sat out the next seven years waiting for 
circumstances to change.
1
The economic disruptions of World War I hit Peruvian workers hard. A falling 
standard of living provoked unrest, and a major strike in 1919 toppled President Jos? 
Pardo?s government. Augusto Legu?a returned from exile and once again became 
president, but now in opposition to his former Civilista party. He advocated a populist 
national agenda, La Patria Nueva (New Country), designed to marginalize political 
opponents and consolidate his power by appealing to a broader middle-class electorate.  
 
Legu?a was small in stature but large in presence. In his 1934 study of Legu?a?s 
presidency, Arthur Metcalfe describes the man?s appearance: 
 
                                                 
1
 Peter Flindell Klar?n, Peru:  Society and Nationhood in the Andes (New York: Oxford 
University Press, 2000), 213, 214, 241. 
 
 78 
  Don Augusto, as he was sometimes called, was small and slight of 
appearance. A dapper little man, he dressed beautifully: slim feet in buttoned 
patent leather boots, skinny form well draped in a morning coat from London, a 
high silk hat which offset the too long sharp nose. Seen without the hat the nose 
gave the key to his being. The features were fox like: the chin was sharp, the 
mouth long, the bushy brows concealed eyes that glittered but did not warm. On 
the hands was black hair. Although the man was old the body was rhythmically 
agile and graceful.
2
 
 
 The eleven years of Legu?a?s rule from 1919 to 1930 ?was dubbed the ?Oncenio? 
by Peruvians who took the term from the Spanish word for ?eleven? or ?once.?? 
Following World War I, the United States replaced Great Britain as the primary investor 
in Peru and American capital fueled development of mines, agriculture, and urban 
development.
3
 The ?cornerstone of Legu?a?s economic policy was...promotion of the 
export-import model of growth.?
4
 Cultivated land no longer produced consumable crops 
but was planted with exportable agricultural crops, primarily sugar and cotton. 
?Agriculture contributed greatly to the prosperity of the Peruvian economy throughout 
the oncenio, with sugar and cotton heading the list of most valuable exports?
5
 Legu?a?s 
other projects included road building and 600 miles of railroad construction.
6
 Foreign ideological influences promoted free market capitalism and individual 
entrepreneurship in the country. The economic effects well suited Peru?s elite, including 
  
                                                 
2
 Arthur V. Metcalfe, ?The Dictatorship of President Legu?a of Peru? (master?s thesis, University 
of Southern California, 1934), 67. 
 
3
 Lawrence A. Clayton, Peru and the United States:  The Condor and the Eagle (Athens: 
University of Georgia Press, 1999), 74, 104. 
 
4
 Thomas E. Skidmore and Peter H. Smith, Modern Latin America, 5th ed. (Oxford: Oxford 
University Press, 2001), 196. 
 
5
 Gary Richard Garrett, ?The Oncenio of Augusto B. Legu?a: Middle Sector Government and 
leadership in Peru, 1919-1930? (PhD diss., University of New Mexico, 1973), 125. 
 
6
 Skidmore and Smith, Modern Latin America, 196. 
 
 79 
Legu?a, himself a successful businessman who for a time was the general manager of the 
Peruvian-Ecuadorian-Bolivian branches of the New York Life Insurance Company. He 
spoke fluent English and was ?at home with the American business mentality,?
7
 As 
president he ?strongly believed that Peru?s path to development lay in its ability to attract 
capital, technology, markets, and business know-how from advanced countries of the 
West.?
8
 Along with economic and class changes, the urban landscape in Lima was being 
transformed both socially and architecturally. The ruling elites modernized the city to 
conform to their European vision. During the Oncenio the streets were paved and 
widened, middle and upper-class houses constructed, parks created, and the city center 
cleaned up with new buildings, shops and hotels. ?It became a showplace...to attract 
foreign investors and entrepreneurs on whom the administration was counting for an 
economic boost.?
  
9
 Indeed, the caption of a photograph showing an intersection with a 
traffic light, taken by Huff Daland?s Harold Harris, reads, ?the modern traffic system in 
Lima.?
10
 Not only was the early twentieth-century Lima cityscape being reconstructed 
physically, but elites, influenced by positivist ideology and European culture, tried to 
change the cultural landscape as well, primarily through sports and recreation. Legu?a?s 
favorite recreation was ?the regular Sunday afternoon horse races?at the Santa Beatriz 
 
                                                 
7
 Charles T. Goodsell,  American Corporations and Peruvian Politics (Cambridge: Harvard 
University Press, 1974), 40. 
 
8
 Klar?n, Peru, 241. 
 
9
 Ibid., 250. 
 
10
 Photograph Album, file 7, box 14, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
 80 
Hippodrome? where ?all Lima knew he would always be on hand.?
11
 In modernizing 
Lima, venues were designated for public entertainment and, with the advent of electric 
lighting, nighttime hours were regulated. The ?ruling class, happily ensconced in 
comfortable splendor in Lima, was thoroughly Eurocentric and Frenchified,? and to 
Lime?os, ?Lima represented ?civilization.?? 
12
 Along with the outward perspective of Peru?s leaders came a new airmindedness. 
This attitude encouraged North American and European aviation interests who thought 
all of ?Latin America appeared to be one of the single largest potential markets for 
aviation exploitation? in the 1920s.
  
13
 For example, in 1922 Capt. Walter Simon, an 
American who nevertheless served as the Assistant Director of Aeronautics for Peru, 
hoped ?to bring about the establishment of air communications between Lima and 
Panama, which will mean the saving of much time and bring his country nearer northern 
business markets.?
14
 Having an American administrator in a Peruvian department was not unusual for 
Legu?a. He ?often argued that to elevate Peru to the level of the Western nations, the 
Peruvian would first have to acquire the skills and mentalities of the Westerner. To 
implement this notion, Legu?a turned to the United States for economic and technical 
assistance. On one occasion he stated: ?My hope is to put an American in charge of every 
  
                                                 
11
 Metcalfe, ?The Dictatorship of President Legu?a of Peru,? 71. 
 
12
 Klar?n, Peru, 214. 
 
13
 Dan Hagedorn, Conquistadors of the Sky: A History of Aviation in Latin America (Gainesville: 
University Press of Florida, 2008), 130.  
 
14
 Aircraft Yearbook, 1923 (New York: Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America, Inc.), 
187.  
 
 81 
branch of our government.??
15
 When they became aware of the cotton pest problem in Peru, the mangers of Huff 
Daland Dusters were encouraged by ?the relatively underdeveloped state of [Peru?s] 
economy and more important, the pro-American attitude of the Legu?a regime.?
 
16
 Other 
aeronautical enterprises had already recognized the potential and made inroads into the 
market. Jimmy Doolittle, representing the Curtiss Aeroplane Export Company, traveled 
through South America in early 1926  (and again in 1928) to demonstrate the fast, 
maneuverable Curtiss P-1 Hawk fighter, powered by the 400hp Curtiss D-12 engine.
17
 
 On the voyage south Doolittle?s liner stopped in Peru, though he did not 
demonstrate the Curtiss machine while there. Likely this was because Peruvian 
authorities were already committed to the rival Keystone corporation (Huff Daland 
Dusters?s parent company). Subsequently, in the face of strong German competition, 
Doolittle?s ?salesmanship was responsible for the Chileans taking nine Curtiss planes.?
18
 A prominent aeronautical company of local origins had its beginning when 
Curtiss dispatched one of its mechanics, Elmer (?Slim?) Faucett, to Peru in 1920 as a 
service representative. He ?entered the Civil Aviation School at Bellavista and obtained 
Peru?s civil pilot?s license No.1.?
 
19
                                                 
15
 Garrett, ?The Oncenio of Augusto B. Legu?a,? 150-51. 
 Enterprising and charismatic, Faucett piloted the first 
 
16
 Peter Boland Gushue, ?Heavenly Influence: Panagra Airways in Peru, 1928-1949? (Ph.D. diss., 
University of Alabama, 1997), 16. 
 
17
 General James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle, with Carroll V. Glines, I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: 
An Autobiography (New York: Bantam Books, 1991), 114, 117, 122. 
 
18
 Wesley Phillips Newton, The Perilous Sky, U. S. Aviation Diplomacy and Latin America: 1919-
1931 (Coral Gables, Florida: University of Miami Press, 1978), 83. 
 
19
 Herbert H. Moll, Peruvian Civil Aviation (Mineola, N. Y.: American Airmail Society, 2000), 
33. 
 
 82 
flight from Lima to Iquitos over the Andes on October 5, 1922.
20
 With Peruvian 
financing, he started his own airline. In time locals ?became familiar with the orange and 
white aircraft of Faucett Airlines, largely run and operated by Peruvians.? Perceived as 
one of their own, Peruvians held Faucett in high esteem.
21
 Powerful American business interests, in alliance with the United States 
government, countered ?semigovernmental European air lines in South America? and 
challenged Faucett?s ambitions in Peru. This public/private relationship, characterized as 
the chosen instrument by authors Marylin Bender and Selig Altschul in their study of 
Juan Trippe and Pan American, stemmed from the government?s perceived ?need for one 
American foreign airline.?
  
22
 Foreigners arriving in Lima were immersed in the political, entrepreneurial, and 
culture milieu of Legu?a?s Oncenio. Both C. E Woolman and Harold Harris, promoted to 
vice-presidents of Huff Daland Dusters, traveled to Peru, but not together or at the same 
time. Once there, they ensconced in the impressive new Hotel Bolivar, just recently 
opened in 1924. The hotel was the ?meeting point for people of a certain status,? located 
 Into this mix of personalities, favoritism, intrigue, and 
politics,  in an extraordinary twist of circumstances, the small Huff Daland Dusters 
company proved to be the catalyst in producing, not one, but three remarkable twentieth-
century aviation enterprises--Pan American Airlines, Pan American Grace Airlines 
(Panagra), and Delta Air Lines. And, if Huff Daland Dusters?s effect, though indirect, on 
Faucett is considered, the number is four airlines. 
                                                 
20
 Clayton, Peru and the United States, 132. 
 
21
 Ibid., 131, 133, 134. 
 
22
 See Bender and Altshul, The Chosen Instrument; Elsbeth E. Freudenthal, The Aviation Busines: 
From Kitty Hawk to Wall Street (New York: Vanguard Press, 1940), 168. 
 
 83 
on the Plaza San Martin in the center of modernized Lima.
23
 
 As events unfolded, these 
two extraordinary men were catapulted into long and successful aviation careers -- 
Woolman?s with Delta Airlines and Harris, who remained in Peru for a number of years, 
with Panagra. Harris returned to the military during World War II where he rose to the 
rank of general. Following the war Harris served briefly as president of Northwest 
Airlines.  
  
Collett Everman Woolman 
Photograph courtesy of Delta Air Lines Corporate Archives 
 
 
Who was Woolman? The Woolman name can be traced back to Yorkshire, 
England, when in 1678 Quaker ancestors migrated to the colonies and settled in 
Crosswicks, Burlington City, New Jersey.
24
                                                 
23
 Moll, Peruvian Civil Aviation, 33. 
 The name may have passed down from 
 
24
 The John Woolman Memorial Association can be found online at http://woolmancentral.com, 
(accessed Oct. 17, 2010). 
 84 
Quaker origins, but C. E. Woolman describes a pioneering heritage, perhaps reflecting 
another branch of the family: ?He tells of his father?s family, Scotch Loyalists from the 
clan of McFarland, who settled in South Carolina early in American history, and of his 
mother?s family, early Kentuckians who farmed on land that is now part of the city of 
Frankfort. His parents were living in Bloomington, Ind., when he was born on Oct. 8, 
1889, and later moved to Urbana, Ill., where he attended high school.?
25
 Collett Everman Woolman was born to Albert Jefferson and Daura Mae 
(Campbell) Woolman. He attended the University of Illinois, Champaign, on a 
scholarship, was a member of the Agricultural Glee Club, and played on the senior 
football team.
 
26
 Woolman graduated with a B.S. in agriculture in 1912. On August 8, 
1916, he married Helen H. Fairfield, a 1914 University of Illinois alumnus, in 
Champaign. She was a high school teacher and he was ?engaged as United States district 
agricultural supervisor with headquarters at Baton Rouge, La.?
27
 C. E. and Helen 
Woolman were living in Louisiana when two daughters were born, Barbara on June 3, 
1922, and Martha on July 8, 1923.
28
 Woolman got an early introduction to aviation: 
  
 
While an undergraduate in the University of Illinois, he worked his way to France 
on a cattle boat in 1910 to attend the world?s first aviation meet in Rheims 
[author?s note: the meet was actually held in 1909]. ?On the way back,? Woolman 
                                                                                                                                                 
 
25
 Harold Rubin, ?Boll Weevils Started His Air Line,? Dixie, Times-Picayune States Roto 
Magazine, Feb. 13, 1955; Collett Everman Woolman Papers, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 
Archives (hereafter cited as UIUCA) 
 
26
 Ibid. 
 
27
 Newspaper clipping, Woolman Papers, LSULSC. 
 
28
 Woolman Papers, LSULSC. 
 
 85 
recalls, ?I crossed with famed daredevil aviator Claude-Graham White. Most of 
my time was spent in the hold getting his engine in shape for a meet at Boston. I 
didn?t get to the meet ?cause I was due back at school.? ...After graduating in 
1912...he went ?to farm the blacklands in Mississippi,? he says. He later took over 
700 acres in Louisiana?s Red river valley, he recalls. ?A Kansas City gentleman 
owned the property, and I supervised it.? ...?I decided Louisiana was to be the 
place I call Home.? Appointed County agent in Ouachita parish in 1913, he was 
promoted to district agent in North Louisiana in 1916. Woolman calls himself a 
?guinea pig,? for he says he was the first county agent in the state to hold a 
college degree.
29
 
 
 
 Woolman?s aviation career began in 1925 when he was hired by Huff Daland 
Dusters as an entomologist because he was familiar with local conditions, known to 
planters, and was able to negotiate dusting contracts. During the second year of 
operations more than 52,000 acres were treated using over 300,000 pounds of dust.
30
 In 
1926 Huff Daland Dusters expected to treat 90 to 100,000 acres of cotton in the South 
using twenty airplanes.
31
 By 1926 agricultural aviation was off to a good early start, and Huff Daland 
Dusters?s legacy for innovative aerial applications was assured. Generally Woolman is 
credited with having the idea of sending airplanes, personnel, and supplies south of the 
equator to take advantage of the opposing seasons. Rather, the idea came in the form of 
an inquiry from Peruvian planters on how to control infestations on their own cotton. 
 It was a propitious beginning, but at the time Woolman could 
not have anticipated the trajectory of his life that emerged from his association with this 
small crop dusting company. 
 Agricultural pests are not endemic to the United States. As early as in 1909, Dr. 
                                                 
29
 Rubin, ?Boll Weevils Started His Air Line,? Woolman Papers, LSULSC. 
 
30
 Harold R. Harris to Colette E. Woolman, Oct. 6, 1926, file 14, box 1, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
31
 Bristol (Pennsylvania) Courier, March 15, 1926. 
 
 86 
C. H. T. Townsend traveled to Peru to recommend methods of countering common white 
scale.
32
 On January 20, 1926, ?Dr. W. D. Hinds, entomologist of the experimental station 
and extension division, Louisiana State University, left for Peru? to advise growers of 
methods to increase declining crop yields from insects.
33
 According to author George N. 
Wolcott, Hinds ?suggested dusting poison on the cotton plants?and was also largely 
instrumental in having aeroplane application [italics added for emphasis]? of calcium 
arsenate so widely adopted there.
34
 When the large cotton exporting regions of coastal Peru became infested with the 
armyworm, the use of airplanes to deal with pests in the United States interested 
Peruvians. Sometime in 1926, Pedro Beltran, the politically connected owner of a large 
hacienda, traveled to the United States and inquired at the Department of Agriculture as 
to what could be done to control the pest. He was directed to the Delta Laboratory in 
Tallulah where, Harris recounts, Coad "suggested airplane dusting and there was only 
one commercial outfit that did that sort of thing. He recommended that Beltran talk to us 
[Huff Daland Dusters].?
 Hinds likely educated planters on aerial dusting 
techniques being used in the United States.  
35
 Huff Daland was interested. On one hand, Legu?a?s pro-American economic 
policy was appealing. On the other hand, Beltran (later appointed ambassador to the 
United States and other high-level positions in Peru) could be expected to mediate with 
  
                                                 
32
 George N. Wolcott, ?The Status of Economic Entomology in Peru,? Bulletin of Entomological 
Research 20 (August 1965): 225-27.  
 
33
 Madison (Tallulah, Louisiana) Journal, Feb. 6, 1926. 
 
34
 Wolcott, ?The Status of Economic Entomology in Peru,? 226. 
 
35
 ?Panagra,? 12, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
 87 
Peruvian authorities and planters. Woolman was sent to Peru to originate a concession 
and solicit contracts. In a 1979 interview, Harris praised Woolman as ?a terrific 
salesman,? but cautioned, ?he was basically an entomologist; he didn't know anything 
about aviation.?
 36
Harris?s assessment begs the question of when Woolman became a pilot. A letter 
from the Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce, indicates he held ?private 
license No. 22370 which has been renewed to expire Sept. 30, 1935.?
 
37
 Barbara 
Woolman Preston observed that her father ?didn?t have many hours and didn?t qualify for 
commercial [flying] or to fly passengers.?
38
 Woolman may have learned to fly before 
records were required by the Air Commerce Act of 1926, but this is unlikely. Pilots are 
jealous of their flying time and talk freely of their experiences. They keep careful records 
of dates, equipment flown, engine, location, and duration in a personal logbook. A 
logbook is not among the records in Woolman?s files. Many years later, in addressing the 
question of whether Woolman ?actually flew,? Harris observed he ?may have ridden as a 
passenger with some of the dusting equipment at Tallulah in the experiments carried out 
by Dr. Coad? but ?as far as I know had never flown.?
39
 Virginia P. Welch, a University 
of Illinois graduate, recalls Woolman explaining at one of her alumnae meetings in 
Atlanta that he ?got his start as a crop duster.?
40
                                                 
36
 Harold R. Harris interview, by Dr. Lawrence Clayton, Falmouth, MS. Nov. 5, 1979, transcript, 
folder, ?Dissertation interviews w/former Panagristas,? box 1, RG 245, Peter Gushue Collection,  Special 
Collections and Archives, RBD Library, Auburn University (hereafter cited as Gushue Papers).  
 This was not a purposeful 
 
37
 Department of Commerce to Collett E. Woolman, Sept. 29, 1935, Woolman papers, LSULSC. 
 
38
 Barbara Woolman Preston, interview, Jan. 12, 1993, transcribed Sept. 27, 1999, DALCA. 
 
39
 Harold R. Harris to Mabry I. Anderson, Oct.15, 1987, folder 1, box 3, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
  
40
 Virginia P. Welch, interview by author, Atlanta, Ga, July 21, 2009. 
 88 
misrepresentation by any means, but without clarification, one might conclude he was a 
duster pilot, while in fact he was in the business of crop dusting. There is no question 
Harris flew duster aircraft and was therefore technically a duster pilot, but nevertheless, 
he acknowledges he ?personally never did any commercial crop dusting? either.
41
 Notwithstanding Woolman?s limited background in aviation, Harris observed, 
?that didn't make any difference; he was an excellent salesman.?
  
42
 Another, perhaps more compelling reason is that George B. Post had left the 
company to help organize Free Bottom Craft in 1925.
 Woolman had a 
congenial personality, understood agricultural issues, and was familiar with cotton pests. 
He knew the company?s policies, had met with planters face-to-face negotiating 
contracts, and, by the time he went to Peru, knew enough about flying to evaluate the 
conditions there. These were reasons enough for Woolman, rather than Harris, who might 
also have been selected, to make the pioneering voyage south.  
43
 When he left Louisiana for Lima, Woolman must have stopped in Bristol, 
Pennsylvania, for consultations at the home office; he then traveled to New York where 
 His departure coincided with the 
move from Macon, Georgia, to Monroe. Harris then assumed Post?s responsibilities. As 
operations manager, it was more important that he remain in Monroe to supervise the 
season?s dusting activities and begin preparations for an anticipated expedition to Peru, if 
Woolman?s mission proved fruitful. 
                                                                                                                                                 
 
41
 Harold R. Harris to Mabry I. Anderson, Oct. 15, 1987, folder 1, box 3, Harris Papers, 
WSUSCA. 
 
42
 Gushue Papers. 
 
43
 ?International Cyclopedia of Aviation Biography,? file 21, box 22, MS-167, Wright State 
University Department of Special Collections and Archives. Post became president of Free Bottom Craft 
and in 1928 became vice-president and a director of the Edo Aircraft Corporation. 
 89 
he was, using Harris?s words, ?treated so badly.?  This likely occurred with the Hayden 
Stone group. Richard Hoyt was the partner overseeing aviation affairs for the investment 
firm, but Hoyt?s involvement with Peru at this time is not known, though his firm 
financed Huff Daland, Inc. and, by extension, its Louisiana subsidiary.  
 Whatever the problem Woolman encountered, the difficulty seems to have been 
smoothed over when Huff Daland, Inc. was restructured and recapitalized as Keystone 
Aircraft Company. The duster subsidiary, nevertheless, retained its original name and 
status under the new corporate umbrella. Referring to Woolman?s treatment, Harris 
wrote, ?my last information from Auerbach [Irwin E. Auerbach, Huff Daland Dusters 
comptroller], who is up there, seems to indicate that we will have extensive backing from 
now on and I believe that if that is definitely assured all will be well.? 
44
 Woolman sailed from New York aboard the Grace Line steamer Santa Ana. As 
the ship made its way out of the harbor on August 5, 1926, Woolman presumably was 
among the passengers at the rails watching as the Statue of Liberty passed slowly by. An 
ocean voyage in those days was a ?splendid experience,? commented Ellis O. Briggs, at 
the time a young vice-consul assigned to the United States Consul General?s office in the 
port city of Callao, Peru. In his memoirs, he observed that transiting the Panama Canal 
was relaxing and memorable, ?with a buffet on deck and a breeze off Gatun Lake, the 
white cranes on Barro Colorado Island so close you could almost touch them, and the 
Continental Divide at Culebra.? There were few tourists, he noted, and travelers were 
 Woolman was 
by then in Peru.  
                                                 
44
 Harold R. Harris to Colette E. Woolman, Oct. 6, 1926, ?Crop dusting,? folder 14, box 1, 
RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 90 
?the hewers of wood and the drawers of water--doers, not the time wasters.?
45
 On Wednesday, August 18, thirteen days out of New York, the Santa Ana 
anchored off Callao, the port serving Lima. Because docking facilities were not 
completed until the 1930s, passengers boarded launches and debarked on ?an inadequate 
pier called Muelle y D?rsena, where customs and baggage handling took place amid 
scenes of riotous confusion.?
 Or, 
perhaps, might not one of them have been an entomologist, whose voyage would usher in 
a new age of air transportation? Woolman?s mind must have been full of anticipation for 
the challenges ahead, the prospects for success or failure, and the weight of responsibility 
resting solely on his shoulders. A lot would depend on his good judgment as mail was 
slow, limited by the speed of a steamship.  
46
 Woolman remained in Peru for about three months, and while there laid the 
groundwork for dusting operations and negotiated for an operating concession from the 
government. He sold contracts to planters and arranged for logistical support. A Peruvian 
agent, Pedro Martinto, ?an importer of all sorts of things,? was retained. A newspaper 
advertisement announced that Martinto ?had been appointed general representative for 
the firm, Huff Daland Dusters, Inc., dusters of arsenate by means of airplanes? and 
beseeched ?all cotton dealers who wish to make the use of the services of said company 
for the next crop? to sign contracts.
 
47
 In Lima Woolman met with ?various men of interest? in agricultural applications 
  
                                                 
45
 Ellis O. Briggs, Proud Servant: The Memoirs of a Career Ambassador (Kent: Kent State 
University Press, 1998), 20, 29. 
 
46
 See scrapbook, Woolman Papers, LSULSC. 
 
47
 ?Misc. Speeches given by Harris,? folder 12, box 12, Harris Papers, WSUSCA; 
?Algondoneros,? file 8, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA.  
 
 91 
including such prominent businessmen as Pedro Beltran, Alexander Howard, Oscar 
Remos, and ?others of similar vision.?
48
 In negotiations he bound Huff Daland Dusters to 
provide aircraft, personnel, equipment, and supplies ?to dust the cotton fields of the 
Ca?ete and other valleys? in the coastal areas of Peru.
49
 Back in Monroe, even before equipment was sent south, Manuel A. Rapier, a 
Peruvian contact, ?anxious to receive all kinds of publications regarding cotton,? 
informed Woolman of potential competition. In a letter dated November 16, 1926, he 
wrote: ?I have heard, although without reliable confirmation, that the aviator Faucett is 
trying to carry out just the same business.?
 When his objectives were 
accomplished, Woolman departed Lima for the United States.  
50
 The virtues of crop dusting in Peru were extolled in an op-ed piece by Rapier that 
appeared in the November 17, 1926, issue of the newspaper El Comercio. Huff Daland 
Dusters, he wrote, would provide the required equipment and pesticides so that laborers 
would not have to be diverted from their regular work in the fields. The speed and 
efficiency of airplanes would replace the equivalent of 6000 workers. But this enthusiasm 
was apparently not universally shared. ?Los espiritus retardarios? (critics) and ?los 
timoratos profesionales? (cautious professionals), Rapier wrote in a politically charged 
 Remarkably, just as Huff Daland had 
discovered in Monroe when the White Flying Dusters was incorporated in Tallulah, 
Louisiana, competition in the business of aerial applications could quickly develop, even 
in Peru.   
                                                 
48
 ?Summary of Huff Daland Duster?s Work in Peru to March 31, 1927,? The West Coast Leader, 
file 5, box 15, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
49
 ?Panagra,? 12, folder 1, box 7, Harris Papers, WSUSCA; Aircraft Yearbook, 1927 (New York: 
Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America, Inc., 1927): 1163.  
 
50
 Manuel A. Rapier to C. E. Woolman, Nov. 16, 1926, folder 8, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 92 
statement, ?do not trust that our national psychology could embody modern ideas and 
methods.?
51
 A response to Rapier appeared in the paper the following day, accusing him of 
publishing an advertisement for the new method of crop dusting. It argued that sending 
equipment and ?the most experienced pilots? was a costly experiment. It would be better 
to use cultural methods first to determine the effect of irrigation, fertilization, and seed 
selection. Only after careful study should modern methods in agriculture be adopted 
generally, not only for cotton.
  
52
 Woolman?s activities in Peru were succinctly summarized in a comprehensive 
report for the year 1927, prepared for the company?s board of directors.  Of interest is 
paragraph two, which confirms that in going to Peru he had more than one objective in 
mind. In addition to crop dusting, Huff Daland, (soon to be Keystone) was scouting for 
aircraft sales to carry the mail. At this early stage any thought of forming an airline does 
not seem to have been contemplated, but the paragraphs give the details: 
 The opposition?s criticism appears to be scientifically 
and not politically motivated. Regardless of the possibility for incipient competition or 
scientific skepticism, contracts were securely in hand for the 1927 season and the 
dispatching of Huff Daland Dusters?s personnel and equipment was not delayed. 
 
Survey and Advanced Sales: 
 In August 1926, Mr. Woolman went to Peru for the purpose of extending 
winter operations. Costs, flying conditions, and general facilities were 
investigated and payment plans, banking facilities and a satisfactory contract 
arranged. He was successful in contracting with the principal planters of Canete 
and Chincha valleys in sufficient amount to warrant the sending of personnel of 
seven, with five dusting airplanes. He also took the first steps toward procuring an 
                                                 
51
 Manuel A. Rapier, ?The use of Airplanes in our Agriculture,? El Comercia (Lima, Peru), Nov. 
17, 1926. Translation in author?s possession. 
 
52
 El Commercio (Lima, Peru), Nov. 18, 1926.  
 93 
introductory patent covering the use of airplanes in all dusting operations in Peru 
for ten years and secured the promise of the passage of a special law exempting 
our Company from import duties and fees on all dusting airplanes and 
insecticides.  
 
Sales Contract for Keystone Aircraft Corporation: 
 In addition to his work for the duster organization, Mr. Woolman secured 
advanced information through the family of the President of Peru regarding the 
LaMerced-Iquitos Air Mail Route and conferred at length with Commander Grow 
of the United States Naval Mission, who is in charge of the project. Commander 
Grow became definitely interested in the Keystone equipment for this route, and 
this led to preliminary negotiations between Commander Grow and the Keystone 
factory.
53
 
  
 While Woolman was away, Harris, in the face of a ?terrific drop in the price of 
cotton,? supervised operations in Louisiana and prepared for his trip to Peru. In a letter 
addressed to Woolman at the Hotel Bolivar in Lima, Harris summarized operations for 
the year. ?We have dusted two-thirds more in 1926 than we did in 1925 with one-third 
less total flying time, even though we had an increase of 142% in the amount of dust 
used. The acres per hour dusted in 1926 are 132% greater than in 1925, even though we 
applied 46% more pounds per acre this year.? In a handwritten comment below his 
signature on the letter, Harris praises Woolman, ?Congratulations on your selling work 
[in the United States].?
54
 In the same letter Harris informed Woolman, ?the planes are practically ready to 
put into the crates,? and he expected ?a definite go-ahead from New York?any day.?
 
55
                                                 
53
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors of Huff Daland Dusters, Incorporated for 
1927,? Oct. 26, 1927, Monroe, Louisiana, 1-2, file 3, box 15, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
In fact they shipped out of New Orleans on the steamship Garfield, scheduled to arrive in 
late December at Cerro Azul, a port serving the Santa Barbara Sugar Mill near the Ca?ete 
 
54
 Harold R. Harris to Collett E. Woolman, Oct. 6, 1926, folder 14, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
55
 Ibid. 
 
 94 
valley.
56
 The details are lost to history, but Harris probably sailed from New York. As with 
Woolman?s voyage, Harris must have enjoyed the trip. His photo album provides some 
insight. In Panama, he posted pictures of a flight over the canal and locks. At port calls at 
Talara and Salaverry, Peru, on December 19 and 20, 1926, the passengers viewed 
primitive street scenes. At Callao harbor on December 21 there is a picture of a launch, 
presumably the one used to carry passengers to shore. There is a picture of Pedro 
Mantero, who, the caption reads, ?met us at the boat in his Sunbeam.? Photos of the Hotel 
Bolivar and downtown Lima are dated the same day of the ship?s arrival. Several pictures 
in the album are of a ?Christmas eve 1926 party at the Army Flying School,? in Las 
Palmas.
  
57
 The intervening days between Christmas and the New Year were spent preparing 
for the work at hand. ?Landing fields were prepared, deposits of calcium arsenate made, 
gasoline supplies arranged, entomological surveys made, and the many and various 
details attended to, including the completion of the necessary banking facilities for 
payments under contracts.?
 Likely the entire group was invited based on Harris?s well-known reputation as 
a military aviator. Although the Huff Daland Duster mission was nonmilitary in purpose, 
he was well received by his brothers-in-arms. 
58
                                                 
56
 El Comercio (Lima, Peru), Dec. 27, 1926. Photograph ?Our planes in front of the Santa Barbara 
sugar mill,? folder 27, box 2, RG01.03, DALCA. 
 Removing aircraft from the crates and assembling them 
 
57
 Photograph album, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
58
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 2, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
 95 
appears to have gone without a hitch. The first crop dusting was ?done by pilot 
Alexander, on the Estate of Montalvan in the Ca?ete Valley? on January 1, 1927.
59
                                                 
59
 ?Summary of Huff Daland Dusters?s Work in Peru,? Harris Papers, WSUSCA.  
 
 96 
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 5  
 
Insight 
 
If you?ve waited three weeks for a spare part after you?ve sent an expensive cable 
and then it comes wrong and you have to send a second cable twice as long and 
wait another three weeks, well, it?s hell, he [Harold R. Harris] said feelingly. 
 
 
Hudson Strode, South by Thunderbird 
 
 The Huff Daland Dusters project in Peru was well planned, well organized, and 
well executed, and Woolman and Harris each significantly contributed to its success. 
Woolman?s preliminary survey laid the groundwork for Harris to complete the operation 
satisfactorily. For a small enterprise to seize an opportunity, send men and equipment so 
far on a risky venture, and have a profitable outcome was a remarkable achievement.  
By all indications Huff Daland Dusters, Inc. fulfilled its contractual obligations for 1927. 
Some additional flying was similar to experimental work done in the United States for the 
Louisiana State University and involved sugar cane. This dusting was to control the sugar 
cane borer in the Ca?ete Valley.
1
 Six personnel accompanied Harris to Peru: an entomologist, J. B. Pope; three 
pilots, Dan E. Tobin, Henry E. Elliott, and Marvis L. Alexander; and two mechanics, 
William C. Miles and William E. Beach. Five ?Special Small Duster Type? ships, 
numbered 49, 55, 56, 58, and 60, were imported from Monroe. In a photograph of the 
  
                                                 
1
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 4, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
 97 
aircraft, taken in front of the Santa Barbara Sugar Mill, the numbers appear prominently 
painted on the vertical stabilizers.
2
 Each held 600 pounds of dust and was powered by a 
200HP, nine-cylinder, air-cooled Wright Whirlwind radial engine. The Whirlwind 
engine, the Peruvian English language West Coast Leader proclaimed, was the same type 
?used by [Richard E.] Byrd and [Floyd] Bennett on the first flight over the North Pole? in 
1926.
3
 
 The comment was noteworthy at the time, as Lindbergh had not yet made his 
epochal transatlantic flight in his Whirlwind powered Spirit of St. Louis.  
 
Huff Daland Dusters in Peru  
Photograph courtesy Special Collections & Archives Wright State University  
 
The West Coast Leader explained that the ratio of three pilots (Harris did not do 
any commercial dusting) to five airplanes insured reliability, so that ?no accident can 
delay the service.? In fact, the only damage reported through April was to ?one bent tail 
post,? a testament to the skill of the pilots and the sturdiness of the aircraft. Alexander 
Howard, director-secretary of the Compania Agricola E Industrial De Canete, observed, 
?the steel tube fuselages of these special planes have stood up extremely well in the 
Peruvian climate, and the Oleo shock absorbing landing gear has proved its worth time 
                                                 
2
 Photograph album, Harris Papers, WSUSCA; Photograph: ?Our planes in front of the Santa 
Barbara sugar mill,? folder 27, box 2, RG01.03, DALCA. 
 
3
 The West Coast Leader, April 5, 1927. 
 
 98 
after time in operating from rough fields with heavy loads.?
4
 A demonstration flight was flown on January 1, the contractual date specified to 
begin the service. Flights to dust cotton in earnest ?commenced during the last week in 
January, reaching their peak around March first, and drew to a close in the latter part of 
March.?
 These specially designed 
agricultural aircraft were new to South America, but the North American pilots and 
mechanics did not find the stresses exceptional. The design had already been tested and 
proved reliable under trying conditions in the United States.   
5
 The work was divided, with Tobin servicing the Chincha Valley contracts, and 
Elliott and Alexander splitting the work in the Ca?ete Valley.
6
 Most of the calcium 
arsenate was dispersed to eradicate the cotton leaf worm which, when it appears, quickly 
blankets an entire area so aerial applications are a particularly worthwhile 
countermeasure. A speeding airplane can swiftly and efficiently dispense poison to 
eliminate the pest.
7
 Recognizing the advantage, Howard had high praise for Huff Daland 
Dusters. ?The service proved so efficient that in no case had we to have more than one 
dusting per field, one of the chief advantages undoubtedly being the rapidness with which 
the poison was applied before any harm had been done by the worm.?
8
                                                 
4
 Ibid. 
 This reduced the 
cost of operations, highlighted in a summary report to the Board of Directors. ?While the 
Company held contracts for 50,712 acre applications [repeat applications] on 23,391 
 
5
 Alexander Howard to Harold R. Harris, ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 2-3, 
Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
6
 The West Coast Leader, April 5, 1927. 
 
7
 Ibid. 
 
8
 Alexander Howard to Harold R. Harris, ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 3, 
Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
 99 
acres the efficient control secured in this country, where it never rains, made necessary 
the use of only 29,652 acre applications,? grossing $108,299.45 income.
9
 Harris, not 
surprisingly, ?found cotton dusting in Peru a very satisfying experience.?
10
 The presence of especially designed commercial aircraft in Peru was a 
manifestation of Peruvian modernity not overlooked at the highest levels of the 
government. ?At the personal request of President Legu?a,? Harris commented, ?an 
exhibition of airplane dusting was given. This exhibition was attended by the President,  
  
his Cabinet, high Army and Navy officials, and leading planters of Peru.?  
 
 
Harold R. Harris meets Peruvian President Legu?a. 
 Photograph courtesy Special Collections & Archives Wright State University  
 
                                                 
9
 Ibid.. 
 
10
 ?Panagra,? 12, file 12, box 12, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 100 
Huff Daland Dusters, Harris said, was ?officially welcomed? by the president.
11
 In a 
photograph of their meeting, Harris?s broad shoulders and stocky build contrasts sharply 
with the diminutive figure of President Legu?a -- even while wearing his high silk top 
hat.
12
 The exhibition coincided with a ceremony to honor aviation graduates of the 
Escuela Militar de Aviacion held on January 29, 1927, at Las Palmas.
 
13 
 The Director of 
Aeronautics for Peru, Commandante Juan O?Connor, was likely an acquaintance of 
Harris. O?Connor was a graduate of the army?s flying school at Kelly Field in San 
Antonio, Texas, where he trained with Charles A. Lindbergh and Eugene Stevens, one of 
Huff Daland Dusters?s original pilots, hired by Harris in 1925.
14
 The demonstration was given by Harris and Alexander flying in formation and 
simulating the technique used to treat cotton by passing low over the ground, dispensing 
dust as they flew before the observers. Then Harris, an ?experto piloto? according to 
newspaper accounts, performed some loops and other aerobatics against a blue sky, 
totally clear of clouds.
  
15
                                                 
11
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 2, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. The quotation is 
attributed to Harris because he is the only person who could speak to this material in the report. 
 It must have been a good show. Harris reported that ?the dusting 
exhibition so impressed the National Government that they immediately requested [Huff 
Daland Dusters] assistance in combating a serious infestation of caterpillars which were  
 
12
 Photograph album, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
13
 El Comercio, Feb. 2, 1927. Ibid. 
 
14
 Eugene Stevens, interview, Lawrence Michaud, Casper, WY, Feb. 1984, transcript in author?s 
possession. 
 
15
 El Comercio, Feb. 3, 1927. 
 
 101 
defoliating the trees of the beautiful public parks in Lima.?
16
 This situation is reminiscent 
of Neillie?s problem and idea, in the spring of 1921, to use airplanes to spray the tops of 
trees in a Cleveland city park. His inspiration led to the development of aerial 
applications in agriculture. Harris recalled, ?Lima wasn?t a very high-rise city in those 
days; I suppose the highest building was the hotel which was about five stories high,? 
which made dusting relatively easy and ?we cut down on the defoliation very much.?
17
 While Harris was in Peru, an event occurred that had a significant bearing on the 
development of airways in South America. This was the U. S. Army Air Corps Pan 
American Good Will Flight under the command of Maj. Herbert A. Dargue. A flight of 
five Liberty engine powered Loening amphibians, each with a crew of two officers, was 
on a survey flight ?to show the possibilities for establishing aerial transportation and 
communication in Latin America? when it landed at Las Palmas airfield in Lima to 
deliver a message from President Calvin Coolidge.
 
18
 Unlike the chilly receptions and 
?unpleasant incidents? that had occurred in Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia, the crews 
were warmly received by Peruvian officials. They and the United States ambassador, 
Miles Poindexter, met the crews at the field. That the United States was arbitrating the 
Tacna-Arica territorial dispute among Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, and because the United 
States supported the Legu?a dictatorship added to the welcoming atmosphere.
19
                                                 
16
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 2, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 A formal 
 
17
 Harold R. Harris, interview, Alta May Stevens, Sept. 1, 1980, transcript in author?s possession. 
 
18
 Maurer Maurer, Aviation in the U. S. Army, 1919-1939 (Washington, D.C., Office of Air Force 
History, U.S. Air Force, 1987), 255-56. 
 
19
 Newton, Perilous Sky, 94. 
 
 102 
black-tie banquet at the Hotel Bolivar was given in their honor.
20
 The army officers on the Good Will Flight were ?old Air Corps buddies? of 
Harris, and he ?spent a good deal of time with them discussing the problems that they had 
encountered coming from the United States through Central America, Colombia, Ecuador 
and through Peru.?
  
21
 These conversations gave Harris a unique insight into the challenges 
of establishing a commercial air link between North and South America. The army 
mission clearly demonstrated a route was practical, but whether it was also economical 
remained an open question. Two Loenings (only one of the original aircraft completed 
the entire circuit) returned to the United States in May 1927. In his report Dargue 
concluded ?the future of airlines in Latin America was bright, but such lines would not at 
first pay for themselves. It would take time for the populaces to become accustomed to 
air travel.?
22
 Perhaps the most important outcome of the flight was its effect on 
government policy. In a speech before the Inter-American Aviation Conference meeting 
in Washington, D.C., William P. MacCracken, Jr., assistant secretary of commerce for 
aeronautics, predicted ?with the cooperation of business and industry, an airline would 
soon be established over a ?major portion? of the route covered by the Pan American 
Flight.?
23
 Apparently Harris was thinking along these lines as well. ?No meeting, just 
wandering around,? he informally asked ?various businessmen? if an airmail service 
would be of any benefit to them. From these conversations a certain amount of business, 
  
                                                 
20
 Mundial (Lima, Peru), Feb. 11, 1927. 
 
21
 ?Misc. Speeches given by Harris,? folder 12, box 12, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
22
 Newton, Perilous Sky, 99. 
 
23
 Ibid. 
 
 103 
such as the ?movement of funds,? was likely, but the main concern was whether the 
volume of mail would be sufficient to support such an endeavor. Harris was confident it 
?would pay its way in [the] final analysis,? but the problem would be with financing.
24
 Meanwhile, in the northern hemisphere during the spring planting season, the 
Mississippi River, swollen from winter runoff and unusually heavy rainfall, crested its 
banks and caused the infamous 1927 flood. Water broke through protecting levees and 
surged into the heart of the Delta. ?At 12:30 P.M., Thursday, April 21, [Major John] Lee 
[the Vicksburg District Army engineer] wired General Edgar Jadwin, head of the Corps 
of Engineers, ?Levee broke at ferry landing Mounds Mississippi eight A.M. Crevasse [a 
break in the levee] will overflow entire Mississippi Delta.??
  
25
 The following day President Coolidge appointed commerce secretary Herbert 
Hoover to lead a national flood relief effort.
  
26
 As overall administrator, Hoover set 
policy, but he delegated responsibility to local boards and the Red Cross for executing 
and overseeing the process. Thousands of refugees needed assistance. The Red Cross met 
the challenge and ran 154 tent cities, caring for 325,554 people. Mostly African-
Americans lived in tents, some up to four months, while whites generally lived outside 
the camps. All were fed and clothed by the Red Cross.
27
 Huff Daland Dusters, suffering no damage from the flooding, augmented the 
Army Air Service effort and flew thirty hours in support of aerial relief operations. ?With 
the oncoming flood survey trips were called for by the River Engineers in Monroe to 
 
                                                 
24
 ?Misc. Speeches given by Harris,? Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
25
 Barry, Rising Tide, 201. 
 
26
 Ibid., 262. 
 
27
 Ibid., 286. 
 
 104 
forecast the full danger and later, as the country became inundated, work was done in 
conjunction with the Red Cross in locating isolated families, the carrying of physicians, 
anti-toxins and medicines to the refugee concentration camps. Trips were also made for 
State Military Officials in charge of flood relief.?
28
 The company?s generosity was 
widely appreciated, earning the dusters ?a great deal of good will.?
29
 For his part in responding to the crisis, LeRoy Percy used his influence and 
political ties to keep Delta banks solvent and money flowing to planters during the 
emergency. But, he knew relief had to come quickly for Delta laborers.
 
30
 As with the boll 
weevil threat Percy was fearful ?the [overflowing] river would send blacks flooding 
north, stripping the Delta of labor.?
31
 With his acquiescence LeRoy?s son, William 
Alexander Percy, was named head of a ?special flood relief committee.? This position, 
?coupled with his chairmanship of the county Red Cross, gave Will near absolute control 
over the county during the emergency, and over the care of tens of thousands of 
refugees.?
32
 Will Percy wanted to evacuate blacks to safer ground and thought he had the 
support of other committee members, but his father undermined his decision. LeRoy 
feared the blacks would never return and lobbied behind his son?s back to have the 
evacuation plan rejected. Blacks were forced to remain in camps on the levees under poor 
conditions. When the floodwaters finally receded, black resentment for the way they were 
  
                                                 
28
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 10, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
29
 Ibid. 
 
30
 Barry, Rising Tide, 206. 
 
31
 Ibid., 304. 
 
32
 Ibid., 302. 
 
 105 
treated forever ended ?the bond between the Percys and the blacks? in the Delta. In the 
opinion of one author, the Delta then became ?the land where the blues began.?
33
LeRoy Percy?s great fear was finally realized. ?One man at a time, one family at a 
time, in an accelerating flood, blacks left Greenville and the Delta and did not return.?
   
34
 Drowned fields and falling cotton prices simultaneously challenged Huff Daland 
Dusters North American operation for the year. Only 7,800 acre applications were 
performed in the flooded region, compared to 45,000 the previous year. Planters, 
realizing a negative return on investment for the sale of cotton in 1926, experienced what 
amounted to a ?financial depression.? As a consequence, growers were ?not only 
unwilling, but unable to make any forward looking commitments? by signing advance 
contracts for 1927. Woolman, with the cooperation of the operating personnel, responded 
aggressively to the situation, and Huff Daland Dusters treated cantaloupes against 
powdery mildew in the Imperial Valley, California, and dusted truck farms in Mexico.
 
As threatening as the boll weevil had seemed to Percy, it could be managed. On the other 
hand, the mighty Mississippi River, yet untamed and from the social and economic 
catastrophe it caused, proved to be Percy?s ultimate nemesis. He died two years later in 
1929. 
35
                                                 
33
 Ibid., 334. 
 
Cotton operations were conducted in Texas and near Shreveport. Opportunities though, 
as they materialized, were ?more or less in the nature of emergency dusting as people 
were very loath to contract for service except as the Weevil or Leaf Worm put in their 
 
34
 Ibid., 416. 
 
35
 ?Airplane Cotton Dusting for Caddo,? Shreveport, Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, June 
1927; ?Another Service of the Airplane,? Standard Oil Bulletin, August 1926, folder 9, box 1, RG01.01, 
DALCA. 
 
 106 
appearance.? To get a planter?s signature ?was possible only at a considerable reduction 
of price? from $4.85 to $3.50 for three applications, including dust, under the standard 
contract.
36
  
 
Smoot field. Note two large dusters in front of hangar. 
Photograph courtesy of Delta Air Lines Corporate Archives 
 
 As if the situation were not bad enough, the possibility of protecting late cotton 
was proscribed by a second rise of floodwater in the Delta in June.
37
                                                 
36
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 7, 8, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 Then, on July 18, a 
tornado completely destroyed the hangar at Smoot Field in Monroe, severely damaging 
ship number 61, which had just been refurbished and test flown, further handicapping 
normal operations. Two other aircraft belonging to the Department of Agriculture were 
also severely damaged. Most likely these were stored temporarily due to flooding at Scott 
Field in Tallulah. To make up for the government?s loss, Huff Daland Dusters sold the 
 
37
 Ibid., 10. 
 
 107 
Pelican duster to the Delta Laboratory as a replacement, providing some additional 
income to the company.
38
 To help recover from the tornado, the city of Monroe immediately built a 
workshop and supplied three tent hangars, at no cost to the company. These proved to be 
temporary measures only. The limitations of Monroe?s Smoot Field site gained urgency 
after Lindbergh?s May 1927 flight to Paris. Overnight, communities across the country, 
including Monroe and others in the Cotton Belt, became more airminded. The Memphis 
and Shreveport chambers of commerce made offers for Huff Daland to shift its operating 
headquarters to their respective cities. Shreveport?s offer included a hangar and repair 
building ?completely acceptable to you,? available by January 1, 1928, and the local 
chamber of commerce was willing to cooperate ?in the establishment of airmail express 
lines or commercial passenger lines.?  
  
 Memphis, Tennessee promised ?a dandy Municipal Field? with ?free rent and 
sufficient hangars for five full years.? R. B. Snowdon, chairman of the Chamber of 
Commerce Committee of Memphis, touted the location ?as the center of the poisoning 
World. An office on Front St. with one man in it will sell more dusting contracts than all 
your traveling men and expenses put together.?
39
 Monroe?s proposal was more advanced than its challengers. The city and parish 
jointly bought a new 140-acre airport site five miles east of the city and plans were 
already approved for the ?immediate construction? of a hangar. Theodore F. Terzia, 
 
                                                 
38
 Ibid., 12. The Pelican is described as ?a convertible five-purpose Navy training plane suitable 
for all military requirements in its class? in a Keystone Aircraft Corporation publicity flyer, folder 5, box 1, 
RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
39
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 15-17, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
 108 
president of the Ouachita Parish Police Jury (similar to a county commission), anticipated 
airmail service ?at some near future date.? Terzia emphasized ?the landing field and 
hangar facility has already been inspected and approved by Lieut. Harris, Messrs. 
Woolman, Auerbach, Culver, and Dr. Coad?as well as numerous air pilots of the Kelly 
Field.? He praised the ?splendid type of gentlemen that is and has been associated with? 
the Huff Daland Dusters organization and hoped the airport would ?serve as a permanent 
home for your industry.?
40
 The new airfield was named after Augustus James Selman 
who had died in an airplane crash shortly after the armistice and was ?the only Monroe 
aviator to die in service during World War I.? Huff Daland Dusters relocated to Monroe?s 
new Selman Field in October.
41
 
 
Selman Field with shipping crates ready for Peru. 
Photograph courtesy of Delta Air Lines Corporate Archives. 
 
                                                 
40
 Ibid., 15-18. 
 
41
 Ouachita (Monroe, Louisiana) Citizen, March 9, 1983. 
 
 109 
Due to the depressed agricultural situation in the United States, it was necessary 
to return only two of the five duster aircraft located in Peru to Monroe, at a considerable 
savings in shipping costs.
42
 Storage costs were nominal. Lt. Cdr. Harold B. Grow of the 
United States Naval Mission estimated overhauling aircraft in Peru would cost 
approximately $650, with materials and spares provided, versus $3500 (all inclusive) per 
airplane in the United States. This was ?not excessive by any means,? Grow wrote to 
Harris, though what work was done is not known.
43
 All personnel, except Harris and the 
entomologist, J. B. Pope, returned to the United States. Alexander, on his way to the 
embarkation harbor at Cerro Azul, had a difficult time. ?After haveing [sic] three flat 
tires, and abusing our vocabulary with each one, we managed to get here last night at 
eight o?clock.? His note to ?Harry [Harris)]? covered last minute details before sailing, 
and he concluded with the pronouncement, ?our boat does not arrive until Saturday 
morning, however, every thing is ready to go now.?
44
 Pope stayed on in Peru to make a ?preliminary survey of those valleys to the north 
to which operations might be extended, and investigated the entomological problems and 
possibilities of our operations on cotton, sugar cane, and cocoa in the northern valleys of 
Peru and southern Ecuador.?
  
45
                                                 
42
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 7, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 Harris stayed to arrange advanced contracts for 1928, 
extend the company?s customs and tax exemptions, and follow up on the sale of 
Keystone mail planes for the LaMerced-Iquitos Air Mail Route.  
   
43
 Lt. Cdr. Harold B. Grow to Harold R. Harris, April 12, 1927, folder 12, box 1, RG01.01, 
DALCA. 
 
44
 Marvis L. Alexander to Harold R. Harris, May 11, 1927, folder 12, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
45
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 4, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
 110 
 In May and part of June, Harris closed contracts on 22,330 acres in Peru for the 
1928 season. The acreage was about equal to that for 1927, but it was thought another 
7,000 to 10,000 acres would be secured for the coming season. Because cotton prices had 
fallen below the cost of production, commitments were only possible at a reduced price 
of $31.00 per fanegada, from $43.00, although a performance bond and other ?protective 
clauses,? previously inclusive, now required additional payment.
46
 
 The conditions were 
all spelled out in a comprehensive Spanish/English language ?Standard Contract for 
Airplane Dusting Service in Peru? agreement between Huff Daland Dusters, Inc. and the 
planter. Clauses stipulated the area of a ?fanegada? was 30,000 square meters (7.41316 
acres) and, 
2. Identification of each field shall be by name of Hacienda and number of field 
according to map, sketch, photograph, or written description and such 
identification signed by both parties hereto shall become part of the contract. 
 
3. Measurement of areas shall be upon the basis of statement of the Planter with 
privilege of checking by the Company.
47
 
 
 Pedro Martinto, Inc., a firm representing North American companies such as 
International Harvester, Inc. and Babcock & Wilcox, Ltd., was retained to handle Huff 
Daland Dusters?s interests, on a commission basis, when a company representative was 
not available in the country. This firm maintained offices and agents in agricultural 
districts and apparently was successful in securing some additional contracts. As of 
November 1, 1927, a total of 3567 fanegadas (26,443 acres) had been contracted for 
                                                 
46
 Ibid. 
 
47
 ?Standard Contract for Airplane Dusting Service in Peru,? folder 6, box 3, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 111 
1928.
48
 Woolman, while on his 1926 survey to Peru, had petitioned for a government 
exemption of customs duties on airplanes, insecticides, and parts, and to ?liberate? the 
company from paying any taxes. Harris followed up on this initiative during the operating 
season. After some delay, a law finally passed exempting the company from import fees 
and extended an ?introductory patent? for taxes. President Legu?a signed the papers, but 
the patent still required the signature of the Ministerio de Fermento at the close of the 
operating season. Regardless, a stipulation in the service contract permitted the company 
to claim an additional fee per fanegada from planters, to make up for the difference, if the 
exemption remained unsigned.
 
49
 Woolman had previously opened discussions with the government on the sale of 
mail planes for the LaMerced-Iquitos route. A cable from Keystone on January 27, 1927, 
to Huff Daland Dusters in Peru, presumably received by Harris, requested ?every effort 
be made to close the contract? with Commander Grow. A meeting on March 9 resulted in 
a formal agreement with the Keystone Aircraft Corporation, but finalizing the details of 
the transaction and credits took considerably longer to complete.
 
50
                                                 
48
 ?Peruvian Contracts - 1928,? folder 3, box 3, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 In this and other 
matters, Harris, as the front man for Huff Daland and Keystone in Peru, likely spent most 
of his time in Lima and left it to the operating crews to work independently in the field. 
Apparently this was not a problem. The West Coast Leader had high praise for ?Messrs. 
Elliot, Tobin, and Alexander, of the Pilot Staff of the Company, [who] answer every 
 
49
 ?Standard Contract for Airplane Dusting Service in Peru,? folder 6, box 3, RG01.01, DALCA. 
  
50
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 6, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. The contract was 
for the Keystone Pelican (Pronto) aircraft discussed in Chapter 6. 
 
 112 
requirement of knowledge, training and experience? and the skilled mechanics who ?keep 
the aeroplanes in perfect condition.?
51
 
  
 
Harold R. Harris (on right) in Peru 
Photograph courtesy of Delta Air Lines Corporate Archives 
 
As a final task, in returning to the United States, Harris made what he called a 
?cooperative survey trip for the Keystone Aircraft Corporation and the Huff Daland 
Dusters, Inc.? through Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. He stopped ?at each 
nation?s capital long enough to determine whether there was any interesting crop dusting 
possibilities and particularly whether or not local people thought an airline would be a 
good idea to connect their center with the other world centers and minimize 
                                                 
51
 The West Coast Leader, April 5, 1927. 
 
 113 
transportation time required.?
52
 In his travels, Harris experienced the undeveloped state 
of transportation on the continent. ?Nearly all internal lines of surface communication 
reach from their interior regions of agriculture and mineral production to seaports from 
which raw materials are shipped abroad. The land routes which connect one region of 
concentrated settlement with another, even within the same country, are poorly 
developed.?
53
 
 How much time he spent in transit is not known, but Harris?s description of 
his route gives an indication that it was time consuming. 
I traveled by steamer from Callao, the port of Lima, to Mollendo, the point where 
the railroad starts up into the Andes, to Puno on Lake Titicaca. I took the train 
from Mollendo to Lake Titicaca where I got on a small steamer
54
 and made a 
night voyage to the Bolivian port, Guaqui, on the lake. I transferred to a railroad 
again and went down the short distance into La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. From 
La Paz, I took the train south on the altiplano, the level plain over 12,000 feet 
above sea level, to Uyuni, Bolivia. At Uyuni the railroad splits, the west branch 
going on to Santiago, Chile, and the east branch going across the Argentine to 
Buenos Aires. From Buenos Aires I took a night boat to Montevideo. From 
Montevideo I took the steamer to Santos in Brazil, the port of Sao Paulo. From 
Sao Paulo I took the train to Rio. From Rio, steamer to New York.
55
 
 
 Harris departed from Lima on June 15. He spent July, August, and September 
traveling and making contact with embassies, bankers, and businessmen.
56
                                                 
52
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 6; ?Draft Sept 85,? folder 7, box 3, both in 
Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 His timing 
could not have been better. Lindbergh?s flight across the Atlantic in May was ?widely 
 
53
 William A. M. Burden, The Struggle for Airways in Latin America (New York: Arno Press, 
1977), 8. 
 
54
 It was probably the 228-foot-long Inca built in England and brought to Lake Titicaca in sections 
and assembled. See Stewart E. McMillin, ?The Heart of Aymara Land,? National Geographic Magazine, 
Vol. 51 (February 1927): 256.  
 
55
 ?Draft Sept 85,? file 7, box 3, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
56
 ?South America Survey Trip,? 1, file 3, box 15, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
 114 
reported throughout Latin America.?
57
 No longer was flying something people did for 
thrills or an activity relegated to the military. Airplanes had a purpose. Lindbergh proved 
they could safely cover great distances across wide oceans and inhospitable land masses 
quickly and safely. In his travels, Harris, a record-holding pilot himself and aircraft 
company representative, benefited from Lindbergh?s acclaim.
58
 Harris was particularly praiseworthy of progress in Argentina.  
  
 
 Argentina has a keen air service, both in the Army and Navy. It has 
excellent, up to date machinery and the Army and Navy stations are very modern 
and remarkably well equipped.  
 When the Government factory starts production next year I believe the 
airmen will try for records in long distance flights on a big scale. The only reason 
they have not done so hitherto is because they do not want to use foreign 
equipment, but prefer to wait and make the distance records with their own 
national products.
59
 
  
 
 In 1925 the Argentine government began investing in equipment, airport 
construction, and the ?establishment of an indigenous aviation factory in Cordoba.? 
Located approximately four hundred miles northwest of Buenos Aires, the facility was 
?the first aviation factory established in South America.? According to author Dan 
Hagedorn, ?Argentina led all other Latin American nations by far in the advancement of 
military, naval, and civil aviation at this point.?
60
 In Buenos Aires, Harris contacted the Department of Agriculture and presented an 
offer to treat ?their terrific locust pests.? Negotiations were well advanced and ?a 
 This fact was not lost on Harris. 
                                                 
57
 Hagedorn, Conquistadors of the Sky, 217. 
 
58
Obituary of Harold Ross Harris, New York Times, July 29, 1988. 
 
59
 Buenos Aires Herald, July 24, 1927; ?Newspaper and Scrapbook,? Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
60
 Hagedorn, Conquistadors of the Sky, 219. 
 
 115 
program thoroughly worked out? when an outbreak occurred in the province of Cordoba. 
It seemed to be an ideal situation for Huff Daland, but the Minister of Agriculture 
?decided not to carry out this year the experiments proposed by you for combating the 
locusts by means of airplanes because the season is so advanced for this work.?
61
 Locust 
control by airplane had been tried in Argentina the previous year but it was found ?no 
real success has been secured by airplane dusting against locusts after they have reached 
the migratory stage.?
62
 An unknown type of aircraft was used in Santa Fe province, ?one 
of the earliest known instances of such work in mainland South America,? which, it 
should be noted, predated Huff Daland?s work in Peru.
63
 When he left Buenos Aires, Harris took the night boat across the Rio de la Plata to 
Montevideo, Uruguay. Curiously he chose to go by ship, although air service was 
available in trimotor Junkers G-24s on floats. Flights operated three times a week 
between March 4, 1926, and October 10, 1927. 
  
64
 Of all his travels in Latin America, this 
was the only segment he could actually have flown commercially. Undeniably he was 
aware of the opportunity because he studied the operation and determined the German 
company was ?just about making expenses.?
65
 Possibly he did not feel the $20.00 fare 
was justified, or perhaps the airplane, capable of carrying four passengers, was booked.
66
                                                 
61
 J. E. Varanona to Harold R. Harris, August 27, 1927; ?South America Survey Trip,? 3, file 3, 
box 15, both in Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
Or, as a veteran of World War I flying Caproni bombers in Foggia, Italy, he was adverse 
 
62
 ?South America Survey Trip,? 3-4, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
63
 Hagedorn, Conquistadors of the Sky, 219. 
 
64
 Ibid., 218. 
 
65
 ?South America Survey Trip,? 7, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
66
 Hagedorn, Conquistadors of the Sky, 211. 
 
 116 
to supporting the German-backed enterprise.
67
 At each major city Harris met with businessmen and bankers on the benefits of 
airmail service between Latin American capitals and the United States. In his discussions, 
he focused on the possibility of the mail ?paying for itself in poundage [of] mail 
carried.?
 Possibly he simply had too much baggage. 
Whatever the reason, he could have opted for the flight, but did not. 
68
 Harris said his ?inquiry among bankers and business men of South America 
indicated that no objection would be made to a charge of $1.00 per letter for air mail 
between the United States and any point in South America and that the proposition, 
which I put before them, of guaranteeing a certain amount of business each trip would 
meet with favor.?
69
 Harris understood that airmail between major commercial centers was the key to 
air routes. William A. M. Burden, an authority on the development of commercial 
aviation in Latin America, points to late 1927 as the end of the pioneer period. Harris?s 
trip presages the period of trunk route development, which Burden says began in 1928.
 
70
 
With insight gained from his flying background and familiarity of conditions in South 
America, Harris drew an air route map ?showing how to get started, and describing later 
expansion,? keeping in mind that ?planes then had only about a 600 mile range.?
71
                                                 
67
 Obituary of Harold Ross Harris, New York Times, July 29, 1988. 
 He 
further articulated a blueprint for development.  
 
68
 ?Misc. Speeches given by Harris,? Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
69
 ?South America Survey Trip,? 14, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
70
 Burden, Struggle for Airways in Latin America, 15. 
 
71
 Harold R. Harris, ?Sixty Years of Aviation History One Man?s Remembrance,? Lecture, Tenth 
Annual Northeast Historians Meeting, Windsor Locks, Conn. Oct. 12, 1974, IRIS #01042146, AFHRA. 
 
 117 
 
I have made a preliminary study of various air mail routes from South America to 
the United States. While these lines present themselves as a comprehensive whole 
in their final development there is no reason individual sections may not be 
initiated and operated independently until such time as the fulfillment of the entire 
project seems feasible. On the attached map there is roughly indicated the most 
advantageous routes, taking all things into consideration, and the lines most easily 
and cheaply installed are numbered in order of their installation.
72
 
  
 Geography favored development of a west coast route to Latin America. The 
North American and South American continents are offset to each other so that ?when a 
ruler or a piece of string is placed between New York and Buenos Aires, the straightest, 
shortest route is seen to follow along the Pacific coast of South America to Chile and 
over the mountains to Argentina.?
73
 By flying point-to-point, even when aerial navigation 
was rudimentary and aircraft lacked endurance, an airline could efficiently serve 
population centers not connected by rail lines and transport mail and passengers in 
competition with slow ?mail ships twelve days from Callao to New York.?
74
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
72
 ?South America Survey Trip,? 14, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
73
 Bender and Altschul, Chosen Instrument, 117. 
 
74
 Briggs, Proud Servant, 20. 
 118 
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 6 
 
Airmail and the West Coast Project 
  
Due to heavy fog at the mouth of the Gulf of Guayaquil we had to get down close 
and keep under it. Tobin flew a straight compass course and at times we were 10 
to 15 miles out over the gulf which did not please either Woolman or myself, but 
Tobin knew what he was doing evidently. 
 
Stan Webber, in a letter to his wife, July 30, 1928 
  
 The problem of financing airway development all but disappeared in the euphoric 
aftermath of Lindbergh?s flight. ?Business and government circles, hitherto 
conservative,? historian William Burden writes, ?became more sympathetic toward air 
transport projects.?
1
 Historian Robert van der Linden?s view is less sanguine. He 
observes aeronautical investing as irrational; ?part of the public feeding frenzy in the 
stock market.?
2
                                                 
1
 Burden, Struggle for Airways in Latin America, 22. 
 Under the circumstances, Edgar N. Gott, president of Huff Daland 
Dusters in Bristol, Pennsylvania, made a pragmatic decision. In a letter dated September 
30, 1927, he directed subordinates to submit a report on current and future operations for 
the company. Gott was apparently looking for ideas and opportunities, and who better to 
ask than the operations staff, which included Woolman, Harris, and Auerbach? The 
report, dated October 26, summarizes Huff Daland Dusters?s operations through 
September and includes an analysis and recommendations for a significant ?extension of 
 
2
 F. Robert van der Linden, Airlines and Air Mail: The Post Office and the Birth of the 
Commercial Aviation Industry (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2002), 36. 
 
 119 
activities.?
3
  The report confirms that dusting operations were profitable. On an hourly basis, 
Huff Daland Dusters earned an average of $298.50 per hour for dusting within the United 
States. In Peru the income was an extraordinary $729.00 per hour. For all flying hours, 
including dusting and other activities, the average gross income was somewhat less--
$201.00 per hour in the United States and $528.00 in Peru. These figures compare 
favorably to those from carrying the mail. ?The average income for all air mail contracts, 
as disclosed in the June 30
th
 figures issued by the Department of Commerce, [was] 55? 
per mile, or $55.00 per hour, and for the Western Air Express--the most successful 
operator of $1.40 per mile or $140 per hour.?
 Harris attached a summary of his recently completed Latin American survey. 
4
 From these numbers it would seem that agricultural applications were worthwhile 
and should be expanded, but there were systemic problems with Huff Daland?s dusting 
operation. For one thing, pilot utilization was inefficient. Only 20 percent of pilot days 
were being used for actual dusting.
  
5
                                                 
3
 Irwin E. Auerbach to Edgar N. Gott, Oct. 25, 1927, in ?Report to the President and Board of 
Directors,? Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 A considerable amount of pilot productivity was 
being lost from inactivity, and therefore was potentially available for other aerial 
purposes. Another problem was with the Huff Daland type of aircraft being used. The 
company operated two designs, a small type, the Petrel 31--powered by a 200HP Wright 
Whirlwind J-4--cost $14,000 and a large type, the duster 1--with a 400HP Liberty engine-
-that cost $20,000. The smaller one was useful for fields of all sizes. The larger machine 
was designed for fields with long, straight runs, but in practice it was found to be 
 
4
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 19, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
5
 Ibid. ?Working days? predates ?flying hours? as a measure of pilot productivity. Government 
regulations, labor contacts, and round-the-clock operations led to the change.  
 
 120 
?capable of accomplishing less than 15% more dusting than the small duster in a given 
elapsed time and required increased maintenance and an increase in loading crew.?
6
 Competitors, seeking an edge, could choose from cheaper production models.  
Although half as capable as the Petrel 31, a suitable airplane might be bought at one-
quarter the cost.
 
Although the small duster was more versatile, its cost was nonetheless significantly 
higher than newer machines currently being manufactured.  
7
 A single pilot, or small group of pilots, could easily get financing and 
undercut Huff Daland Dusters?s prices. For Huff Daland Dusters to continue to be 
profitable in such a competitive environment, the Gott report recommended the company 
replace its fleet with ?cheap production airplanes and engines.?
8
 Pilot retention was a concomitant issue. Woolman, Harris, and Auerbach warned 
that ?there is the constant danger of present personnel entering this field in competition 
with this company.?
 
9
                                                 
6
 Ibid., 20.  
 With available financing and cheap aircraft, they cautioned, their 
pilots might be tempted to operate independently. In fact, an isolated example (not 
mentioned in the report) proved the point.  Eugene Stevens, one of the original duster 
pilots hired by Harris in 1925, who, having had a falling out with him over a disputed 
$60.00 Model T pickup repair bill, quit Huff Daland and started the Southern Dusting 
Company, Inc. He bought a WACO 9 for ?about sixteen hundred dollars? and modified it 
 
7
 Ibid. 
 
8
 Ibid. 
 
9
 Ibid., 24. 
 
 121 
and three additional airplanes for dusting purposes.
10
 Looking to the future, the Gott report recommended duster management take 
steps to diversify its operation. ?Chief among these is Air Mail, because of its present 
rapid expansion and the opportunity to enter this important field at a time when main 
arterial routes are still to be had.? The paper suggested the present aircraft inventory 
could easily be converted to use as mail planes until, at some point, they would be 
replaced with new, more specifically designed Keystone aircraft. In light of future 
developments, the authors? recommendation was prescient: ?the Operating Group has 
come to the conclusion that the Company should bid on air mail contracts, and hereby 
requests authority to do so.?
 Stevens operated out of Scott Field 
in Tallulah.    
11
 To diversify the company?s operation even further, the report suggested opening a 
flying school, which would also permit ?the carrying of passengers on short flights, or on 
special trips.? And the operations staff wanted permission to sell Keystone equipment ?in 
such types of ships they [might] manufacture.? In the meantime ?we believe it advisable 
to carry in addition the agency of some production type airplane of other manufacture.?
   
12
 
Preliminary negotiations, the report disclosed, had already been ?in progress for some 
time with the Fairchild organization,? which would ?add another source of income.?
13
                                                 
10
 Stevens, interview. $33.55 is carried as a bad debt from Eugene Stevens in Account #70, Ledger 
Book, folder 2, box 2, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
The potential of aerial photography was probably the reason for these talks. The Fairchild 
 
11
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 21-22, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
12
 Ibid., 23. 
 
13
 Ibid., 22. 
 
 122 
Aviation Corporation was formed in November 1927 to market aircraft, engines, 
cameras, and aviation services in the United States, Latin America, and Europe.
14
 Diversification, to ?supply the necessary foundation for large scale operation,? 
was the key underlying strategy of the Gott report.
  
15
  Even when considering the loss of 
business from the Mississippi flood and the drop in world cotton prices, the company 
realized an operating profit of $14,274.79 for the 1927 dusting season. Nevertheless, this 
was ?not sufficient to absorb the entire overhead for the non-operating period.?
16
 The salient point of the Gott report, understood by its authors (as their subsequent 
actions suggest), was its argument in favor of scheduled commercial service with a mail 
subsidy and the potential of passenger revenue. A copy probably found its way to the 
desk of Richard Hoyt in New York. As the aviation expert with Hayden Stone, he 
represented the controlling financial interest behind the Keystone Aviation company, of 
which Huff Daland Dusters was a subsidiary. It was not immediately apparent at the time, 
but the Gott report signaled the beginning of the end for Huff Daland Dusters. 
Commercial aviation?s future was with scheduled air service, not crop dusting, and within 
a year Hoyt would divest the company from his portfolio. 
 To be 
profitable the company had to broaden its revenue stream and to spread it out over the 
entire year. 
 Hoyt had a larger vision of aviation?s future than the Gott report contemplated 
and was a central figure merging the interests of Keystone, Huff Daland Dusters, and Pan 
                                                 
14
 Van der Linden, Airlines and Air Mail, 23, 52-53. 
 
15
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 24, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
16
 Ibid., 8-9. 
 
 123 
American Airways, which led to the emergence of Delta Air Service, Peruvian Airways, 
and ultimately Pan American Grace Airways (Panagra). Hoyt?s involvement can be 
traced back to the recapitalization of the original Huff Daland company into Keystone 
Aviation in 1926.
17
 Pan American Airways began as a project of a group of American military 
officers, led by a concerned Army Air Corps intelligence officer, Major Henry H. 
(?Hap?) Arnold, to prevent the award of foreign (over American) flight privileges of the 
Panama Canal by the Post Office Department. German interests were behind SCADTA, 
an early Latin American airline that sought authority to carry U. S. mail to Colombia 
through Cuba and Panama. According to Postmaster General Harry S. New, a contract 
could conceivably be granted to a foreign company, unless there was an American line 
capable of performing the service.
 Ironically, given his preeminent role, he was not one of Pan 
American?s original founders--neither was Juan Trippe, for that matter. An understanding 
of Pan American?s early development is essential to the emergence Delta Air Service.   
18
 Arnold who would later testify for Gen. Billy 
Mitchell at his court martial for insubordination, decided to remain on active duty, thus 
forgoing what could have been an influential career in civilian aviation.
19
 Pan American Airways was incorporated in New York state on March 8, 1927, by 
John K. Montgomery, C. Grant Mason, Jr., and financier Richard B. Bevier.
  
20
                                                 
17
 Bristol (Pennsylvania) Courier, Nov. 8, 1926. 
 On July 
16, 1927, the Post Office awarded Montgomery a personal contract to carry U. S. mail 
 
18
 Bender and Altschul, Chosen Instrument, 84. 
 
19
 Douglas Waller, A Question of Loyalty: Gen. Billy Mitchell and the Court Martial that Gripped 
the Nation (New York: Harper Collins, 2004), 180. 
 
20
 Newton, Perilous Sky, 110. 
 
 124 
between Key West and Havana. This was later transferred to Pan American Airways. The 
contract stipulated that service had to begin by October 19 or it would be forfeited.
21
 Juan 
Trippe and a cohort of aviation industrialists likewise coveted the route and had ?secured 
from the Machado government some form of landing rights in Cuba that the Bevier-
Montgomery group did not possess.?
22
 Now that they had control, Trippe and Hoyt still had to meet the October 19 
deadline to begin the service or lose the mail contract. As the date drew inexorably 
closer, delivery of the ten-person Fokker FVII--single high-wing, trimotor, land planes--
Pan American had ordered was delayed. As it turned out, it did not matter as the landing 
site, laboriously prepared on a low-lying swampy Key West island, was rendered 
unusable for wheeled aircraft from recent heavy rainfall. In a frenetic search the 
resourceful Trippe turned up a Fairchild FC-2 floatplane capable of inaugurating the 
service. Hastily he hired Cy Caldwell of West Indian Aerial Express and ?in a melodrama 
rivaling any that might have emerged from the script of a Hollywood scenarist the 
company met the deadline.?
 Hoyt and Trippe, both pilots and acquaintances 
from prior dealings, combined to force a merger between Trippe?s Aviation Corporation 
of America and the Pan American people.  
23
 At 7:00 A.M., Caldwell showed up at his airplane, loaded 
seven sacks of mail, and was airborne at 8:04 A.M., as author Robert Dailey exclaims, to 
save ?a tycoon and an Airline.?
24
                                                 
21
 Robert Daily, An American Saga: Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire (New York: Random 
House, 1980), 29.  
 Soon thereafter Hoyt became ?one of the most active 
 
22
 Newton, Perilous Sky, 112-13. 
 
23
 Newton, Perilous Sky, 114. 
 
24
 Daily, American Saga, 35. 
 
 125 
participants in the new arrangement, eventually to be named chairman of the board of 
Aviation Corporation of the Americas [not to be confused with Trippe?s earlier Aviation 
Corporation of America], the holding company established in 1928 to control its 
operating subsidiary, Pan American Airways, Incorporated.?
25
 While the drama of Pan American?s founding unfolded, Harold R. Harris was still 
touring Latin America. From Peru he traced a circuitous route to the United States, along 
the way evaluating the potential for dusting operations, conferring with air-minded 
people, and mapping out air routes. By the time Harris arrived in New York by steamer 
one afternoon early in October, he was well informed on the state of aviation and its 
prospects in the Southern Hemisphere. The following morning Harris met with Hoyt in 
his office. He spread his map and figures over the financier?s big walnut desk and 
?hammered home the facts.?
 
26
 
 
 ?There it is Mr. Hoyt. The first section we fly is Lima to Talara, with stops 
in Trujillo, Chiclyao and Piura. It?s just along the coast and is practical as your 
granddad?s pants. Then we?ll go south to Mollendo, 530 miles. Then from Talara 
on up through Guayaquil and Buenaventura to the Canal Zone. That will be 
section three. Then from our base of operations in Peru we?ll go down from 
Mollendo to Valparaiso, 1200 miles or maybe a little more. As soon as we get 
enough ships and pilots and mechanics, get our bases established and these first 
sections running smooth, one after the other, we?ll put in number five, which goes 
over the Andes to Mendosa and Buenos Aires.? 
 ?Good gosh!? said Mr. Hoyt, ?Over the Andes!--Gimmie a telephone!? He 
asked for one Juan Trippe. While Mr. Trippe was on his way over, Mr. Hoyt was 
getting an earful of first-hand facts about ports and mileages and traffic, an eyeful 
of the short practical sections marked on Captain Harris?s well worn map, and a 
lapful of airplanes and air bases, overhaul shops and greasy mechanics. All of this 
Mr. Hoyt gracefully unloaded over onto the quiet, soft spoken Mr. Trippe when 
                                                 
25
 Newton, Perilous Sky, 113. 
  
26
 ?Daddy of the West Coast Airlines,? The South Pacific Mail, Jan. 28, 1937, ?Scrapbook,? Harris 
Papers, WSUSCA; Gushue Papers; Harris?s travel expenses from June 15 to Oct. 15 are listed in the 
?Duster Journal,? 19, folder 3, box 2, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 126 
he arrived. Mr. Hoyt pointed to Captain Harris?s wrinkled map and said, ?This 
fellow?s two years ahead of us.?
27
 
 
 While the date of Harris?s meeting with Hoyt and Trippe is uncertain, the briefing 
and his route map quite possibly predated, and therefore helped, to shape the vision 
Trippe outlined to his board of directors at a meeting on October 13.  
 
Trippe read a memorandum presenting a blueprint for the airline?s development. 
Starting from Miami, one trunk line extended to Col?n, in the Panama Canal 
Zone, and down the west coast of South America to Valparaiso, Chile. A second 
line emanating from Miami cut across Cuba to Puerto Rico and Trinidad, a 
stepping-stone to the east coast of South America. Trippe said they would 
organize a national corporation in Cuba to seek mail concessions on the island. In 
Central and South America, franchises and mail contracts would be secured by 
the purchase of interests in local companies.
28
 
 
 To Hoyt and Trippe, crop dusting was a side show compared to the potential of 
mail and passenger service in Central and South America. Coincidently, though, with 
Harris back in the United States, in keeping with the tag-team pattern they had 
established, Huff Daland Dusters was prepared to send Woolman to Peru for the 1928 
cotton-growing season. With emphasis shifting to airlines and airmail, Woolman was 
instructed to seek mail and passenger permits both within Peru and between Peru and the 
adjacent countries of Ecuador to the north and Chile to the south.
29
                                                 
27
 ?Daddy of the West Coast Airlines,? The South Pacific Mail, Jan. 28, 1937, ?scrapbook,? Harris 
Papers, WSUSCA.      
 Discussions likely 
took place when Woolman was in New York before his departure. Harris, Woolman, 
Gott, and Trippe attended the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America?s banquet 
              
28
 Bender and Altschul, Chosen Instrument, 86-87. 
 
29
 ?Draft, Sept. 85,? 12, file 7, box 3, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
 127 
on November 3, 1927, at the Biltmore Hotel. Congenially, Harris and Woolman were 
seated at table number one, and Gott and Trippe shared company at table number three.
30
 
Woolman, with his wife and children accompanying him, likely sailed sometime in 
November aboard a Grace Line steamship to Lima.
31
 The line offered ?direct fortnightly 
passenger service via fast luxurious ?Santa? Steamers--modern and spic and span 
throughout.?
32
 Barbara Woolman Preston, then five years old, remembers going through the 
Panama Canal and the small adobe house they occupied in Miraflores, on the coast near 
Lima. ?We were a year in Peru when Daddy was working on the West Coast Air Line of 
Peru for Pan American.?
 
33
 It rained the first time in seven years. ?Just a little sprinkle,? 
she recalls, but it was enough for the foot to drop off a little cherub statue on the front 
porch.
34
 Barbara was disappointed in the beach ?because it was great big sharp rocks, and 
you couldn?t get to the water really because you?d get thrown against the rocks.?
35
 Expenses in Peru were ?extremely high,? and to compensate Woolman?s salary 
was raised $2.00 per day. He and his family lived on the economy for six months, he 
 Had 
she ventured into the surf, she might also have recalled the cold water of the Humboldt 
Current.  
                                                 
30
 Woolman Papers, LSULSC. 
 
31
 The exact date of their sailing is unknown. An entry in the ?Duster Journal? refers to 
expenditures in Peru for Nov. and Dec. 1927. ?Duster Journal,? folder 1, box 2, DL01.01, DALCA. 
 
32
 New York Times, Nov. 6, 1927. 
 
33
 Preston, interview, 1993.  
 
34
 Barbara Woolman Preston, interview, Wesley Phillips Newton, Dec. 21, 1977, transcript, 
DALCA. 
  
35
 Preston, interview1993. 
 
 128 
writes, as a ?resident.? He kept careful records and, though they lived ?on a reduced 
scale? (his thrift became legendary in later years), his accounting showed ?actual living 
costs were increased $152.46 per month over a like period in the States.? Upon returning 
to Monroe, Woolman requested reimbursement for the difference from Pan American, 
claiming he was assured his going to Peru ?should not be at a personal financial 
sacrifice.?
36
 Woolman bought two cars; one, a Buick cost the equivalent of $1036.03; and the 
other, a Ford, was $588.14.
 
37
 Presumably Woolman used the Buick for his own purposes 
and the Ford was for general company business. At his request, an ?Authophonic 
[Orthophonic] Victor Phonograph? was bought in the United States and forwarded to him 
for his personal use. It must have entertained business guests in his home as well, because 
it does not appear that Woolman opened an office, but could have used that of Pedro 
Martinto, Huff Daland?s resident agent in Lima. To pay for the phonograph, $95 was 
charged to his account. Auerbach instructed him to ?please enter the amount as an item 
received on your monthly cash report.?
38
  In a ?Memorandum to Mr. C. E. Woolman on Accounting for Peruvian 
Expedition, 1927-1928,? Auerbach requested all reports be ?forwarded to the Monroe 
office monthly as soon after the first of the month as possible.?
 
39
                                                 
36
 ?Memorandum to Mr. Woodbridge,? Nov. 16, 1928, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 To save on cable fees, 
telegraphic communications were written using the Five-Letter ABC Universal 
 
37
 ?Duster Journal,? 100, folder 1, box 2, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
38
 Irwin E. Auerbach to C.E. Woolman, Monroe, La., Jan. 5, 1928, folder 11, box 1, RG01.01, 
DALCA. 
 
39
 ?Memorandum to Mr. C. E. Woolman on Accounting for Peruvian Expedition, 1927-1928,? 
folder 11, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 129 
Commercial Telegraphic Code, Sixth Edition. Messages were composed and deciphered 
by consulting the listing for the meaning of artificial five-letter word groupings.
40
 
Additional codes were created for company requirements. For example, Auerbach 
instructed Woolman to add ?IJIER? for Trippe, ?IJEVZ? for Grow, ?IJBGE? for Air 
Mail, ?IJELP? for Woolman, etc.
41
 At the beginning of the year, protecting cotton from infestations was an 
immediate priority for Woolman. Three thousand five hundred and sixty-seven fanegadas 
(approximately 25,000 acres) were under contract for 1928.
 Sensitive communications were likely sent by mail. 
42
 To augment the three 
aircraft not returned to the United States at the close of the previous season, two 
additional aircraft, parts and accessories, tools, and so forth, were shipped to Cerro Azul 
in December.
43
 Before leaving Peru at the end of the season in 1927, entomologist J. B. Pope had 
investigated cotton-growing conditions in the northern valleys of the country. As a result, 
Pedro Martinto was successful in generating experimental work to rehabilitate degraded 
cotton production areas from infestations in the Piura district, near the border with 
Ecuador. This was an opportunity for Huff Daland Dusters to extend its operation, and 
Martinto was advised the prices to quote were ?a reduction of approximately forty 
percent for additional applications and represent our interest in improving cotton 
 As the contract season wound down, the company expanded its reach to 
northern districts. 
                                                 
40
 Ibid. 
 
41
 Irwin A. Auerbach to C. E. Woolman, Jan., 28, 1928, folder 11, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. No 
examples of coded or decoded messages have been discovered. 
 
42
 ?Peruvian Contracts - 1928,? folder 3, box 3, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
43
 ?Invoice, Huff Daland Dusters, Inc.,? Dec.17, 1927, folder 7, box 2, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 130 
conditions in the Northern valleys.?
44
 Dan Tobin flew a duster north to Paita, where he found the worms ?stripping 
cotton twelve inches high so it looks as if we are going to do some good.?
   
45
 He went 
right to work and shortly wrote to Woolman declaring, the ?results I got on my first days 
dusting have simply been splendid.? Enthusiastically, he reported, ?this dusting business 
is the rage up here right now.?
46
 Tobin, one of Huff Daland Dusters?s earliest pilots, was a Canadian seeking 
naturalization as an American citizen. Woolman, interceding on his behalf, asked Ellis O. 
Briggs, the American vice-consul in Lima, about his status. Briggs?s response assured 
Woolman that Tobin?s five-year residency requirement would not be ?considered as 
broken by his temporary foreign assignments in connection with the field work of Huff 
Daland Dusters, Inc.?
   
47
 Briggs was well acquainted with Huff Daland Duster employees. Woolman and 
Harris were ?frequent callers at the consulate general.? Mail was forwarded via the 
American consulate, and the company?s business activities involved the American 
embassy. Ambassador Miles Poindexter presented Woolman to President Legu?a, ?whose 
interest was immediate and potent? for establishing mail and passenger service between 
Peru and Panama.
  
48
                                                 
44
 Huff Daland Dusters, Inc. to Pedro Martinto, Dec 23, 1927, folder 14, box 1, RG01.01, 
DALCA. 
 Woolman?s credentials included a power of attorney signed by Gott, 
 
45
 Dan E. Tobin to C. E. Woolman, April 3, folder 14, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
46
 Dan E. Tobin to C. E. Woolman, April 6, 1928, folder 14, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
47
 Ellis O. Briggs to C. E. Woolman, April 17, 1928, folder 14, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
48
 Briggs, Proud Servant, 23; Newton, Perilous Sky, 139.  
 
 131 
and certified by Enrique Marriott, and the Peruvian consul in Philadelphia. Woolman was 
named the company?s ?true and lawful representative for it and in its name, place and 
stead, to negotiate a contract or contracts with the Republic of Peru, or citizens thereof, or 
persons, firms, associations, or corporations resident, domiciled or qualified therein, for 
and in connection with the sale of aircraft, spare parts, and aircraft equipment, 
concessions, for air mail and transport, (both of passengers, express and freight) and 
airplane dusting, subject to confirmation at the home office of Huff Daland Dusters, 
Inc.?
49
 In February, Woolman acknowledged his project was only in the ?embryo stage,? 
but a bill to operate a concession ?would be sent for approval to the present [Peruvian] 
Congress.?
 
50
 He may not have been fully aware of what was taking place diplomatically 
behind the scenes in Washington through the Department of State and the American 
embassy in Peru. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg directed Ambassador Poindexter to 
aid and support Woolman in any way possible. By January, it was public knowledge that 
?Washington was definitely giving PAA strong encouragement? by helping it plan routes 
and conduct surveys.
51
                                                 
49
 ?Power of Attorney,? folder 8, box 3, DL01.01, DALCA. 
 But extending those routes to the southern continent, for the 
moment, was still problematic. Protecting the Panama Canal was strategically a more 
immediate concern than were foreign aviation inroads farther to the south. Then too, 
?Trippe had to overcome doubts among key colleagues that South America was worth the 
candle.? The ?beachhead? of pro-American elements in Peru helped Trippe tilt the 
 
50
 New York Times, Feb. 20, 1928, 5. 
 
51
 Newton, Perilous Sky, 140-41. 
 
 132 
opposition his way.
52
Washington, D.C. and Trippe took advantage of Huff Daland?s presence as a 
United States firm in Peru. Of note also was Navy Lt. Cdr. Harold B. Grow?s position 
there as an American national ?entrusted with making a recommendation to Legu?a 
concerning a United States-Peruvian service.? Historian Wesley Newton surmises that 
Huff Daland was a ?stalking horse for PAA?s, and Washington?s future ambitions for the 
west coast of South America.?
 
53
 How much of these machinations Woolman was aware 
of is not known, but his actions would be the subject of some concern by Matthew E. 
Hanna, charge d?affaires ad interim, in light of competition from foreign enterprises 
seeking similar privileges.
54
 Rudolf Beeck, a German a resident of Peru since 1910, 
petitioned the government to establish a commercial aviation company offering weekly 
service from Lima to Tumbes to the north, Ilo to the south, and Iquitos to the east. His 
letter of introduction is dated November 1, 1927, and the project was planned for 1928.
55
 
The Germans were aware of Peru?s naval aviation route to Iquitos and their petition 
proposed to originate the air route from Callao. Washington was worried that President 
Legu?a would sign a contract with the Germans.
56
  Officially Grow headed the United States naval mission to Peru, but on January 
  
                                                 
52
 Newton, Perilous Sky, 188-98. 
 
53
 Ibid., 140-41. 
 
54
 Ambassador Miles Poindexter departed from Lima on March 21, 1928; his replacement, 
Alexander P. Moore, did not arrive at his post until June 11, 1928. 
 
55
 ?Proyecto para la formaci?n de la Compa?ia National Commercial de Transportes Aereos del 
Peru,? folder 16, box 3,RG01.01,  DALCA. 
 
56
 Matthew E Hanna to Department of State, April 19, 1928, National Archives and Record 
Service, Records of the State Department Relating to the Internal Affairs of Peru, 1910-1929 (Washington: 
National Archives and Records Record Service, General Services Administration, 1968), text-microfilm, 
roll 29 (hereafter cited as State Department). 
 
 133 
3, 1928, he inaugurated the first domestic Peruvian airline, utilizing ?American-built 
Keystone Pelican (Pronto) aircraft.?
57
 Peru is divided geographically by the formidable Andes mountain range which 
stretches north to south along the western coast of the country. Air service to the remote 
eastern Amazon region of the nation was a major milestone.
 Fourteen of the Prontos, powered by Wright J.S. 
220HP motors, were bought by Peru the previous January. Six of them, capable of 
carrying 220 pounds of freight and two passengers each, were used to inaugurate a 
combined rail/air service to remote interior sections of the country.  
58
 By air ?it took two days 
for correspondence to reach either Iquitos or Lima, a trip which previously took thirty-
two days overland.?
59
 Grow?s achievement and his ?blond and vivacious wife? put him in 
good standing with the president.
60
 This association helped advanced the development of 
a commercial air route to the United States.
61
  President Legu?a assured Hanna in a meeting on April 19 that ?persistent reports 
that the Peruvian Government has signed [a] contract with German aeronautical interests 
to operate in Peru are not true.? The ?present intention,? Legu?a continued, ?is to enter 
into contracts with both American and German interests and let them compete. [Legu?a] 
added that Woolman is seeking [an] exclusive concession which is not true of the 
  
                                                 
57
 Alexander P. Moore to Secretary of State, Dec. 22, 1928, State Department; Clayton, Peru and 
the United States, 129. 
 
58
 Herbert H. Moll, Peruvian Civil Aviation (Mineola, N. Y.: American Airmail Society, 2000), 
21-22. 
 
59
 Ibid., 21-22. 
 
60
 Briggs, Proud Servant, 41. 
 
61
 Clayton, Peru and the United States, 129. 
 
 134 
German interests.?
62
 Events of late April and early May proved pivotal for Woolman. His proposal 
authorized the carrying of mail, freight, and passengers with weekly service to begin 
within one year. One hundred and twenty kilograms (265 pounds) of space was reserved 
for the government and payable at fifty percent of the tariff, whether used or not. The 
rights under the contract were transferable. Woolman wanted an exclusive concession, 
but President Legu?a refused.
  
63
 On April 23, in the first of a two-part telegram to Washington, Hanna reported the 
exclusivity clause had been removed. Woolman, he said encouragingly, ?has been told by 
the Minister of Gobernacion he can consider it [the contract] as good as signed.? At the 
same time, not so helpfully, the official said an agreement would also be signed with the 
German party. Woolman, Hanna advised, should have the ?decisive advantage in [the] 
ensuing competition? if he acted quickly. Huff Daland had the aircraft and skilled pilots 
available, while the Germans did not.
  
64
 
  In Section two of the telegram, though, Hanna 
tempered his confidence by questioning Woolman?s competence: 
It would seem that the fate of the enterprise depends mainly on the energy and 
determination of the American company. There should be no delay in, one, 
completing the contract and in, two establishing the Paita service. If the company 
is not prepared to act with energy and possibly with some financial loss during the 
initial period it probably will have little or no chance to establish the service. In 
view of the [State] Department?s interest it may desire to bring the foregoing to 
the attention of the company. 
 STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. Americans who have assisted Woolman in 
this matter inform me that he had not been skillful in his negotiations, however 
                                                 
62
 Matthew E. Hanna to Department of State, April 19, 1928, State Department. 
 
63
 Matthew E. Hanna to Department of State, April 21, 23, 1928, State Department. 
 
64
 Matthew E. Hanna to Department of State, April 23, 1928, Section One, State Department. 
 
 135 
his relations with the Embassy are very cordial but his ineptitude has made it 
difficult for the Embassy to cooperate effectively.
65
 
 
 The Americans referred to are not named, but, given his position, Grow could 
have been one of them. The state department forwarded the information and warning to 
Postmaster General New, who, given his close association with Hoyt and Trippe, and 
following Hanna?s recommendation to bring it to the attention of the company, likely told 
them.
66
 Seemingly to vindicate Woolman, only two days later Hanna telegraphed that 
President Legu?a had informed Woolman ?his contract will be signed very soon, possibly 
this week and intimated that [a] competing contract for coast service may not be 
granted.? The German contract would be ?to the interior and eastward in which,? Hanna 
advised, ?I understand they are interested.?
67
 President Legu?a was apparently unaware and surprised by Article 8, which 
reserved 265 pounds of space for the government and obligated it to pay whether 
occupied or not. Legu?a refused a meeting with Woolman, and the ?Minister of 
Government informed him that Article 8 must be removed.? Hanna, in turn, informed 
Washington that Woolman had ?eliminated it entirely and expects contract to be signed 
immediately. Subsequently he will have to reach an agreement on tariffs and enter into a 
contract with the Marconi Company for carrying the mail.?
 Unfortunately his optimism was premature. 
The signing did not take place.  
68
 Woolman?s competition was active and effective. Rudolf Beeck, who represented 
  
                                                 
65
 Matthew E. Hanna to Department of State, April 23, 1928, Section Two, State Department. 
 
66
 Secretary of State to Postmaster General Harry S. New, April 24, 1928, State Department. 
 
67
 Matthew E. Hanna to Department of State, April 25, 1928, State Department. 
 
68
 Matthew E. Hanna to Department of State May 7, 1928, State Department. 
 
 136 
the German aviation initiative in Peru, published a letter in El Tiempo on May 5 stating 
that ?his enterprise would be controlled by a Peruvian company which is in the process of 
formation and would be financed by Peruvian capital.? Reportedly Beeck enlisted one of 
the president?s son-in-laws to help in negotiations. On the other hand, Hanna observed, 
?Mr. Woolman appears to have had no Peruvian advisor except a rather obscure young 
attorney.?
69
 Acting in his interim capacity between ambassadors, Hanna dutifully reported on 
the circumstances. Woolman was probably not being entirely forthright with him; guided 
to some degree by Trippe (and Hoyt), he did not want to disclose the extent to which he 
operated independently. In his negotiations, Woolman drew on his experience as a 
successful duster salesman. Harris noted that he ?never told any lies, but he didn?t 
necessarily tell all the facts.?
 Another rival, Elmer (?Slim?) Faucett, the first to cross the Andes by air, also 
vied for a concession, but lacked Washington political or Wall Street financial backing. 
Nevertheless his presence contributed to the swirl of aviation intrigue that engulfed Lima 
at the time.  
70
 A key hand in the ?poker like rivalry? was dealt in May when President Legu?a 
put Grow ?in charge of  all Peruvian aviation, civil, commercial, and military,? replacing 
his own son, ?hard-drinking? Juan Legu?a, and a German officer. Almost coincidently, on 
May 28, the Peruvian government awarded Huff Daland a concession to operate an 
international air service to the United States. An agreement still had to be negotiated with 
  
                                                 
69
 Matthew E. Hanna to Department of State May 15, 1928, State Department. 
 
70
 Harris, interview, Sept. 1, 1980. 
 
 137 
the British-owned Marconi Company, which controlled the mail concession.
71
 While the 
talks were going on, an Associated Press story embarrassingly declared ?Huff Deland 
Dusters Company has no contract with the United States to carry mail into the United 
States from Peru.?
72
 Woolman was not happy. He wrote Harris, ?This was great stuff for the 
opposition and believe me they used it.? He asked Hanna that ?prompt appropriate 
measures be taken to correct the impression it has occasioned.?
 
73
 
 Indicative of how 
tightly American business and political interests were tied, Washington reacted quickly,  
Only two days later, on June 4, 1928, Secretary Kellogg telegraphed the embassy in 
Lima: 
 Of course there is no truth in the statement that a company holding a 
contract from Peru could not carry mail into the United States without a contract 
from the United States Government. It would require a contract to carry the mail 
on the return trip and?the Postmaster General would be glad to negotiate 
concerning such a contract with any American company capable of rendering the 
service. The call for this service was issued on Saturday.  
 You may communicate the above to the appropriate authorities of the 
Peruvian Government and if necessary issue a statement to the local press 
correcting the erroneous interpretation of conversation given by the Associated 
Press.
74
 
 
 Probably as a result of the state department?s almost immediate clarification, the 
Marconi agreement was quickly signed on June 5. Huff Daland Dusters could now 
operate its airline and carry the mail. On receiving the news Woolman was in the process 
                                                 
71
 Newton, Perilous Sky, 190. 
 
72
 Matthew E Hanna to Department of State, June 2, 1928, State Department. 
 
73
 Harold R. Harris to Robert W. Atkins, June 20, 1928, folder 12, box 1DALCA; Matthew E 
Hanna to Department of State, June 2, 1928, State Department. 
  
74
 Department of State to United States Embassy in Peru, June 4, 1928, State Department. 
 138 
of typing a letter to Harris. He exclaimed in capital letters (copied by Harris): 
 
----W OW---- 
PHONE JUST RANG AND THE MINISTER STATES THAT THE 
CONTRACT WITH MARCONI HAS BEEN SIGNED, SEALED AND 
DELIVERED.
75
 
 
 That evening Woolman attended a ?reception for the new ambassador Moore and 
of course told acting Amb. Hanna and the other officials about the closing of the contract. 
A shout went up and we all repaired to the punch bowl. It has been a tight fight and they 
have all been mighty interested in the outcome.?
76
 By this time considerable funds had been spent by Huff Daland Dusters for the 
benefit of Trippe?s West Coast Air Mail Project. Gott instructed Auerbach, his 
comptroller, ?to set up as an asset the cost of development of the South American Air 
Mail project? in the company?s books.
  
77
 An agreement, dated June 20, 1928, granted an 
option to Aviation Corporation of the Americas to buy the Peruvian concessions from 
Huff Daland Dusters.
78
 As Trippe extended his route through Central America, according to his blueprint 
the next objective was to stretch the line south along the west coast of Latin America. 
There was still a lot to be done. With contracts for Peru in hand, Woolman went about the 
business of expanding his franchise north to Ecuador and south to Chile, with the purpose 
of connecting with Pan American Airways in Central America.  
 
 Information from the Department of Commerce disclosed that the Chilean 
                                                 
75
 Harold R. Harris to Robert W. Atkins, June 20, 1928, folder 12, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
76
 Ibid. 
 
77
 ?Duster Journal,? 110, folder 3, box 2, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
78
 Edgar N. Gott to Harold R. Harris, August 27, 1928, folder 12, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 139 
government had agreed with a French company to operate an air route between Europe 
and Chile. The department thought there was the possibility for a ?properly equipped 
[American] company, agreeing to use Chilean pilots? to get approval for an air route 
from the Chilean Post Office.
79
  Woolman?s reaction to the advice was tepid. He 
appointed an agent in Santiago, Francisco Aguilera, to represent Huff Daland in seeking 
an exclusive concession ?subject to the approval and acceptance of the Company.?
80
 He 
was more proactive in the north.  
 
Tobin on the left; Woolman on the right. Possibly with Stan Webber prior to their flight 
to Ecuador. Note satchel adjacent to cockpit. 
Photograph courtesy of Delta Air Lines Corporate Archives 
 
 
At the request of Trippe, Gott cabled Woolman on June 21 instructing him to seek 
a concession in Ecuador.
81
                                                 
79
 Ralph H. Ackerman to C. E. Woolman, June 23, 1928, folder 14, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 Woolman and Robert S. (?Stan?) Webber, an American 
businessman with Ingersoll Rand Company, departed from Lima on July 14 in a duster 
 
80
 C. E. Woolman to Franciso Aguiera, July 9, 1928, folder 14, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
81
 Edgar N. Gott to Harold R. Harris, August 1928, folder 12, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 140 
piloted by Dan Tobin for Guayaquil to petition the Ecuadorian authorities for a mail 
permit. Woolman carried with him some airmail under authority of the company?s newly 
won Peruvian west coast mail contract.
82
 The trip was taken in one of the duster planes, whose hopper, however uninviting, 
could be used to carry passengers.
  
83
 Ellis Briggs experienced the discomfort when Harris 
gave him ?his first flight in Peru--in the empty dust hopper of his plane, which afforded a 
poor view of the country and brought on an attack of sneezing.?
84
 
  Writing to his wife, 
Webber described the journey as a great adventure. The Peruvian portion of the flight 
was familiar territory for Tobin, having been up that way before to dust cotton in the 
northern valleys. Crossing the border with Ecuador by air was a new experience. Webber 
wrote: 
Tobin had never been in Guayaquil and it is quite a tribute to his ability as a pilot 
that we came over Guayaquil through that nasty weather, hitting the town right on 
the nose. I did not know it until afterward, but Tobin went through his flying 
course at Kelly Field in the same class with Lindbergh, they graduated together. 
Anyone graduating from Kelly Field has earned his right to fly they tell me. Well, 
we made a turn of the town and crossed the river to Duran, made a very nice 
?zoom? of the field which pleased the natives and landed perfectly, coming up 
close to the hangars in the midst of a big crowd. 
85
 
 
 From Guayaquil, Woolman and Webber traveled by train to Rio Bamba and by 
car to Quito, which left them ?in a sort of daze trying to absorb so much scenery.? They 
found Quito a city unspoiled by tourism, ?due to the difficulty of getting there.? The 
                                                 
82
 Matthew E Hanna to Department of State, July 17, 1928, State Department. ?Procedente de 
Guayaquil Ayer en la Tarde Llego el Aviador Dan E. Tobin,? El Comercio, July 18, 1928. 
 
83
 Alexander P. Moore to Secretary of State, Dec. 22, 1928, State Department. 
 
84
 Briggs, Proud Servant, 23. 
  
85
 Stan Webber to his wife, July 30, 1928, Woolman Papers, LSULSC. 
 
 141 
American minister, Dr. Bading, made arrangements for them to meet the president of 
Ecuador, Isidro Ayora. Webber translated for Woolman, who did not speak Spanish. 
Ayora, Webber wrote, ?is not the personality that Legu?a is, but was very nice.? He added 
that Ayora is not as pro-American as Legu?a? and he did not grant Woolman his permit.
86
 Until such time as through service between the United States and Peru became 
possible, the idea was to connect mail with steamship lines at points along the coast. A 
major milestone occurred on September 13, 1928, when Huff Daland Dusters inaugurated 
scheduled passenger in a Fairchild FC-2, described in detail in a news report.
 
87
 
 
The ?Fairchild? airplane is a limousine-type monoplane, with capacity for five 
persons, including the pilot. It is painted dark green, except for the wings, which 
are canary yellow. It is driven by a Wright-Whirlwind 220 HP engine. It was 
specially constructed for this service in the plant of the same name, and is 
equipped with all the comfort required in a machine which will be used to 
transport passengers a great distance. It has glass windows on each side of the 
cabin. It has two great doors, one on each side of the fuselage, in the center of the 
cabin. It is equipped with a complete restroom. At the front of the cabin, a sliding 
door gives access to the pilot?s compartment, which is roomy, and fully equipped 
for command. It is shut in by the windshield and the roof of the compartment, 
which fully protects the pilot from wind and rain, without obstructing his vision. 
Other technical characteristics of the airplane are those corresponding to the most 
perfect machines of this type, since this is one of the most modern aircraft.
88
 
 
 Piloted by Dan Tobin, the flight left Lima at 10:45 with A. G. Harrott, temporary 
Postmaster General, Bejam?n Romero, editor of the newspaper El Comercio, and some 
mail on board. Stops were made at Chimbote, Trujillo, Pimentel, Paita, and Talara where 
Harrott established air postal service offices. The service was scheduled to operate 
                                                 
86
 Ibid. 
 
87
 Pan American-Grace Airways, Inc. donated the Fairchild FC-2 to the Smithsonian National Air 
and Space Museum, where it is on display. 
 
88
 El Comercio, Sept. 13, 1928, folder 8, box 1, DALCA. 
 
 142 
weekly and cut one day off the time for mail to reach Panama or New York. ?A 
ceremony of inauguration was witnessed by several hundred persons, including official 
Americans in Lima and President Legu?a, who placed the first sack of mail aboard the 
plane.?
89
William (?Bill?) Howell, who was Panagra?s first employee, witnessed the event. 
?The plane took off in a cloud of dust. We spent a week shaking ourselves out.? The 
flight was not without incident. Howell filled in the details for Harris, who had not yet 
arrived in Peru at the time of the inaugural flight. Tobin, Howell told Harris, had ?a little 
bit of a gas leak? above the cabin door but stopped the leak with some soap and a band of 
tape. Tobin announced, ?that?s got it.?
  
90
 Howell also reported a tragic incident, reflecting 
a lack of awareness of a propeller?s danger and the urgency to continue the flight that 
occurred at one of the stops. ?While a speech was being made of welcome? I think at 
Pimentel, a drunken Indian walked into the propeller since the engine was not shut off. 
The engine didn?t even stop. It just killed the guy and kept right on going. They got the 
blood and guts off the airplane and kept on going with the first flight, to reach Talara 
before dark.?
91
 All the while, Trippe was busy working on his blueprint for aviation routes in 
Latin America. He and Hoyt joined with the W. R. Grace Company fifty/fifty to form 
Peruvian Airways Corporation, a Delaware company. The directors were William F. 
Cogswell, Richard F. Hoyt, Robert H. Patchin (a Grace vice-president) and Trippe, and 
 
                                                 
89
 Ibid.; Ellis O. Briggs to the Secretary of States, Sept. 17, 1928, State Department. 
 
90
 ?Draft  Sept. 85,? file 7, box 3, 14-15, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
91
 Ibid. 
 
 143 
the officers included Trippe as president and Harris as vice-president and general 
manager.
92
 The Pan American and Grace partnership exploited the franchise obtained by 
Woolman. Trippe said: ?The Peruvian Airways Corporation has purchased from Huff 
Daland Dusters, Inc., an option covering its air mail concessions and contracts with the 
Peruvian Government. Mr. Harris is expected to arrive in Peru on or about September 
25
th
. Application will be made to the Peruvian Government for transfer of the above 
concession and contracts to Peruvian Airways Corporation.?
93
 On November 26, 1928, the permits were transferred as requested.
 
94
 Privately Woolman, Harris, and Auerbach had hatched a plan to buy the Huff 
Daland Duster assets and start an airline of their own. Hoyt, as they soon found out, was 
willing to sell the company to them. 
 Once again, 
permanently this time, Woolman and Harris changed places. Harris stayed on in Peru to 
manage Peruvian Airways, which shortly became Pan American Grace Airways 
(Panagra), and Woolman, when he returned to the United States, inaugurated a new 
service in the Mississippi Delta region to serve points across the south.  
                                                 
92
 J. T. Trippe to S. W. Morgan, Sept. 22, 1928, State Department; Bender and Altschul, Chosen 
Instrument, 117. 
 
93
 J. T. Trippe to S. W. Morgan, Sept. 22, 1928, State Department. 
 
94
 Alexander P. Moore to Secretary of State, Dec. 4, 1928, Ibid. 
 144 
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 7 
 
Metamorphosis  
 
 
There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it?s going to be a butterfly.  
 
R. Buckminster Fuller 
 
 
 When Peruvian Airways acquired its route permits, Huff Daland Dusters became 
irrelevant to financier Richard F. Hoyt and Pan American?s president Juan Trippe.  
According to W. David Lewis and Wesley Phillips Newton in Delta:; The History of an 
Airline:    
 
 Richard F. Hoyt, representing the controlling Wall Street interests, decided 
to liquidate the dusting operations of Keystone?s Huff Daland subsidiary and to 
sell the assets involved. So far as Hoyt and his colleagues were concerned, Huff 
Daland Dusters had served its main purpose by helping to secure an airline 
foothold in Peru. This advantage was to be exploited by the chosen instrument of 
American aviation diplomacy, which the financiers had helped to design--Pan 
American Airways.
1
 
 
 Hoyt and Trippe cooperated with statesmen at the highest levels of the United 
States and Latin American governments to advance aviation on a global scale. Pan 
American was more than an airline; it was an instrument of American policy and 
operated, author Elsbeth Freudenthal argues, as an ?imperialistic agent.?
2
                                                 
1
 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 17. 
 The airplane 
leapfrogged geographical and political barriers, linked continents, and projected 
 
2
 Freudenthal, Aviation Business, 163. 
 
 145 
American, influence, power, and modernity. For Hoyt and Trippe this was eminently 
more personally challenging and financially rewarding than exterminating insect pests.  
  Men of a like mind and similar acumen were busy consolidating the domestic air 
transportation system. William Boeing, of Boeing Airplane and Transport Corporation, 
joined with Pratt & Whitney?s Frederick Rentschler to form United Aircraft and 
Transport Corporation (UATC). Clement Keys leveraged his interest in National Air 
Transport (NAT), Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT), Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor 
Company, and Wright Aeronautical Corporation to form North American Aviation 
(NAA), a holding company ?more loosely organized than United Aircraft.? Another 
company, the Aviation Corporation of Delaware (AVCO), was ?a product of the 
machinations of some of the greatest financial minds [at one stage involving Hoyt] on 
Wall Street.?
3
 This activity was not lost on Woolman, Harris, and Auerbach, who managed Huff 
Daland Dusters?s daily operations and looked to the future. With roots deep in fertile 
Mississippi Delta soil, they saw an opportunity on their doorstep, albeit on a smaller scale 
than the large conglomerates. But, in a drama involving betrayal by one of their own 
members, a new enterprise rose from the cotton fields and took flight.  
  
 Carrying the mail was an idea Woolman, Harris, and Auerbach recommended in 
their October 1927 report to Huff Daland?s president, Edgar N. Gott. They advised the 
company to enter ?this important field at a time when main arterial routes are still to be 
had.?
4
                                                 
3
 Van der Linden, Airlines and Airmail, 52. 
  To proceed they needed Gott?s endorsement, but his attention was being focused 
 
4
 ?Report to the President and Board of Directors,? 21-2, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
 146 
toward Latin America by Hoyt and Trippe.
5
 With the domestic mail initiative unresolved, Woolman, Harris, and Auerbach 
expanded Huff Daland?s American operations in other ways. In a memorandum to Harris 
(a copy was sent to Woolman in Peru), Auerbach outlined a ?means of securing the 
maximum expansion with the minimum of capital investment and risk? by offering a 
?special limited commercial course? of instruction for training pilots. If a student 
completed the program successfully, the company would sell the newly certificated pilot 
an airplane and hire him, for all practical purposes, as an independent contractor.
 As it turned out, this was not without some 
benefit for Woolman and Harris. For them, the Peruvian project ultimately proved a 
practical exercise in airline development. 
6
 Huff 
Daland Dusters became a Travel Air distributor and used one of its dual-control types for 
instruction.
7
 Guy S. Gannaway, an early student, praised Huff Daland Dusters and its 
instructors: ?I don?t believe your school can be excelled anywhere and I will always be 
glad I learned to fly there.?
8
 Aerial photography was another service initiated by Huff Daland Dusters, 
operating as the Fairchild Aerial Services agent in Louisiana.
  
9
                                                 
5
 Ibid. 
 The service was not 
restricted only to United States territory, but extended to Latin America as well. During 
 
6
 Irwin E. Auerbach to Harold R. Harris, March 13, 1928, ?Memorandum to Harold R. Harris,? 
folder 12, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
7
 ?Huff Daland Company Will Engage in Photography and Sell Airplanes,? Aviation (April 16, 
1928): 982.  
 
8
 Guy S. Gannaway to Huff Daland Dusters, Inc., May 8, 1928; ?Learn to Fly at Delta Air Service 
School of Aviation?; both in folder 5, box 1, RG02.00, DALCA. 
 
9
 ?Huff Daland Company Will Engage in Photography and Sell Airplanes,? Aviation (April 16, 
1928): 982. 
 
 147 
the months of May, June, and September, Henry Elliott flew photographic aerial mapping 
missions in the northern region of Peru, at Pimentel, Talara, and Casa Grande.
10
 The operating group?s dedication and hard work during this period did not go 
unnoticed by their superiors. In July The Board Of Directors gave Woolman, Harris, 
Auerbach, and Catherine FitzGerald a combined total of one thousand shares of stock as 
?a bonus in recognition of past services and to encourage future services.? Three hundred 
thirty shares were given each to Woolman, Harris, and Auerbach, and ten shares given to 
FitzGerald. The stock could not be sold and their proxy was assigned to Gott. After five 
years, though, the limitations were removed, so long as each continued as an employee.
 
11
 At some point in time (precisely when is unknown), in what Harris refers to as 
?our famous statement to the Board,? Woolman, Harris, and Auerbach asked for an 
option to buy Huff Daland Dusters, Inc. The offer ?was for a period of one year to 
purchase all of the capital stock, the outstanding account of the Keystone Aircraft Corp. 
and all the assets of the Company for the sum of $65,000 payable 25% at the time the 
option is exercised and 25% annually thereafter.?
 
12
 Later, on August 24, 1928, Harris arrived in New York for a meeting with Trippe 
and unexpectedly found Gott already in his office. Harris was surprised to discover that at 
a noon board meeting Hoyt had informed them he ?wanted to close out the dusters to the 
pilots on any terms?for forty thousand dollars, and all notes if necessary.? Harris 
 Apparently this offer was not taken 
seriously by the directors at the time it was tendered. 
                                                 
10
 ?Flying Time Reported by H. Elliott,? folder 6, box 2, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
11
 Agreement dated July 1928, folder 4, box 2, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
12
 Harold R. Harris to Irwin E. Auerbach, August 25, 1928, folder 10, box 1, DL01.01, DALCA. 
 
 148 
feigned disinterest but later observed to his colleagues Auerbach and Woolman that ?it 
looked like a golden opportunity for us to do some good for ourselves.?
13
 Harris sent a telegram to Auerbach: ?WE ARE BEING APPROACHED TO BUY 
DUSTERS OUT FOR FORTY THOUSAND NOTES WIRE YOUR IDEAS 
IMMEDIATELY  STOP  THEY WOULD LIKE SOME CASH BUT IT IS NOT 
NECESSARY  REGARDS.?
  
14
 He thought of reducing the earlier offer from $65,000 to 
?$40,000 payable in about the same way,? but cautioned it was probable ?they will not be 
interested in the option business as they are seemingly trying to get out at once.?
15
 Coincidently, Harris was considering a job with Pan American--this was probably 
the reason for his meeting with Trippe. ?The Panam thing is still hanging fire,? he wrote 
Auerbach, ?but it looks as though it was a go since they are talking of me getting 
Thursday?s boat. What a chance.?
 
16
 Auerbach?s response was addressed to Harris at the Commodore Hotel, 
incidentally a location, in the day of rail transportation, conveniently situated adjacent to 
the Grand Central depot. He recommended they form a new company, and his advice 
displays a shrewd understanding of the financial issues:  
 His comment suggests Woolman and Auerbach knew 
of the offer and that, among themselves, they had an open dialogue of ideas and plans on 
both a personal and a business level.  
 
BELIEVING BY FAR MOST ADVANTAGEOUS WAY FOR DISPOSING OF 
DUSTERS IS BY OPERATING GROUP ORGANIZING NEW COMPANIES 
                                                 
13
 Ibid. 
 
14
 Harold R. Harris to Irwin E. Auerbach, August 24, 1928, folder 12, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
15
 Harold R. Harris to Irwin E. Auerbach, August 25, 1928, folder 10, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
16
 Ibid. 
 
 149 
COMMA INSIST ON LONGEST POSSIBLE OPTION COMMA HAVE NET 
PURCHASE PRICE AT FIXED FIGURE EXCLUDING AMOUNT CLAIMED 
DUE FROM ACA [Aviation Corporation of the Americas] WHICH KEYSTONE 
CAN MORE EASILY COLLECT STOP ASSURE THAT PURCHASE 
AGREEMENT IS FREE OF ALL LEGAL ENTANGLEMENTS WITH OLD 
STOCKHOLDERS OR CLAIMS OF KEYSTONE AND PAYMENTS SPREAD 
OVER THREE YEARS STOP ASSIGNMENT OF PERU RIGHTS TO ACA 
MAY BE LIMITED TO REGULAR TRANSPORT AS PER YOUR MEMO 
STOP OUTRIGHT PURCHASE NOT FEASIBLE BECAUSE OUTSTANDING 
ACCEPTANCES AND PAYROLL REQUIREMENTS NECESSITATE 
ASSURED CAPITAL IN CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT IRWIN.
17
 
 
 In a detailed memo, presumably to himself, Harris reasoned Hoyt was ?willing to 
go out of his way to assist the present operators in taking the Dusters over to see if they 
can make something of it,? because he saw Huff Daland as ?more of a liability than an 
asset.?  The physical assets, consisting mostly of airplanes, parts, and other equipment, 
Harris reasoned, were worth about $15,000 in their current location and condition, and he 
thought the company might fetch $40,000 as a going concern. If the group could get an 
option for a year, which might be enough time to reorganize the company to attract 
investors.
18
 Meanwhile, Auerbach tried to find an investor interested in buying Huff Daland 
Dusters in Monroe. In a letter to two local aviation enthusiasts, Prentice M. Atkins, a 
hardware dealer, and Travis Oliver, a banker, he solicited a clean sale of Huff Daland?s 
assets, absent liabilities and cash. Oliver was interested, but wanted ?the local 
management of Lt. Harris and Mr. Auerbach continuing as heretofore.? Auerbach 
 He, Auerbach, and Woolman would be the managers, but they needed to get 
the capital from stockholders.  
                                                 
17
 Telegram, Irwin E. Auerbach to Harold R. Harris, no date, folder 10, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA.  
 
18
 ?Memo Regarding Disposal of Huff Daland Dusters,? Aug. 28, 1928, folder 12, box 1, 
RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 150 
modified the offer, specifically including Woolman and proposing they buy the assets for 
$40,000; $20,000 subscribed by them, and $20,000 backed by Oliver and his associates.
19
 
  
 
Group in front of large duster. Coad third from left; Auerback forth from left. 
Photograph courtesy of Tallulah Historical Society 
 
  
 These overtures were in vain, and Auerbach then divided the assets into two lots. 
Lot A was for material located in the United States and ?the capital stock of Air 
Operations, Inc. [how this company fits into the picture is not clear], but not its assets.? 
Woolman, Harris, and Auerbach would buy Lot A for $40,000, $20,000 cash and 
$20,000 in stock collateral of a new company. Lot B included the Peruvian assets and 
was valued at $15,000. Auerbach expected he would travel to Peru to consummate the 
                                                 
19
 Irwin E. Auerbach to Travis Oliver, Sept.11, 1928, folder 10, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 151 
sale of those assets locally.
20
 In essence this is the deal as it was finally consummated, but what began as a 
straightforward plan unexpectedly turned into a nightmare. In the crisis, Woolman?s 
character and leadership was revealed, and Delta Air Service, Inc. was formed. 
September and October were the critical months. Preceding the situation, but relevant to 
it, was the emergence of Peruvian Airways in Peru. 
  
 Sometime between late August and early September, Harris?s future took a 
dramatic turn. Trippe formally hired him to be the general manager of Peruvian Airways, 
?an Air Mail and Passenger Line, under the joint ownership of the Aviation Corporation 
of the Americas and W. R. Grace and Co.?
21
 As a consequence, Gott saw his chance to 
reconcile the Dusters?s account for expenses incurred while setting up the Peruvian mail 
franchise. He sent a letter to Harris, in his new capacity as general manager of Peruvian 
Airways, recommending the Aviation Corporation of the Americas or affiliated 
companies (that is, Peruvian Airways), ?forthwith exercise the option granted them by 
our Company under date of June 20, 1928, and make definite arrangements to pay for the 
concession and its associated expenses.?
22
                                                 
20
 ?Memorandum to Mr. Richard F. Hoyt,? Sept. 14, 1928, folder 10, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
  Hoyt, who was the principal financier behind 
all the separate entities and the ultimate arbiter, approved a settlement for $15,000, to 
cover all costs accrued up to September 1, but not including the purchase of the Fairchild 
airplane, which would be paid for separately. Thereafter, Huff Daland Dusters would 
charge Peruvian Airways for the salaries and expenses of its personnel and rent its 
 
21
 ?Memo Regarding Disposal Huff Daland Dusters,? August 28, 1928; Harold R. Harris to Edgar 
N. Gott, Sept. 3, 1928; both in folder 12, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
22
 Edgar N. Gott to Harold R. Harris, August 27, 1928, folder 12, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 152 
airplanes and equipment under specific agreements.
23
 The entity that Harris managed, Peruvian Airways, was a partnership between Pan 
American and W. R. Grace & Company, the import/export firm run ?from a bank like 
commercial structure in central Lima referred to as ?Casa Grace.??
 
24
 This cooperative 
venture was Hoyt?s idea, because Grace had ties in ?more than half of South America,? 
but ?not the aviation side of it.? The advantages were mutually agreeable, and Hoyt 
arranged the financing and ?put the deal across.?
25
 Trippe dispatched Harris to Peru with a comprehensive list of instructions. ?In 
taking up your duties and responsibilities as Vice President and General Manager of the 
Peruvian Airways Corporation,? Trippe commanded, ?you will follow, in general, the 
program hereinafter set forth.? Twenty-one points followed, beginning with an order to 
take the Grace Line steamer Santa Luisa, scheduled to sail from New York on September 
13, or alternatively, connect with the Santa Luisa at the Canal Zone, from New Orleans.
  
26
 
On this trip, his second to South America, Harris was accompanied by his expectant wife 
Grace Clark Harris (their daughter Alta May was born in Lima on December 10) and his 
four-year-old son, Harold, Jr. Very likely, Harris first traveled to Louisiana to pick up his 
wife and young son, and then sailed from New Orleans in time to meet the Santa Luisa 
when it transited the Panama Canal.
27
                                                 
23
 Harold R. Harris to Edgar N. Gott, Sept. 3, 1928; ?Proposed Letter from Pan American Airways 
of Peru to Huff Daland Dusters Inc.,? Sept. 3, 1928; both in folder 12, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 
24
 Goodsell, American Corporations and Peruvian Politics, 51. 
 
25
 ?Background notes on incidents leading up to the formation and operation of Pan American-
Grace Airways,? file 12, box 12, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
26
 Juan T. Trippe to Harold R. Harris, Sept. 7, 1928, Harris Papers, WSUSCA. 
 
27
 Alta May Stevens, e-mail message to author, April. 8, 2010. 
 153 
 Once Harris was in Peru, there were a few days between his arrival and 
Woolman?s departure for them to bring each other up to date on what had happened in 
New York and Peru, and to discuss future plans. As they said goodbye, Woolman and 
Harris shook hands aboard the Grace liner Santa Maria, just before its sailing. 
Notwithstanding Harris?s change in employment (though he still represented Huff Daland 
Dusters?s Peruvian interests locally), he confirmed his commitment to Woolman and 
Auerbach, saying ?it?s the three of us and now for our wives and babies.? Each 
understood the fate of Huff Daland Dusters, Inc. had been sealed. Nevertheless there was 
still a lot to be done, if they were to take it over.
28
 The stage was set on September 27 (Woolman was still in South America) when 
President Gott formally tendered an offer to Auerbach, ?and/or your associates,? an 
option to buy the company for $15,000, cash and $20,000 in collateral stock notes.
 Quite unexpectedly, the company?s 
fate took an unanticipated and dramatic turn.  
29
 
Inexplicably, the offer did not specifically mention Harris or Woolman by name. On 
October 22
 
Auerbach, claiming to represent Huff Daland Dusters, sent out sealed 
proposals to a list of contacts, unilaterally offering to sell the company for $40,000 
cash.
30
                                                                                                                                                 
 
 One of the parties, J. B. Ardis, President of Ardis & Company, Inc., in 
Shreveport, answered immediately and turned him down flat, writing, ?we find it quite 
necessary in any line of business to even hope for success to have a perfect understanding 
28
 Collett E. Woolman to Harold R. Harris, Oct. 26, 1928. Telegram, to C. E. Woolman, Oct. 4, 
1928, both in folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
29
 Edgar N. Gott to Irwin E. Auerbach, Sept. 27, 1928, folder 10, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA.  
 
30
 Huff Daland Dusters, Inc. to E. J. Bond, Oct. 22, 1928, folder 10, box 1, DALCA; A copy of 
Auerbach?s offer to sell dated Oct. 22, 1928 is in folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 154 
of the nature of the business, and yours is all foreign to us.?
31
 A couple of days after Auerbach had sent his offers, Woolman returned from 
Latin America to discover the betrayal. The details are recorded in a typed letter he 
began, but completed later, to Harris, in which he speaks of his confrontation with 
Auerbach.  Shockingly, he wrote, ?Auerbach seemed shot to pieces.? When Woolman 
asked what the problem was, Auerbach responded only that he was ?not satisfied with the 
cooperation? he was getting from him and Harris and would not elaborate further.  
Auerbach, Woolman typed, ?thinks he can put the whole thing over by himself, which he 
can?t, and will dispose of the Peru Co. to his own advantage, which he can?t, and is 
cutting our throats at the first chance he has had.?
 
32
 Woolman reacted immediately and proactively to protect his and Harris?s 
interests. A series of telegrams were exchanged:  
  
 To Harris, Woolman cabled: ?AUERBACH DOUBLE CROSSING US ON 
SALE EQUIPMENT STOP CABLE GOTT TO CANCEL HIS OPTION ON 
EQUIPMENT MAKING SAME TO US RUSH.?  
 To Gott, Woolman asked, ?WAS OPTION FOR SALE OF EQUIPMENT MADE 
TO AUERBACH PERSONALLY AND MYSELF (QUESTION) AUERBACH HAS 
THROWN US OVER COLD AND DEALING FOR HIMSELF STOP REQUEST YOU 
CANCEL ANY OPTION HE HAS MAKING SAME TO HARRIS AND MYSELF 
STOP?.? 
                                                 
31
 J. B. Ardiss to Irwin E. Auerbach, Oct. 24, 1928, folder 10, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
32
 Collett E. Woolman to Harold R. Harris, partly drafted Oct. 26, 1928 and completed on Nov. 15, 
1928. This letter appears to have been used as notes in a more formal letter ?intended for Mr. Harris?s 
edification? from J. S. Woodbridge to Edgar N. Gott, Oct. 30, 1928, both in folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, 
DALCA. 
 155 
 Gott responded to Woolman: ?UNDERSTANDING WITH HOYT AND 
OURSELVES WAS THAT YOU AND HARRIS WERE INCLUDED STOP OUR 
REPRESENTATIVE  J S WOODBRIDGE ARRIVES MONROE FRIDAY MORNING 
MISSOURI PACIFIC TO ASSIST IN NEGOTIATIONS AND TO ACT FOR US IN 
ALL MATTERS STOP GET IN TOUCH WITH WOODBRIDGE AND BE GUIDED 
BY HIM STOP NO DESIRE TO CHANGE ORIGINAL INTENT STOP QUICKEST 
AND MOST SATISFACTORY SALE IS IN OUR ESTIMATION MOST IMPORTANT 
FACTOR?.? 
 Woolman cabled Harris with the news: ?AUERBACH DISCHARGED STOP 
WIRE APPROVAL YOU AND I TAKING FIFTY PERCENT OWNERSHIP LOCAL 
COMPANY KEYSTONE FINANCING US TWENTY THOUSAND OUR SHARE 
STOP OUR NOTE TO KEYSTONE BACKED BY OUR STOCK NO OTHER 
OBLIGATION STOP THIS ALLOWS PURCHASE PERUVIAN EQUIPMENT 
FIFTEEN THOUSAND.?
33
 When John S. Woodbridge arrived in Monroe he assessed the situation. He liked 
Woolman, Douglas Culver, the chief of maintenance, and M. D. (?Don?) Dice, Chief 
Pilot. ?These three gentlemen have inspired me with the fullest confidence and I would 
accept without hesitation as being the strict truth anything that they would tell me.? On 
the other hand, prospective purchasers, planters, and financiers had soured on Auerbach. 
?As substantiation of this I would quote from Mr. Travis Oliver, President of the Central 
Savings Bank and Trust Company of this city, an exceedingly airminded individual who 
impressed me as a straight shooter, and with whom we are almost compelled to deal if we 
 
                                                 
33
 These four cables are located in folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 156 
dispose of the property locally. Mr. Oliver told both Mr. Fraser and Mr. Woolman that 
the local people would not have anything to do with the purchase of this equipment if Mr. 
Auerbach were in any way connected with it.?
34
 To make matters worse, as a 
consequence of Auerbach?s offer, the rumor had spread the company was going out of 
business, and planters were reluctant to sign new contracts with the company.
35
 Woodbridge appraised the company?s equipment and supplies at $43,735. But 
putting the ships in condition for the upcoming dusting season would cost about $15,000. 
The aircraft were ?strewed all over the floor of the hangar in various stages of apparent 
decrepitude, with fabric off most of them, and presenting a sorry sight.? To get things 
going, he recommended that Gott advance $20,000 to carry the ?organization through 
until money starts to come in from dusting.? The prospects were good. A heavy weevil 
infestation was predicted, and ?responsible planters were crying to be signed up for the 
next season, right now.? Woodbridge wanted permission for Woolman to ?go ahead and 
sign up his farmer friends, who cannot wait much longer? for whether the Company is 
owned locally or by Keystone Aircraft, the business ought to be secured at once before it 
is too late.? Woodbridge observed that Woolman had been ?inexhaustible in his efforts 
on behalf of this entire sale business.? Then for Gott?s consideration, he added that the 
?Monroe group will trade,? but ?they will probably want to cut the price, too, for they 
 On the 
surface, the outlook was not bright for Huff Daland Dusters, but Woodbridge was a good 
judge of character and had the keen eye of a businessman. 
                                                 
34
 John S. Woodbridge to Edgar N. Gott, Oct. 29, 1928, folder 10, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
35
 John S. Woodbridge to Edgar N. Gott, Nov. 5, 1928, folder 10, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 157 
know the equipment, and so does Coad, who is their advisor.?
36
 The Peruvian operation, managed by Harris, was similarly in limbo. A new 
company had to be organized in Peru, either as a branch of the American firm or as a 
national corporation, by the middle of December; ?otherwise the ten-year option for 
dusting expires.?
  
37
 December was critical for another reason: equipment and supplies had 
to be shipped in advance. Woolman advised a potential client, Alfredo Checa in Piura, 
Peru, that a timely commitment was necessary from him, ?in order that the planes, 
poison, and men may be sent down from the states in ample time, and so that plans may 
be made for complete service.?
38
  Harris underscored the urgency by pleading, ?we need 
airplanes, personnel & supplies here as soon as possible & regardless of what may 
happen in the U. S. this work here must not be forgotten, as it is a real money maker.?
39
 Woolman respected Woodbridge. He found him ?a hell of a fine fellow and a 
square shooter? and he ?worked with us trying to straighten things out.? The plan was for 
Harris and Woolman to buy Huff Daland Dusters?s domestic assets, with an option on the 
Peruvian assets, and form a new company. This was doable, Woodbridge reported to 
Gott, because Woolman is ?firmly convinced that the profit he and Harris make on the 
Peruvian negotiations will almost be enough to meet their notes on this local sale.?
 
He did not know a plan was already being worked out among Woolman, Woodbridge, 
and Travis Oliver. The Peruvian business was a key component of the deal. 
40
                                                 
36
 Ibid. 
 
 
37
 Ibid. 
 
38
 C. E. Woolman to Alfredo Checa, Oct. 3, 1928, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
39
 Harold R. Harris to Collett E. Woolman, Nov. 15, 1928, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
40
 John S. Woodbridge to Edgar N. Gott, Nov. 5, 1928, folder 10, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 158 
Working together ?day and night,? Woodbridge and Woolman got ?the capital raised and 
expected to close the deal for the purchase locally.? Woolman informed Harris, ?this 
gives us (you and I) a $20,000 interest. [Elliot] Daland wired that if we were managing 
the new organization he would put $5,000 in and has [since] mailed his check.?
41
 As an indication of his esteem in the Monroe business community, in a few 
minutes Oliver raised $12,000 of the additional $20,000 necessary to complete the deal 
and expected the rest as soon as he could communicate with planters.
  
42
 Woodbridge 
wired Gott: ?INCLUDING DALANDS FIVE THOUSAND NECESSARY TWENTY 
THOUSAND VIRTUALLY ASSURED LOCALLY NEW ORGANIZATION 
COMMENCING MONDAY TWELFTH SUGGEST BILL OF SALE AND CHECK 
TWENTY THOUSAND BE MAILED WOOLMAN AT ONCE STOP CUT OFF DATE 
CURRENT EXPENSES NOVEMBER TWELFTH.?
43
 During the crisis, Woolman did his best to keep Harris in the loop, but events 
were moving at such a rapid pace it was impossible to keep him fully informed in a 
timely manner. Harris understood, but could not mask his frustration: ?Certainly glad to 
get your letter of December 4
th
,? he wrote, ?which was the first real dope I had on the 
situation in Monroe. I certainly think you are a son of a gun for not keeping me more 
thoroughly informed but realize that you had a tough time with the reorganization.?
  
44
                                                                                                                                                 
 
 On 
41
 Collett E. Woolman to Harold R. Harris, partly drafted Oct. 26, 1928 and completed on Nov. 15, 
1928, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
42
 Travis Oliver to Edgar N. Gott, Nov. 8, 1928, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
43
 John S. Woodbridge to Keystone Aircraft Corporation, Nov. 8, 1928, folder 15, box 1, 
RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
44
 Harold R. Harris to Collett E. Woolman, Dec. 26, 1928, Ibid. 
 
 159 
the other hand, Woolman was just as uninformed about Peru. ?Have been anxious to hear 
how you are getting along with the formation of the Peruvian Huff Daland Company,? he 
wrote, ?as the only information I have is the letter I received the latter part of October, 
which outlined the plan worked out with Calderon.?
45
 Woolman and Harris resolved these matters equitably in a spirit of cooperation 
developed over the years. Their relationship is exemplified by the sense of mutual trust 
and respect evident in their communications.  Woolman concisely summarized the United 
States agreement for Harris: 
 
 
 To review, when Auerbach went hay wire the option to purchase was 
granted to us (yourself and myself) contingent upon our forming an American 
Company and obtaining sale for same for $40,000. Although things were dead 
and, incidentally, financial conditions in the State have not been at all good, we 
put over the company with $20,000 raised locally and $20,000 advanced by Huff 
Daland Dusters to us for stock in the new Company--$10,000 each--which made 
good our option on the Peruvian Company to purchase same for $15,000.00 as of 
Nov. 12, 1928, the take-over date of Delta Air Service, Inc. from Huff Daland 
Dusters, Inc. 
 The notes which we signed were stock collateral notes and did not bind us 
personally or our personal assets beyond the stock in our names in the Delta Air 
Service, which did not jeopardize the security of our families. Under the terms of 
the option all money received from stock sold in the Peruvian Company of money 
realized from the Peruvian Company was to first apply against this twenty 
thousand dollars advanced and against the fifteen thousand dollars owed to Huff 
Daland Dusters for the Peruvian equipment. It was a very fair and liberal offer 
and the backing made it possible to put over the American Company which made 
possible the Peruvian proposition.
46
 
 
 Meanwhile, the Peruvian proposition was taking form. Harris informed Woolman 
that he was named vice-president and general manager of a new Peruvian dusting 
                                                 
45
 Collett E. Woolman to Harold R. Harris, Dec. 18, 1928, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
46
 Collett E. Woolman to Harold R. Harris, Mar. 27, 1928, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 
 160 
company in which A. Alverez Calderon was president and A. Fernandez Solar, secretary. 
Accommodatingly, he wrote; ?I have sent Monroe a copy of my letter to [Sidney] 
Newborg [Assistant Secretary, Huff Daland Dusters, Inc.] outlining this matter and 
presume the entire information is in the Monroe files. If not please let me know.? As an 
afterthought, Harris added in a handwritten addendum, ?Where?s my radio??
47
 The crisis displayed Woolman?s leadership and character as well as another 
dimension of his personality. In later years, his management style was characterized as 
that of a compassionate patriarch. An early example of his concern for his employees is 
evident in a suggestion he made to Harris. ?It seems to me Culver has been pretty loyal to 
the organization and it occurred to me that it might be no more fair if we would assign 
him from our holdings in Delta Air Service, perhaps a thousand dollars worth of stock on 
the same basis we are getting ours. Personally I would be willing to allow half of this 
amount to go from my holdings, if it is agreeable with you. Think it over and let me know 
regarding it. I would also suggest that the same arrangement might be applicable to the 
case of Miss FitzGerald. Personally, I think it is right.?
 The 
imperative tone meant this was a transmitter/receiver intended for operational purposes, 
not a home entertainment device, and underscored the rapidity of advancing technology.  
48
 This was agreeable with 
Harris.
49
 Notwithstanding that Woolman had consummated the sale of Huff Daland?s 
American assets honorably on a fifty/fifty basis with Harris, he was a nonetheless a 
 
                                                 
47
 Harold R. Harris to Collett E. Woolman, Dec. 26, 1928, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
48
 Collett E. Woolman to Harold R. Harris, Dec. 18, 1929, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
49
 Collett E. Woolman to E. N. Gott, March 27, 1929, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
 
 161 
cautious businessman and did not take his financial stake in the Peruvian equipment for 
granted. Because he and Harris were ?operating so far apart and with communications so 
difficult, ?he wrote to Gott, ?it is only business that I have a statement from you as 
President showing my fifty percent interest in the Peruvian enterprise and equipment just 
as I have already arranged for Harris to have in the Delta Air Service, Inc. an equal share 
with me.?
50
 Legu?a used easy credit to bolster Peru?s economy, but in late 1928 fears of 
excessive government spending, waste, and corruption caused American banks to restrict 
further loans to Peru.
 His caution was only prudent. 
51
 The impending financial consequences were not immediately 
evident and, from Woolman?s distant perspective in March 1929 the outlook still looked 
promising. He optimistically estimated the Peruvian concession might yield a profit of 
$10,000 for each of them at the conclusion of the dusting season. As the year progressed, 
the economic circumstances in Peru deteriorated. By December, the financial situation, 
according to Harris, was ?extremely unsatisfactory.?
52
  Harris sold the Peruvian assets for 
what he could get, under pressure by planters who ?planned to enter the dusting business 
themselves in case we would not choose a figure which they considered reasonable.? As 
he wrote to Woolman, in exchanging the money ?I was able to get exactly $30,000...and 
have sent you through the National City Bank your portion of it. I trust that this will be a 
welcome Xmas present to you as it has been for us.?
53
  Ultimately, all that remained of Huff Daland Dusters was a dormant corporation. 
 
                                                 
50
 Collett E. Woolman to E. N. Gott, Jan. 7, 1929, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
51
 Klar?n, Peru, 266. 
 
52
 Harold R. Harris to Collett E. Woolman, Dec. 3, 1929, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
53
 Ibid. 
 
 162 
On July 15, 1930 the Board of Directors recommended the company be dissolved and for 
that purpose they scheduled a special meeting for August 22, 1930. The minutes are not 
available, but presumably at the meeting the stockholders approved a resolution 
terminating the company?s charter.
54
 Thus, the brief seven-year existence of Huff Daland Dusters, Inc. came to a close.  
Its role in the development of aviation was important. Aerial applications continued to 
grow and expand into a major mechanized component of the modern agriculture 
revolution. Harold R. Harris remained in Peru as general manager of Panagra, successor 
to Peruvian Airways. And, significantly, Huff Daland Dusters successor company, Delta 
Air Service, while maintaining its dusting heritage and guided by Woolman, began 
scheduled passenger service, but without a mail contract. The timing could not have been 
worse. 
  
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
54
 ?To the stockholders of Huff Daland Dusters, Inc.,? Woolman Papers, LSULSC. 
 163 
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 8 
 
Delta Air Service, Inc. 
 
He [Woolman] did not want to fly from Birmingham to Los Angeles; he wanted 
to fly where he was flying, and I was determined to have an operation all the way 
from Atlanta to Los Angeles, because I knew from what we had discovered that a 
short line could not pay the expense of maintaining a ground force and the 
supervisory force that would be necessary. 
 
Walter F. Brown testimony, 
Senate Investigation of Air and Ocean Mail Contracts 
 
 A new company, Delta Air Service, Inc., replaced Huff Daland Dusters. Choosing 
the name, it appears, was done quickly, in a matter of days, probably without much 
deliberation, and forced by the rapidity of events following Auerbach?s betrayal. A bill of 
sale, dated November 15, 1928, was properly signed and notarized by Huff Daland 
Dusters, Inc., but for some reason it does not name a buyer--that space is blank. Possibly 
there was some uncertainty whether to list Woolman and Harris as the buyers, or wait and 
insert a company?s name later. In fact, two days later, the Articles of Incorporation were 
prepared for Delta Air Service, Inc.
1
 The incorporators were Douglas Y. Smith, Travis 
Oliver, and C. E. Woolman, and, while they may have legally named the firm, tradition 
holds that Catherine FitzGerald, the secretary, chose the name for ?the lush Mississippi 
Delta region in which the enterprise was based.?
2
                                                 
1
 ?Bill of Sale, November 15, 1928,? folder 2, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA; ?Articles of 
Incorporation of Delta Air Service, Inc.,? folder 1, box 1, RG02.00, DALCA. 
  
 
2
 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 21. 
 164 
 Delta Air Service was incorporated in Louisiana, domiciled in Monroe, and 
initially capitalized for $80,000.
3
 Writing in 1983, historian W. David Lewis observed 
that Delta ?is the only major airline operating today that was nurtured on small-town 
capital.?
4
 The initial board of directors was composed of three stockholders, all from 
Louisiana: Douglas Y. Smith (10 shares), president; C. E. Woolman (100 shares), first 
vice-president; and Travis Oliver (25 shares), secretary-treasurer. In recognition of 
Harold R. Harris?s financial interest, he was temporarily named a second vice-president.
5
 Woolman was also general manager of the new company. He and Harris were 
equal shareholders, but, in Harris's absence, it was left to Woolman to administer the 
company?s affairs.  Despite the challenges of reorganizing the business, his letters to 
Harris convey a sense of optimism. ?It really looks mighty good,? he wrote 
encouragingly in October. He thought the chances of winning a contract to inspect the 
levees after the great flood in 1927 for the Mississippi River Commission were good, 
since the bid was ?within reason.? In addition, the company started survey flights for 
Standard Oil using a Travel Air acquired from Doug Culver for ?$1.00 and other valuable 
considerations.? He concluded on a hopeful note: ?We seem to be started well over the 
hill and going strong. Have 5000 A. [acres] signed in Texas and are starting this week in 
Texas.?
 
6
 Two months later, Woolman wrote Harris. ?The contract for Mississippi river 
flying was not let, but new bids were submitted.? He lowered the bid to $39.93 per hour 
 
                                                                                                                                                 
 
3
 ?Articles of Incorporation of Delta Air Service, Inc.,? folder 1, box 1, RG02.00, DALCA. 
 
4
 Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Nov. 6, 1983. 
 
5
 ?Articles of Incorporation of Delta Air Service, Inc.,? folder1, box 1, RG02.00, DALCA. 
 
6
 Woolman to Harris, Oct. 26, 1928, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 165 
by buying factory rebuilt pontoons instead of new ones. He thought they would still 
?make a profit of about nine thousand dollars, writing off one entire plane and 20% on 
the reserve; incidentally, having some income during a time when it will be most 
welcome.?
7
 In March, Woolman observed, ?Delta Air Service is coming along pretty well.? 
Slightly more acreage was contracted for in April than in the previous year and a contract 
was signed for approximately 13,000 acres with the Delta & Pine Land Company. He 
noted, ?the Wharton [Texas] unit shows signs of developing into a two plane unit,? and 
three Travel Airs were sold ?under our contract for ten and [we] have a number of good 
prospects.? A new hangar was under construction in Monroe, and, he added poignantly, 
?we are carrying a few passengers [on a charter basis]?which is helping our income a 
little.?
 Woolman saved a dollar whenever he could.  
8
 Pat L. Higgins (who was to become operations chief) was hired as an ?instructor 
in our Flying School, which has opened this week. Incidentally, he is a high type of 
fellow and a good pilot.? In a rare personal note Woolman informed Harris that he 
?decided to move Mrs. Woolman and the kids to Monroe [from Baton Rouge]. Helen was 
up here this weekend and picked out a house which we have engaged.?
   
9
 Woolman was busy ?taking over some of Auerbach?s duties, and trying to keep 
the field work going, along with raising capital for operations and so on.? Modestly, he 
told Harris, I am ?making a poor substitute for you.? When people asked when Harris 
 
                                                 
7
 Woolman to Harris, Dec. 18, 1928, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
8
 Woolman to Harris, March 27, 1929, folder 15, box 1, RG01.01, DALCA. 
 
9
 Ibid. 
 
 166 
would be returning, Woolman gave a ??stock? answer of ?not before the season is over in 
Peru.??
10
 In their research, historians Lewis and Newton discovered some of Delta?s 
business papers for the 1930s were missing. They found ?a strange ten-year gap which 
apparently came about as a result of when they were transferring the records from 
Monroe to Atlanta,? where the headquarters relocated in 1941. Despite having full access 
to all of Delta corporate records, Lewis and Newton found ?none of [the] papers from 
1930 to 1940.? A more likely scenario is the records were never moved to Atlanta at all, 
but remained in storage at Selman Field and were destroyed when the airfield was taken 
over by the United States Army Air Force during World War II.
 
 But Harris never returned, and in the years to come Woolman?s and Delta?s 
futures were inextricably entwined.  
11
  Catherine FitzGerald might have shed some light on the missing years, but, 
fearing a faulty memory she, as the ?oldest living Delta employee,? declined to be 
interviewed by Lewis and Newton. Her reticence may have come as a result of the 
circumstances surrounding her employment. As a young woman in her early twenties, she 
was asked to leave Ogdensburg and move to Monroe, but demurred. Eventually, with her 
family?s blessing, she decided to accept Huff Daland Dusters?s offer of employment to 
replace an indiscreet secretary, who was ?telling their business all over town.?
 
12
 FitzGerald served as Woolman?s private secretary for forty years. As a youngster 
 From the 
beginning, she understood the company?s private matters were--well--private. 
                                                 
10
 Ibid. 
 
11
 Preston, interview, 1977; Paul Talbott email message to Marie Force, August 14, 2110. The 
author did not find the records during research for this dissertation. 
 
12
 Catherine FitzGerald, interview, John N. White, 1976, transcript, DALCA. 
 
 167 
living in Monroe, Woolman?s daughter, Barbara, remembered her as the ?loveliest, 
softest spoken person I had ever known.?
13
 Barbara believed the reason for FitzGerald?s 
reticence toward Lewis and Newton was because ?she just wouldn?t know what she 
ought to say and what she ought not to say.?
14
 Lewis and Newton suggest that ?Woolman was not thinking primarily in terms of 
airmail at the time; his thoughts were centered on creating a passenger carrier.?
 Fortunately, for historians, FitzGerald did 
agree to talk to John N. White of the Delta Marketing Department, but his interview 
might not have been available to Lewis and Newton. A slightly edited transcript is now 
available to researchers, but it does not shed any light on the important question of why 
Delta Air Service began a passenger service without the benefit of a mail contract.   
15
  To get started, Delta needed financing and airplanes. John S. Fox, son of a 
wealthy pulp and paper mill pioneer was a businessman and investor from Bastrop, 
Louisiana. He agreed to a financial arrangement allowing Delta to buy the assets of his 
Fox Flying Service in exchange for stock, ?making him the largest stockholder by far? in 
 If true, 
this represented an extraordinary risk. Fundamentally, Woolman must have understood 
the importance of a mail contract. This awareness is borne out in the 1927 report to Gott, 
which he helped to write, recommending Huff Daland Dusters bid on airmail contracts, 
and from his experience in Peru, seeking a mail concession, in 1928. Regardless of the 
risk from proceeding without a government subsidy, Woolman, with support of the 
company?s shareholders, established a passenger air service. 
                                                 
13
 Preston, interview, 1977. 
 
14
 Ibid. 
 
15
 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 22. 
 
 168 
the company. The deal included a Travel Air monoplane and five additional airplanes on 
order.
16
 Few regulatory formalities existed to start a flying business in 1929. The nation?s 
air transportation system was growing, but in a haphazard and uneven manner. The Air 
Commerce Act of 1926 empowered the federal government to certify aircraft and pilots 
operating in interstate commerce, but otherwise did not play a role in regulating airlines. 
Delta was free to chose its route, establish fares, and determine its schedule.  
 With Fox?s backing, Delta had the financing and equipment necessary to begin a 
passenger line.  
 Delta Air Service?s route stretched from Dallas, Texas, to Birmingham, Alabama, 
with intermediate stops in Jackson, Monroe, and Shreveport. The type of airplane used 
was a Travel Air 6000, a single-engine, high-wing monoplane with a capacity for six 
persons--including the pilot--in an enclosed cabin. For its day, it was considered an 
advanced aircraft, advertised as ?A Deluxe Monoplane combining Pullman Car comfort 
in air travel with proven performance and dependability.?
17
 The passenger line extended out of Monroe, to the east and west. At the time the 
city was a center of industrial development known as the ?gas and carbon-black capital of 
America.? Nearby, hundreds of gas wells fed a pipeline stretching from Houston to 
Atlanta. Carbon-black, a waste by-product of gas production, was used in paint, ink, and 
tires--in which the use of carbon-black in treating the rubber doubled the longevity from 
4,000 to 8,000 miles.
  
18
                                                 
16
 Ibid., 23. 
 Just as cotton planters had developed an outward perspective 
 
17
 Aero Digest 10 (May 1928): 819. 
  
18
 Ralph A. Graves, ?Louisiana, Land of Perpetual Romance,? National Geographic 57 (April 
1930): 447. 
 
 169 
following the Civil War, road, rail, and industrial links bound Monroe to the outside 
world. To aviation visionaries such as Woolman, so the airplane would do the same for 
people, express, and mail. But when Delta Air Service first began, there was no mail, 
only a limited capacity for cargo, and, as pilot Luke Williamson recalled of the early 
years, ?the passengers were mostly men?few women travelers, and no babies.?
19
 Ironically, as progressive as aviation was in the late 1920s, the Vicksburg Bridge 
spanning the Mississippi River, then in its final stages of construction, was likely more 
anticipated by people than the prospect of air travel.  An early pilot observed that flying 
was ?new to the American public, as such and not enough people would go and get in one 
of those crazy things, just to take them from here to yonder. The average guy?said heck, 
the trains are running, the buses are running, and I?ve got an automobile. Why should I 
get in one of those contraptions and go somewhere??
 
20
 For two years, people had watched the Mississippi River bridge being built and 
waited expectantly for it to be completed. When it opened in 1930, highway and rail 
traffic sped over the river, where previously it had floated across on ferries. Its 
importance is underscored by the fact that it was the only bridge for 850 river miles 
below Memphis, and, as such, it funneled commerce from all points of the compass, via 
U.S. Highway 80, a transcontinental highway U. S. Highway 67, a north-south trunk road 
and the Illinois Central Railroad, much of it passing through Monroe. 
 
21
 Delta Air Service inaugurated its scheduled passenger service with a departure 
  
                                                 
19
 Delta Digest, Dec. 1946, 12. 
 
20
 Stevens, interview. 
 
21
 ?History of the Vicksburg Bridge,? unpublished essay in author?s possession.  
 
 170 
from Dallas on June 17, 1929. Leaving Monroe, the traffic manager, John Fox and pilot 
John D. Howe completed the inauguration, flying to Jackson, Mississippi, without any 
passengers or express. From the air, the Vicksburg Bridge was an unmistakable landmark 
for Howe as he visually ascertained his position while navigating a direct course to 
Jackson. When he brought the Travel Air in for a landing, Jackson City Mayor Walter A. 
Scott was at the airfield, and Fox and Howe received an enthusiastic welcome. 
Community dignitaries feted the duo at a banquet that evening. At first, flights operated 
three days a week, but Fox said ?five new planes are being built and that within a very 
short time the schedule will take in Birmingham and Atlanta.?
22
 
 Delta eventually 
increased the number of its flights to operate a daily schedule.  
 
 
Delta Air Service personnel with Travel Air 6000. 
 John Howe and Woolman are on the left. 
Photograph courtesy Delta Air Lines Corporate Archives 
 
 
 Unfortunately, Delta?s destiny, like other small independent carriers, was soon 
caught up in events on a national level that were beyond its control. In Washington, 
Walter Folger Brown, Herbert Hoover?s postmaster general, applied Theodore 
                                                 
22
 Jackson (Mississippi) Daily Clarion Ledger, June 18, 1929. 
 
 171 
Roosevelt?s progressive New Nationalism philosophy--that industrial monopoly in the 
public interest was good--to air transportation.
23
 Brown?s vision was to forge a cohesive 
national air transportation system out of the hodgepodge of existing routes and airlines. 
Historian F. Robert van der Linden argues that Brown acted reasonably and in a 
predictable manner to create a viable, although oligopolistic, air transport system.
24
 Brown formed the Interdepartmental Committee of Civil Airways to rationalize 
the process of establishing new airways and the new transcontinental routes.  In 
December 1929, the committee recommended a southern transcontinental air route to 
connect ?Atlanta to Los Angeles and San Diego via Birmingham, Jackson, Shreveport, 
Dallas, Fort Worth and El Paso.? Flights were expected to begin the following summer 
and, when beacons were installed by the Department of Commerce, the route could be 
flown at night.
  
25
 The report encouraged Woolman, who now unmistakably understood a mail 
subsidy was essential to earning a profit. The company was losing money. In 1929, Delta 
Air Service earned a net profit of $20,121.85 from dusting and other operations, but the 
passenger line lost $32,603, 37.
  
26
                                                 
23
 The counterpoint was Wilson?s progressive New Freedom philosophy--that monopoly is 
inherently bad. 
 Still, Woolman noted, ?we are staying on the passenger 
line as the route is recognized as a Southern Transcontinental and with the Watres Bill 
now before Congress we have great hopes of coming in for poundage space for air mail 
 
24
 Van der Linden, Airlines and Air Mail, ix, xi. 
 
25
 New York Times, Dec. 12, 1929. 
 
26
 Cornel & Company Audit, Nov. 12, 1928 to Dec. 31, 1929, dated Feb. 24, 1930, folder 7, box 2, 
RG02.00, DALCA. 
 
 172 
over the run.?
27
 The Watres Act, approved by Congress in April 1930, tied mail rates to 
the space made available on aircraft (rather than the weight of mail actually carried) to 
encourage airlines to operate larger passenger-carrying equipment. The bill also 
exchanged airmail contracts for long-term route certificates.
28
 The Watres bill gave Postmaster General Brown broad authority, permitting him 
to use his own discretion in redrawing the aviation map. Brown called for a conference of 
airline managers at the Post Office Department in Washington on May 19, 1930, but 
Woolman was not among the invitees. In what became known as the ?spoils conference,? 
Brown forced route swaps and mergers to achieve his goal of three transcontinental air 
routes.
 
29
 Woolman, hearing of the meeting, rushed to Washington, ?where he put up a 
gallant but losing fight to secure the mail carrying contract for his line.?
  
30
 Brown favored 
large, well-capitalized companies, and Woolman?s appeal of Delta?s pioneering equity in 
the route it operated did not sway him. He told Woolman ?that it would be far better from 
the standpoint of the Post Office Department, to have three single organizations crossing 
the continent rather than a large number of smaller organizations.?
31
  Aviation Corporation of New York (AVCO) received the certificate for the Los 
 
                                                 
27
 Woolman to Harris, April 22, 1930, folder 1, box 2, RG02.00, DALCA. 
 
28
 Nick A. Komons, Bonfires to Beacons: Federal Civil Aviation Policy Under 
the Air Commerce Act, 1926-1938 (Washington: U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Federal Aviation 
Administration, 1978). Reprint (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), 201. 
 
29
 Komons, Bonfires to Beacons, 202-203. 
 
30
 Monroe News Star, Oct. 20, 1930. 
 
31
 Senate Special Committee on Investigations of Air Mail and Ocean Mail Contracts, 
Investigation of Air Mail and Ocean Mail Contracts, 73rd Cong., 2nd sess. (Washington, D.C. Government 
Printing Office, 1934), 1597-1611. 
 
 173 
Angeles-Atlanta, southern transcontinental route. Its subsidiary, American Airways, 
began passenger service in October, using ?huge tri-motor transports capable of carrying 
hundreds of pounds of mail as well as passengers.?
32
 These aircraft contrasted with the 
small single-engine equipment Delta was operating over the southeastern segment of the 
transcontinental route. Not only was AVCO permitted to fly across the entire length of 
the route, it immediately placed larger aircraft into service. Just as before when Huff 
Daland Dusters?s fate was sealed by men with a larger agenda, so too was Delta Air 
Service sacrificed by Brown in his quest to rationalize the nation?s air system. 
33
 Postmaster General Brown?s objective of bringing order to a chaotic system 
disenfranchised small independent lines. Brown, though, was not unsympathetic to 
Delta?s plight and pressured AVCO to pay a fair price for its assets. On July 25 Woolman 
sold Delta Air Service for $143,000; about ?$8.50 per share, which more than fair market 
value.?
 
34
 At a special meeting of Delta?s Board of Directors in Monroe on October 31, 
1930, the sale was approved and the company was dissolved.
35
 
 The Monroe News Star 
carried the dismal news: 
Travis Oliver, secretary-treasurer of the Delta Air Service, of Monroe announced 
this morning that the company?s passenger service between Birmingham and Fort 
Worth has been discontinued. Competition of southern transcontinental air mail 
planes which carry passengers as well as mail was given as the cause of 
discontinuance. ?It is impossible for a small company to compete with the mail 
carrying line,? stated Mr. Oliver. ?Hence our only recourse was to discontinue 
                                                 
32
 Jackson (Mississippi) Daily Clarion Ledger, Oct. 2, 1930. 
 
33
 For a discussion of Woolman?s efforts to stake Delta?s claim and how Brown managed to push 
his agenda, see Lewis and Newton, Delta, 24-28. 
 
34
 Van der Linden, Airlines and Air Mail, 165. 
 
35
 Minutes of Special Meeting, Oct. 31, 1930, folder 7, box 1, RG02.00, DALCA. 
 
 174 
passenger service.?
36
 
 
 Despite the primitive nature of air travel at the time, Delta?s operating record was 
exemplary. There were no fatalities and only a few incidents. The company was praised 
for its passenger operation during 1929 and 1930: 
 
High compliments were paid to the Delta company by the government officials 
and the Aviation Corporation for the efficiency, economy, and safety features 
which marked the operation of the Delta line throughout its history as a passenger 
carrying agency. In all of its service the Delta line never experienced a major 
accident of any kind and only twice were any of the ships obliged to make a 
landing for any minor reason. On both of those occasions the ships were brought 
down on emergency landing fields with no inconvenience to the passengers. This 
record was held to be unexampled in the entire history of aviation in the United 
States.
37
 
 
 The agreement between Delta Air Service, Inc. and AVCO transferred Delta?s 
physical assets and its name, Delta Air Service, as well.
38
 In its stead Delta Air 
Corporation was organized, and bought back the dusting equipment from AVCO for 
$12,500.
39
 The management team remained essentially the same: D. Y. Smith, president; 
Woolman, vice-president; Oliver, treasurer; and Catherine FitzGerald, secretary. 
FitzGerald?s appointment, as female member of the board of directors, was historic. The 
board also included Malcolm S. Biedenharn and Prentiss M. (?Print?) Atkins, both early 
Delta investors.
40
                                                 
36
 Monroe News Star, Oct. 20, 1930. 
 Woolman was interviewed by the Monroe News Star, ?Whether we 
 
37
 Monroe News Star, Dec. 12, 1930. 
 
38
 A. O. Cushney to C. E. Woolman, Oct. 16, 1930, folder 5, box 2, RG02.00, DALCA. 
 
39
 Sales contract between Southern Air Fast Express, Inc., and Travis Oliver, Trustee, Nov. 3, 
1930, folder 5, box 2, RG02.00, DALCA. 
 
40
 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 32. 
 175 
will be able to carry out our program will depend largely on the support we receive from 
the public, Mr. Woolman said. But we have every confidence that the Delta Air Service 
[he probably used the old name from habit] will continue to operate along the lines for 
which it was originally established, that of scientific control of those pests which are a 
menace to agriculture.?
41
 
 The next few years proved to be a bleak and trying period for 
the company and its employees.   
 
  
Employee group photo taken May 13, 1933  
Catherine FitzGerald, center; Woolman third from right 
Photograph courtesy of Delta Air Lines Corporate Archives 
 
 
Historians Lewis and Newton characterize the years between 1930 and 1934 as a 
period of listlessness, inactivity, and recession, in a chapter appropriately titled 
?Doldrums.? The essential point of this period is that the business was able to hold on, 
and it survived.
42
                                                                                                                                                 
 
 The company dusted, acted as a fixed-base operator, sold oil and gas to 
transient fliers, stored airplanes, did maintenance, and so forth. With the exception of an 
41
 Monroe News Star, Dec. 19, 1930. 
 
42
 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 30. 
 
 176 
occasional transient pilot, once the crop dusters left early in the morning ?there was 
nothing happening at the airport in the middle of the day.? Money was tight, too. Barbara 
Woolman recalled that neither her father ?nor FitzGerald drew a salary for a year or two 
years, something like that.?
43
 As if the news of Delta?s failure to win the mail contract was not enough for the 
community to digest, B. R. Coad, the head of the USDA?s Delta Laboratory in Tallulah, 
was indicted for defrauding the government.  On March 12, 1931, Coad, along with F. W. 
McDuff, his administrative assistant, was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United 
States government by padding the payroll of the Bureau of Entomology. Eugene Stevens, 
an original duster pilot, remembered, ?they were putting in some false vouchers for mule 
hiring?and personnel and what not, out in the fields.?
  
44
 The indictment listed 872 counts 
for activities occurring between 1925 until 1931. Print Atkins, a Delta director, posted the 
$10,000 bond for Coad?s recognizance, pending an October 5
 
trial date.
45
 Coad and McDuff claimed they did not intend to defraud the government or 
obtain funds for their own personal gain or benefit, and asked for leniency.
  
46
                                                 
43
 Preston, interview, 1977. 
 On October 
6, in the United States District Court, Monroe, Coad and McDuff pled guilty to ten 
counts, and were each sentenced to one year in the Caddo Parish jail in Shreveport on one 
count, and five years suspended sentence for the rest, during good behavior. Thus they 
avoided a trial and the possibility of a felony conviction. As it was, they were convicted 
 
44
 Stevens, interview, 1984. 
 
45
  U.S. V. B. R. Coad and F. W. McDuff, District Court of the U.S. Monroe, Docket 6040 (1931). 
The case record is on file at the National Archives-SW Region, Fort Worth, Texas (Shreveport accession 
021-54A0589, location A0902111). 
 
46
 Madison (Tallulah, Louisiana) Journal, Oct. 9, 1931. 
 
 177 
of a misdemeanor offense and, following a ten-day grace period to arrange their affairs, 
were incarcerated on October 16, 1931.
47
 Coad quit the laboratory on January 27, and McDuff resigned on February 2.
  
48
 
Eugene Stevens recalled, ?it was kind of a general joke down there you know [inflating 
the payroll]. But finally it became no general joke. [When] the FBI got into the picture, it 
ceased to be a joke.?
49
 The community was apparently sympathetic to their situation. 
McDuff opened a filling station in town with a relative.
50
  Woolman?s compassion for his 
friend and his family is evidenced when Coad was hired as an entomologist for the 
dusting business, but it is unclear precisely when, and under what conditions. It was 
probably during the ?doldrums? period, but there are no personnel records to substantiate 
the date. Historians Lewis and Newton place the date ?at some point in 1931,? but Coad 
was ?confined in the Caddo Parish jail for a term of one (1) year dating from the16
th
 day 
of October, A.D. 1931.?
51
  When Coad completed his sentence in 1932, he may have worked for Delta on a 
seasonal basis, just as did other employees (such as the pilots), as there were few 
permanent employees at the time. The point is that Woolman was concerned enough to 
 The earliest he could have been hired, then, was late in 1932. 
                                                 
47
 U.S. v. B. R. Coad and F. W. McDuff, District Court of the U.S. Monroe, Docket 6040 (1931). 
 
48
 Cleveland and Parencia, ?History of the USDA Cotton Insects Research Laboratory Tallulah, 
Louisiana, 1909-1973,? 406-407. 
 
49
 Stevens interview, 1984. 
 
50
 Ibid. 
 
51
 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 37. U.S. v. B. R. Coad and F. W. McDuff, District Court of the U.S. 
Monroe, Docket 6040 (1931). In later years, when the company was on a more secure financial footing, a 
system was set up to recognize employees for their years of service, but Coad?s awards are inconsistent. 
According to the company magazine, the Delta Digest, in 1948 he was given a 15 year service pin, 
meaning he was hired in 1933. But then, he was awarded a 20 year pin in 1956, placing his hire date in 
1936. His 25 year pin was presented in 1957 and 30 year award in 1962, pointing to 1932 as a hired date. 
 
 178 
look after Coad and his family during a difficult time, and brought him on board. When 
the airline renewed passenger service in 1934, and Woolman became preoccupied with 
running the airline, Coad took charge of the dusting division. They maintained cordial 
relations for the rest of their lives.
52
 Delta managed to hang on until 1934, when it was again caught up in political 
events beyond its control, this time with a better outcome. The airline was resurrected and 
Delta was permitted to carry passengers and mail. The change came when Franklin D. 
Roosevelt, victor in the 1932 presidential election, appointed James A. Farley to replace 
Walter Folger Brown as Postmaster General. There were high expectations for aviation 
from the New Deal, but ?what ensued was neither in line with his original plans nor with 
the optimistic expectations of the air carriers.?
 Woolman?s compassion is perhaps one reason 
Coad?s transgression never tarnished his reputation. 
53
 Senator Hugo L. Black--a progressive Alabama Democrat who believed in 
Wilson?s New Freedom philosophy that monopoly was inherently bad--conducted 
hearings to investigate the awarding of mail contracts under Brown. Brown was a 
progressive too, but believed monopolies in the public interest were good. Woolman?s 
testimony on Delta?s treatment buttressed Black?s findings on aviation monopolies, 
indicting Brown?s heavy-handed, seemingly dictatorial actions.
  
54
                                                 
52
 Delta Digest, April 1966, 12. 
 The Black Committee 
report charged collusion between Brown and the airlines and recommended that 
Roosevelt cancel the domestic contracts. With the assurance of the chief of the Army Air 
 
53
 Komons, Bonfires to Beacons, 226. 
 
54
 Senate Special Committee on Investigations of Air Mail and Ocean Mail Contracts, 
Investigation of Air Mail and Ocean Mail Contracts, 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess. (Washington, D.C.: 
Government Printing Office, 1934), 1597-1611. 
 
 179 
Corps, Benjamin D. Foulois, that the army could fly the mail, Roosevelt cancelled all 
domestic mail contracts. Army pilots proved not to be experienced in the challenges of 
scheduled mail flying. Disaster quickly followed, when several Army planes crashed with 
some pilot fatalities. Roosevelt was roundly criticized over his handling of the airmail 
scandal. 
 To extricate himself from this situation, Roosevelt allowed new temporary 
contracts to be put up for bid. To be eligible, no prior contractors were allowed to 
participate, but the government did not object when companies simply changed their 
names. For example, American Airways became American Airlines and Eastern Air 
Transport became Eastern Airlines. Delta was unaffected by this stipulation, as it had 
already changed its name to Delta Air Corporation and did not hold a contract. Another 
condition precluded any officers of companies that had attended the ?spoils conference? 
from being affiliated with the new companies.
55
 While Woolman had attended, he was 
not an invited participant. Nevertheless, to prevent any suggestion of impropriety, he 
resigned from the board of directors.
56
 Politics aside, Robert van der Linden argues that Brown?s actions were within the 
authority granted him by Congress and, in light of the Roosevelt administration?s 
subsequent policy, he ?regulated the industry and its oligopolies in virtually the same 
manner as the Civil Aeronautics Board later would.?
  
57
                                                 
55
 Komons, Bonfires to Beacons, 263.  
 Roosevelt essentially reinstated 
Brown?s plan. ?After the smoke had cleared, the large financially stable firms were once 
 
56
 Marie Force, e-mail message to author June 27, 2005. 
 
57
 Van der Linden, Airlines and Air Mail, xi. 
 
 180 
again carrying the bulk of the nation?s airmail over a rational route system that followed 
Brown's original network.?
58
 In April, the Post Office extended the southern transcontinental route from 
Atlanta to Charleston, South Carolina, as its eastern point of origin. The route was 
divided in half, with each segment, Charleston to Fort Worth, Fort Worth to Los Angeles, 
bid separately. Three airlines submitted competing bids for the eastern section.
 One striking difference was small Delta winning authority 
to operate along the route it had pioneered years earlier. 
59
  Of 
these, Delta?s was the lowest at 24.8 cents per airplane mile; Eastern?s was 41 cents; and 
American?s 43.5 cents.
60
 Following an investigation by the Post Office to determine the 
status of Delta Air Corporation, Delta was awarded the contract. The Charleston News 
and Courier followed the story and announced: ?The Delta Air Corporation of Monroe 
will start flying the mail over the Charleston-Dallas route ?within fifteen to twenty days,? 
Travis Oliver, secretary, said today after being notified from Washington that the 
company?s bid had been formally approved by the post office department. Five tri-motor 
planes of the same type as employed by the American Airways corporation, which 
formerly carried the mails over the trans continental route, will be in service.?
61
 In the remarkably short span of two months, Delta?s managers organized the 
operation and began scheduled service. The aircraft were acquired from American 
Airlines and a new cadre of pilots hired and trained. Pat Higgins was the chief pilot. 
Other early pilots included Don Dice, Charles Dolson, Lee McBride, and Andrew Dixon. 
 
                                                 
58
 Ibid., 286. 
 
59
 Charleston News and Courier, April 5, May 6, 1934. 
 
60
 Charleston News and Courier, May 26, 1934. 
 
61
 Charleston News and Courier, June 10, 1934. 
 
 181 
Before beginning service, they were required to fly the route to familiarize themselves 
with land features and regular and emergency airfields.
62
 
 Passengers were assured of the 
reliability of the aircraft and the qualifications of the pilots in a Monroe newspaper 
report:  
The ships to be used in the service are seven and eight passenger Stinson 
monoplanes, each powered with three 215-horsepower Lycoming motors. All of 
them equipped with practically all instruments known to modern air navigation, 
including radio facilities. All of Delta corporation?s pilots have several thousand 
more hours flying experience than required by the transport airline ratings they 
hold, Mr. Woolman said. All of them are experienced in blind and instrument 
flying.
63
 
 
 The company received final authorization from Roy Keely of the United States 
Department of Commerce.
64
 With Don Dice as pilot-in-command, Delta initiated its 
scheduled mail service between Atlanta and Dallas on July 4, 1934. The Monroe News 
Star called the ?resumption of service?Uncle Sam?s Fourth of July gift to Monroe--and 
all the other similarly honored on the Charleston-Dallas division of the southern 
transcontinental route.?
65
 Service between Charleston and Atlanta was slightly delayed 
?pending a report by the bureau of aeronautics of the department of commerce as to 
whether improvements were necessary at any of the landing fields.?
66
                                                 
62
 Monroe News Star, June 20, 1934. 
 Flights began on 
July 8 when Charles H. Dolson piloted a Stinson Tri-Motor to Charleston accompanied 
by Leigh Parker, traffic manager, who announced passenger service would begin in two 
 
63
 Monroe News Star, August 5, 1934. 
 
64
 Ibid. 
 
65
 Monroe News Star, July 4, 1934. 
 
66
 Charleston News and Courier, July 6, 1934. 
  
 182 
or three weeks. The inaugural passenger run was flown by George Shealy on August 5.
67
 Passengers had the option of connecting at several points along Delta Air Lines 
?Trans-Southern Route.? By connecting with other carriers passengers could fly to 
Washington, New York, Miami, Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago, New Orleans, Houston, 
San Antonio, and points west.
 
68
 Eastern Air Transport had contemplated the concept of a 
hub-and-spoke model as early as May 1930, at the time when Postmaster General Brown 
was rearranging the aviation map. Eastern was vying for Delta?s route to the west, which 
would tie into its north/south operation. Woolman disclosed in his testimony before the 
Black Committee that Eastern ?felt it would be a very splendid operation to them, as it 
would hub out of Atlanta and could be handled both to the north, south, and west, and I 
think their chief claim to the route was that they could make it an economical 
operation.?
69
 Contract Air Mail (CAM) route 24, the route Delta won in 1934, intersected in 
Atlanta with Eastern?s mail routes from New York to New Orleans and Chicago to 
Jacksonville. Intersecting routes were designed to insure the smooth flow of mail and 
passengers onward to multiple destinations.
 Nevertheless, Brown gave the route to AVCO. 
70
                                                 
67
 Charleston News and Courier, July 8; Aug. 5, 1934. 
 Thus a passenger leaving Monroe at 2:35 
p.m. would arrive in Atlanta at 7:30p.m. There, the passenger would connect with Eastern 
 
68
 Schedules and Fares,? July 1, 1935, Delta Subject File 1940-1949, Mississippi State Archives, 
Jackson, MS. 
 
69
 Senate Special Committee on Investigations of Air Mail and Ocean Mail Contracts, 
Investigation of Air Mail and Ocean Mail Contracts, 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess. (Washington, D.C.: 
Government Printing Office, 1934).  
 
70
 Charleston News and Courier, May 6, 1934. 
 
 183 
Airlines departing at 8:00 p.m. and arrive in New York City at 5:45 in the morning.
71
 
 
Such a trip was long and arduous. 
In 1934, Delta and Eastern published a joint schedule from New York to Dallas 
via Atlanta. You first rode in an Eastern T-34 Condor to Atlanta and then 
connected to a Delta Stinson Trimotor for the rest of the journey. And what a 
journey it was! You took off and landed 15 times; you spent 19 hours enroute; 
you bounced around in the hot air thermals at 3000 to 5000 feet strapped into a 
wicker chair with a sickness cup handy. You went blindly through thunderstorms 
and frequently diverted to alternate airports. Bad as it was, it was still progress. 
An alternative was black soot or flat tires and a journey 4 to 5 times as long.
72
  
 
 From these humble beginnings in the years leading up to World War II, the 
structure of a modern airline emerged. Delta and Atlanta benefited symbiotically. Atlanta 
became the anchor city, giving Delta Air Lines a safe harbor from which to compete 
against the larger, more established air carriers.  
 
  
  
  
                                                 
71
 Monroe News Star, August 5, 1934. 
 
72
 Arthur Ford, interview by author, Atlanta, Georgia., Sept. 5, 1996; Delta/Eastern Joint Schedule, 
Delta Timetable Collection, DALAC. 
 184
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 9 
Southern Stars 
 
ATLANTA MUNICIPAL AIRPORT: The ?Hub of Southeastern Aviation?--
where planes arrive every thirty minutes--and serve seven points of the compass. 
Large crowds gather twice a day to view the arrival and departure, within a space 
of only a few minutes time, of seven large passenger ships; and this spectacular 
sight is known as the famous ?Merry-Go-Round.? 
 
Postcard caption (ca.1941)  
 
 Long before Atlanta became a crossroads of the air--indeed, long before it became 
a city--it was preordained a hub. ?Early travelers could journey north up either side of the 
Appalachian Mountains, as well as, to the south, east, and west, without facing any real 
obstacles.? For hundreds of years native Americans, traveling the river valleys and 
following the Peachtree and Etowah trails, converged on the area, and ?this accessibility 
led to Atlanta?s founding as a rail head.?1  
 Just as railroad lines radiate from Atlanta, so do air routes, to all points of the 
compass. Asa Griggs Candler, founder of the Coca-Cola Company, chose a relatively flat 
piece of land on which he built an automobile racetrack in 1909. The racetrack was a 
convenient landing field for early aviators and their primitive machines. As aviation 
progressed, the airport?s boundaries expanded outward from Candler?s original 300-acre 
purchase to accommodate larger and more sophisticated airplanes, and ever-increasing 
                                                 
1 Betsy Braden and Paul Hagan, A Dream Takes Flight, Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport 
and Aviation in Atlanta (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1989), 1, 4. 
 
 185
numbers of operations.2 
 Today, Atlanta and Delta are figurative binary stars, orbiting the New South?s 
powerful economy. The city and the airline support, and benefit, each other, but this 
symbiotic relationship was not preordained and evolved gradually. Delta?s origins were 
in the Mississippi Delta, and it was drawn to Atlanta by its location, reasonable climate, 
entrepreneurial and economic dynamism, and visionary leadership. Atlanta is situated 
almost at the geographic center of the southern states; Richmond, Dallas, and Miami are 
nearly equidistant.3 Woolman continued as general manager of the resurgent passenger 
line. His contemporary in Atlanta was William B. Hartsfield, ?an early and lifelong 
proponent of aviation?who eventually became the city?s mayor. He foresaw that Atlanta 
and aviation would grow together and steadfastly worked to that end.?4  
 In the 1930s, both Delta and Eastern Airlines served Atlanta, but they were not 
direct competitors. Contract Air Mail (CAM) routes were monopolies, determined by the 
post office, and the Post Office encouraged cooperation among carriers. While Delta flew 
to the east and west, Eastern?s destinations were north and south, with Atlanta as an 
intersecting terminal. This protected network allowed airlines to eke out a profit from 
carrying passengers and grow. Significantly, Delta?s passenger business increased 675 
percent from 1935 to 1941. The airline lost money only in 1935 and again in 1941, when 
the expensive Douglas DC-3s were acquired.5 Delta?s example underscores the point that 
                                                 
2 Braden and Hagan, A Dream Takes Flight, 4. 
 
3 ATL-RIC, 474nm; ATL-DFW, 633nm; ATL-MIA, 517nm.  
 
4 James J. Hoogerwerf, ?Mighty Hartsfield,? Southern Aviator 6 (March 1995): 20-24. 
 
5 Atlanta Journal, April 14, 1941. Lewis and Newton, Delta, 76, Appendix 1. 
 
 186
air transportation was ?a depression proof industry.?6  
 As the airlines grew, airports had to keep up. Shortly after Delta won the CAM 24 
contract, Monroe officials improved the facilities at Selman Field. According to the local 
newspaper a new hangar could ?accommodate at least three of the Delta Air 
Corporation?s big Stinson airmail ships, without dismantling any of the equipment or 
accessories.?7 Other changes brought the airport up to ?class A? status of the Department 
of Commerce, to avoid the risk of abandonment ?as a port of call on the transcontinental 
airmail route.?8 Lighting for night operations was a necessary and significant 
enhancement. A rotating beacon identified the airport, boundary lights outlined the 
landing field?s perimeter, and obstacle lights warned pilots of hazards. Bright lights lit up 
the apron area and a powerful Sperry arc light flooded the entire field for takeoffs and 
landings.9  
 Because the old Stinson-Ts Delta had acquired from American were outdated and 
incapable of night flight, Clarence E. Faulk, Delta?s new president, announced the 
company would buy three specially-equipped Stinson-A trimotor airplanes.10 ?The 
dignified bespectacled? Faulk had ?put up nearly half of the $22,000 down payment?11 
While these were brand new airliners, their fabric covering and strut-braced wings were 
visual indications of an obsolescent design. Yet, as the following description claims, 
                                                 
6 Komons, Bonfires to Beacons, 223. 
 
7 Monroe News Star, August 21, 1934. 
 
8 Ibid., Feb. 22, 1935; March 20, 1935. 
 
9 News and Courier (Charleston, South Carolina), Dec. 12, 1931. 
 
10 Monroe News Star, March 20, 1935. 
 
11 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 52. 
 187
?America?s Fastest Trimotor? was an improvement over the rudimentary Stinson-Ts. 
 
To make your trip more enjoyable you may smoke, relax or chat in normal tones 
in the Stinson?s sound deadened cabin while the aerial panorama unfolds swiftly 
through wide safety glass windows which permit direct downward view. Wide 
deeply tufted reclining chairs, insulated in rubber, are adjustable to three 
positions. Foot rests, adjustable to two positions, help you find the most 
comfortable position. A scientifically designed heating and ventilation system 
changes cabin air every four minutes and in addition each passenger has an 
individual heat and ventilation control, reading light, ash receiver, attendant call 
button, window curtains and parcel rack. A large lavatory with running water is 
located in the rear of the cabin.12 
 
 
 At about this time, Delta began advertising its route as the ?Trans-Southern 
Route.? The new Stinson-As flew two night schedules for the six-hour flight between 
Atlanta and Dallas: ?The Texan? flew westbound, as trip No. 3, and the other flew 
eastbound, as trip No. 4.13 Mrs. Eugene Talmadge, wife of Georgia?s governor, 
christened the first airplane out of Atlanta as ?The Georgian.?14 For two weeks, 
government authorities permitted only mail to be carried. Once the airplanes and crews 
were certified, on July 19 Woolman, general manager, announced ?the passenger-
carrying service will go into effect immediately.?15  
 Delta?s Stinson-As proved to be an ill-fated trio of airplanes--all their endings 
were ignominious. Shortly after beginning passenger service, tragedy struck on the night 
of August 14, 1935, when Delta suffered its first fatal air crash. An eastbound Stinson-A 
crashed near Gilmer, Texas, at about 11:45 p.m. The official report blamed the loss of a 
                                                 
12 Delta Subject File, 1940-1949, Mississippi State Archives. 
 
13 Ibid. 
 
14 Monroe News Star, July 1, 1935.  
 
15 Ibid., July 19, 1935.  
 
 188
propeller, which created an imbalance, causing the left engine to separate from its 
mount.16 Pilot Andy Dixon and his assistant Herbert Bulkeley (in one report he was 
identified as a ?courier,? which was not the same as a copilot), and two passengers 
perished.17  
 Approximately a year later, Capt. Charles Dolson (who replaced Woolman as 
president on his death in 1966 and ultimately rose to the position of Chairman of the 
Board) survived a crash in a second Stinson-A, while taking off on a test flight from 
Atlanta.18 Thomas Prioleau (?Pre?) Ball recalled: 
 
The airplane had just been worked on and he was flying it by himself. He took off  
on this test flight and, as far as I can remember now, there was either...a bolt or a 
fitting that sheared at the attach point between the wing structure and the center 
section.  Actually the wing itself rotated one direction or the other and the 
airplane rolled. He hit the trees right off of the west end of the runway. Charlie?s 
back was badly hurt. He was in bed most of a year in a body cast. He survived it. 
Of course that airplane was junk.19 
 
 
 One night, some time later, Capt. George Shealy and copilot Ball flew the 
remaining Stinson-A to Fort Worth and left it there as a reserve for the western leg of the 
route. Ball said he ?never saw it again.?20 According to FitzGerald, the airplane was sold, 
and the very next day, it burned up in a fire in Miami, Florida.21 
                                                 
16 Air Commerce Bulletin, June 15, 1936, 92. 
 
17 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 53. 
 
18 Atlanta Journal, Sept. 15, 1966; Lewis and Newton, Delta, 54. 
 
19 Captain T. P. Ball, interview by author, tape recording, Atlanta, Georgia.., (hereafter cited as 
Ball interview), Sept. 6, 1995.   
 
20 Ibid.; both the Atlanta Journal, August 27, 1936 and Atlanta Constitution, August 28, 1936, 
reported Pullman Norton was flying with Dolson as a copilot or assistant and was unhurt. Dolson logged 
one minute for the flight. Bonnie Peet (daughter) interview by author, Roswell, Georgia., July 23, 2004. 
 
21 FitzGerald, interview. 
 189
 
Front Row L-R: George Hill, Claude P. Lyle, E.G. ?Pete? Jones, A. B. Henny, Carl Nesbit, Wayne Lydon, 
Vernon Gillette, T. J. ?Squire? Helms, Robert D. Poole, Earl Forth, David Chupp, Dick Bingham, 
Arthur Ford, Bill Coats, Robert White 
Middle Row L-R: Nipton ?Nip? Hill, Earnest ?Sweatpea? Jackson, G. J. (J.D.) Dye, ?Skid? Henly,  
Harold Valentine, A. D. Clark, O. B. Deere, Bill Stevens, Jack Langford, Jake Morse, Harold 
Millican, Sam Everett, J. T. ?Tut? Harper, H. A. ?Ham? Moreau, Grover Presnell, W. L. ?Jack? 
Bernard, Lamar Grover 
Back Row L-R: Bill Miles, J. D. Crane, Gene Christian, ?Jug? Wilson, Clark French, Ken Ward, Pat   
Higgins, Helen Callahan, Bob Weeks, Grif Connell, George Cushing, Bob Spalding, Charlie 
Payne, Hugo ?Dutch? Krantz, ?Red? Bounderant, Jack Gross, Roy White, H. D. Wigly, Jim 
Spratlin 
 
The group posing with a Lockheed Electra on March 14, 1939 includes about 80-85% of 
all Delta?s employees. Source: Gene Christien.  
Photograph courtesy of Gene Christien. 
 
Delta needed a new airplane to replace the Stinsons. The first truly modern 
airliner was the Boeing 247. It transported United Air Lines passengers ?fifty percent 
faster than the competition?with unprecedented comfort and safety.? Competitors 
wanted to buy it, but the first thirty Boeings were built exclusively for United.22 
Therefore, Douglas designed the DC-1, which quickly evolved into the DC-2. These 
modern aircraft were revolutionary designs incorporating stressed aluminum skin, 
cantilever wings, NACA cowled engines, controllable pitch propellers, and retractable 
                                                                                                                                                 
 
22 F. Robert van der Linden, The Boeing 247:  The First Modern Airliner (University of 
Washington Press, 1991), 1; T.A. Heppenehimer, Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation 
(New York : John Wiley & Sons, 1995), 52. 
 
 190
main landing gear to improve aerodynamic efficiency.23  
 Another new airplane was the Lockheed Electra, smaller than the Boeing and 
Douglas airplanes, but better suited to Delta?s limited operation as a regional carrier. In 
December 1936, the new, all-metal, twin-engine, Model 10B Electras replaced the 
obsolescent Stinson-As and Ts.24 They required two pilots and could accommodate ten 
passengers. The economics were favorable. Fritz Schwaemmle, one of the newly hired 
copilots explained: ?You start out initially with a seven passenger plane [the Stinson-T] 
and then you get a ten passenger airplane; that?s a 30% increase in the number of seat 
miles that are available.? The Electra was faster too, ?so you?re grinding out more seat 
miles per hour.?25  
Another new copilot, Pre Ball, was destined to rise high in the company 
hierarchy, and become Director of Operations.26 His extraordinary flying career, like 
many others of his time, spanned the era of flight from barnstormers to jumbo jets. 
Ball?s long career with Delta started with the award of CAM 24. Pre was born in 
Charleston, South Carolina, in 1906. He learned to fly in 1929, in a Curtiss Jenny with an 
OX5 engine, when airplanes were just bare bones, the instruments basic, and the 
performance limited. He earned his transport license, and in 1930 became the manager of 
Charleston?s municipal airport. In 1932 he was a partner in Hawthorne Aviation, a fixed 
base operator at the airport. In addition to running the airport and managing the fixed 
                                                 
23 Komons, Bonfires to Beacons, 211. 
 
24 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 54. 
 
25 Fritz Schwaemmle, interview by Delta Air Lines, Dec. 7, 1973 (transcribed May 31, 2007), 4 
DALCA. 
 
26 Captain T. P. Ball, interview by author, Atlanta, Georgia., (hereafter cited as Ball interview), 
Oct. 3, 1994. 
 
 191
base operation, he served as the station manager for Eastern Air Transport, later Eastern 
Airlines.27  
 
 
Thomas Prioleau (?Pre?) Ball (ca.1936)  
Photograph from author?s collection 
 
 In 1934, Ball took on another duty as Delta?s Charleston station manager. ?I had 
to be there all the time because I had airplane transient pilots who spent the night and 
wanted to leave early in the morning.  So, I had to be up long before dawn everyday. I got 
to the airport before daylight. I stayed there until around 7-8 o'clock every night to pick 
                                                 
27 Ibid.  
 
 192
up the last people who came in as transients who were going to spend the night.?28 
 Ball heard Delta was hiring pilots and drove to Atlanta looking for a job. He was 
hired in 1936 and recalls flying the southern route as being memorable. At first he flew 
the eastbound trip from Atlanta to Charleston with stops in Augusta, Georgia, and 
Columbia, South Carolina, and returning to Atlanta, all in the same day. Stops were 
quick, just enough time to let passengers off and on, and to exchange mail bags. ?As a 
matter of fact,? he recalled, ?usually our flight plans were pretty damn good. We would 
usually get within 5-6 minutes.? Fueling was done in Atlanta or Charleston.29  
 At first westbound trips were navigated visually during the day or by following 
beacon lights at night. When radio ranges were installed at various stations along the 
route, electronic navigation permitted all-weather flying, night or day, and instrument 
approaches to runways. Still, a lot of the time flying was visual--close to the ground. Ball 
recalled the routes became very familiar. 
    
We could see cattle. We could see the farms that people had. We could see the 
smoke on the ground.  We were flying at 3-5-7000 feet. We could always tell 
things like that.  We could tell which way the wind was blowing.  We could see it.  
We really knew the country. We knew the towns that we flew over. We 
recognized each little village. We saw the crossroads. We saw the railroad 
crossings. All these things were a very familiar part of your day to day life.30 
  
 
 Landing at Monroe was special. Not only was it the home office and a place to 
catch up on company news, but Woolman, the general manager, could be counted upon 
to greet the crew personally. ?Every time we would land and taxi up, if Mr. Woolman 
                                                 
28 Ibid.  
 
29 Ball Interview, Sept. 6, 1995.  
 
30 Ball, interview, Oct. 3, 1994.  
 
 193
was at the airport, he would be out talking to us.  We got all of our information about the 
progress of the airline, its financial situation, what was happening, what was good and 
what was bad. How he wanted us to operate and all that sort of stuff came on those visits 
with Mr. Woolman.?31 
  Mechanical problems were few, but weather could be troublesome. In an Electra, 
Capt. George Shealy and Ball encountered a severe thunderstorm after passing 
Birmingham, en route to Dallas. Ball described the incident: 
 
We got into weather, actually we flew through a tornado that wiped out the town 
at the same time I called in to report over it. We went into that thing. After that, 
all hell broke loose. We just hung on. We kept the wings level as best we could. 
Finally, we broke out in a hole. It was perfectly clear. We had a ceiling above us, 
lightning in all four quadrants, brilliant! You could see the ground, just as clear. 
There was Aliceville.32 
  
 
 The Birmingham Age-Herald?s morning edition, in bold headlines, announced 
?Nine Die As Twisters Hit State. Aliceville Struck. The storm struck Aliceville, Ala. in 
Pickens Country about 10 miles southwest of Carrolton taking a reported toll of 10 dead, 
many injured and at least 15 buildings, including residences, demolished.?33 Without 
radar or more accurate weather forecasting and reporting, Shealy and Ball were unable to 
avoid the hazardous weather. 
 An unusual feature in the cabin of the Electra was a hump in the cabin between 
the wings--this was the wing spar. While there was a door to the cockpit, the crew did not 
always keep it closed. Interested passengers or flight inspectors could sit on the hump and 
                                                 
31 Ibid.  
 
32 Ibid.  
 
33 Birmingham Age-Herald, April 8, 1938. 
 
 194
lean forward to talk to the crew while in flight. One passenger, Ball remembers, was 
Howard Hughes, who rode with him two or three times and chatted with the crew while 
sitting on the hump.34 Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt were other well-known 
passengers who flew Delta.35  
 Although the Douglas DC-3 was a more advanced airplane, Delta bought four 
DC-2s from American Airlines as a temporary measure until the company could afford 
DC-3s. With the purchase of the DC-2s, and then the DC-3s, Delta marked another 
milestone in its evolution. Delta hired cabin attendants, then known as stewardesses.  
 In early 1940, Delta?s new Chief Stewardess, Laura Wizark, set about hiring 
registered nurses willing to staff the newly acquired fourteen-passenger DC-2s. Cabin 
attendants raised the quality of Delta?s service to a higher level. Eva Parrish was in 
Delta?s first stewardess class and remembers, ?we had classes in charm, passenger 
service, airline safety, meteorology, Delta routes and schedules, and ticketing of 
passengers. Delta sent each of us to Antoine?s Beauty Salon at Rich?s Department Store 
in Atlanta for hair styling best suited for the small stewardess caps.?36 Birdie Bomar had 
the distinction of becoming Delta?s first stewardess taking to the air. 37 
 
 
 
                                                 
34 Ball, interview, Sep. 6, 1995.  
 
35 Lynn D. Field, ed. From Travel Air to Tristar, the First Fifty-Years of Delta Air Lines (Miami : 
Halsey Publishing Co.), 11; Lewis and Newton, Delta, 62 
 
36 Eva Parrish Fitch, ?Personal profile of Eva Mae Parrish Fitch,? unpublished in author?s personal 
collection. 
 
37 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 72. 
 
 195
 
Eva Parrish (ca.1940) 
Photograph from author?s collection 
 
 
The cornerstone of an attendant?s in-flight duty is safety, but cabin service 
became an important element of the airline?s marketing program.38 Sybil Peacock 
Harmon recalled her duties: 
 
 When the flight was called, I would stand by the door. The passenger would 
come up the steps, give me his or her name and I would check it off my manifest. 
They would then enter and take a seat anywhere on the plane, we had no seat 
selection! When all the passengers had boarded, the ramp agent would come up to 
me and hand me the papers for the pilots. He and I would agree on the number of 
passengers on board, he would then close the door and we were ready to go! 
 Before take-off, I would pass chewing gum around to all of the 
                                                 
38 Helen E. McLaughlin, Footsteps in the Sky:  An Informal Review of U.S. Airlines Inflight 
Service, 1920-Present (Denver: State of the Art, Ltd., 1994), 4. 
 
 196
passengers. This was to make them chew and in turn salivate. The swallowing 
action would relieve pressure on the ear drum as we passed through various 
altitudes. Even so, there was a lot of trouble with ears in those days. After take-
off, we would go around and greet each passenger to put him at ease. For 
refreshments, I would serve hot coffee or Coca-Cola. We served boxed meals out 
of Jackson Mississippi on both east and west bound flights. Some of these dinners 
were not too good and often contained greasy fried chicken, not the best meals if 
the weather turned rough!39 
  
Harmon developed a unique intuition for passenger assistance in rough air: 
 
There was a lot of motion sickness in those days. The lower altitude where we 
flew contained the more unstable air and we experienced a lot of bumpy weather. 
...One of my most delicate and difficult jobs was to judge by his color when a 
passenger was sick enough to get the ?Burp Cup.? This way he would not smell 
up the airplane if he got sick. Act too soon and you would put ideas into his head, 
act too late and you had a cleaning job.40 
 
 
Life for a pilot or stewardess--then as today--revolved around his or her flight 
schedule. Ball recalled, ?there were fewer copilots originally than there were captains. 
So, the copilots had to absorb this extra flying and I used to fly anywhere from 90 to 110-
115 hours per month. So, I was flying all the time in the beginning. So, I must have made 
3 or 4 round trips to Charleston and back each week.?41 
 Then as now, seniority determines one?s bidding priority. The most senior pilot or 
stewardess selects his or her schedule first and everyone else follows in seniority order. 
Seniority is a cornerstone of union organization and was officially adopted by Delta Air 
Corporation for its pilots with their representation by the Air Line Pilots Association. 
Unlike pilot negotiations with other airline managements, Delta?s pilot contract was 
                                                 
39 Sybil Peacock Harman, ?Delta?s First Stewardesses,? unpublished in author?s personal 
possession. 
 
40 Ibid. 
 
41 Ball, interview, Oct. 3, 1994.  
 
 197
signed on July 11, 1940, without any acrimony and in record time. Unionization was an 
anathema to southern businessmen and Dolson later observed, ?I don?t think Mr. 
Woolman ever forgave me for getting ALPA started on Delta.?42  
 Seniority, according to the contract, ?shall be based upon the length of service as 
an air line pilot with the company.?43 Pay and working conditions, equipment flown and 
schedules, all follow from this basic precept. Don Dice, a former pilot for Standard Oil 
Company, with a seniority date of June16, 1934, was number one on the list. 44 On a side 
note, John Howe, who inaugurated Delta?s service to Jackson, Mississippi, as Delta?s first 
pilot on June 17, 1929, did not return to the company after it began flying again in 1934. 
Had he done so, he would have been number one on the seniority list. Instead he made a 
successful career of flying for the Army Air Corps, later the United States Air Force, 
retiring as a brigadier general, and was inducted in the Arkansas Aviation Hall of fame.45 
 By 1940, Delta was established as a reliable regional carrier operating across the 
southern tier of states. Three events presaged continued growth. First was the integration 
of the DC-3 into Delta?s fleet. The DC-3 was the first aircraft capable of operating 
profitably carrying passengers without having to rely on a mail subsidy. Second, in 1941 
Delta was approved for route extensions to Cincinnati, Ohio, to the north and Savannah, 
Georgia, to the south.46 And third, Delta decided to move its headquarters from Monroe 
                                                 
42 ?ALPA Celebrates 50 years at Delta,? The Widget (June 1991): 1, 4. 
 
43 Delta Pilot Contract, August 1, 1940, 11. in author?s possession. 
 
44 Madison (Tallulah, Louisiana) Journal, March 23, 1929. 
 
45  Speech made by Charles M. Taylor, presenting the name of Brig. Gen. John D. Howe for 
induction into the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame, Nov. 9 1984, in author?s possession. 
 
46 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 77. 
 
 198
to Atlanta. This was a logical decision based on the facilities available at the Atlanta 
airport and because the city lay at the intersection of its two routes. 
 As commercial aviation grew, municipal authorities competed to attract air 
service to their own communities. Monroe remained a Delta destination but 
circumstances conspired to remove Delta?s headquarters from the city of its roots and 
place it in Atlanta. Monroe officials may not have fully understood the challenge they 
faced in competing with the formidable William B. Hartsfield, Atlanta?s airminded 
mayor. On the other hand, they may have known but were unable to match Atlanta?s 
resolve. 
 In Atlanta, Mayor Hartsfield and airport manager Jack Gray petitioned the Works 
Progress Administration to lengthen the runways and improve the terminal at no cost to 
the city.47 In 1936 these improvements were underway as Delta moved its maintenance 
and operations divisions to Atlanta. Half of Eastern?s hangar space became available 
when Eastern moved its maintenance and operations departments to Florida.48 Four years 
later, in 1940, Eastern cancelled Delta?s hangar lease, forcing Delta to find new quarters. 
Atlanta and Delta officials agreed to share the cost of a hangar, with office space 
attached, and executed a long-term lease agreement.49 The new structure could 
accommodate Delta?s DC-2s and DC-3s and provided ample office space.  
 Atlanta?s runways still lacked the length needed for the larger DC-2s and DC-3s. 
Even the smaller aircraft had problems. As Ball, flying the Lockheed Electras, said, ?in 
                                                 
47 Braden and Hagan, A Dream Takes Flight, 95. 
 
48 Ibid., 93. 
 
49 Atlanta Constitution, Nov. 5, 1940. 
 
 199
fact, even in Atlanta, in the summertime, when you?ve got ten passengers and you have 
full tanks of gas in the thing, you are right up to your maximum gross weight....that plane 
was lucky to get airborne.?50 Famed aviator Eddie Rickenbacker ?in no uncertain terms 
[said] the city must add more hangars and land. ?Atlanta needs a five-thousand-foot 
runway to be any good as an airport.??51 Aircraft performance is degraded by high 
temperatures requiring a longer runway to get airborne. The Civil Aeronautics Authority 
(CAA) agreed and admonished airport authorities following two incidents in 1939 when 
aircraft went off the end of the runways.52  
 As war clouds loomed, Atlanta had a leg up on Monroe. Candler Field was 
apparently of more immediate importance to the nation?s military preparedness than 
Selman Field and, when Atlanta became an airbase on October 4, 1940, it got priority for 
federal spending. 53 Not until spring 1942 was Monroe?s Selman field taken over by the 
Army Air Corps and expanded to serve as a navigation training school.54  
Many Delta stockholders were prominent Monroe businessmen and early 
investors in the risky new airline industry. Some, such as the Biedenharn family, would 
have preferred to keep Delta in Monroe, but by the time the issue came up for a decision 
the move to Atlanta was warranted. Atlanta was a hub, Delta?s routes crossed there, it 
was a maintenance base, and occupying the new administrative space would replace the 
crowded conditions of the old office building at Selman Field. Another factor was the 
                                                 
50 Ball, interview, Sept. 6, 1995.  
 
51 Braden and Hagan, A Dream Takes Flight, 93. 
 
52 Ibid., 99. 
 
53 Ibid., 104. 
 
54 Ouachita (Monroe, Louisiana) Citizen, March 9, 1983. 
 
 200
access to capital. 
 
 
C. E. Woolman, Clarence E. Faulk, Pat Higgins 
Photograph courtesy of Delta Air Lines Corporate Archives 
 
 
 Raising capital was a major hurdle. In 1939 Delta needed money to expand and 
buy modern equipment. Between December 1939 and March 1940, Delta proffered 
privately issued stock to Monroe investors and other interested parties, such as the pilot 
group. Ball recalled, ?You could buy ten shares at $10 a share. I was flying as reserve 
captain at that time, so that must have been 1939.?55 Atlanta stockbroker Richard W. 
Courts, Jr. was unaware that the issue had not been registered by the Security and 
Exchange Commission (SEC), and was one of the few outsiders to buy shares. Some 
individual investors subsequently resold their stock to secondary parties, unwittingly 
                                                 
55 Ball, interview, Sept. 6, 1995.  
 
 201
placing themselves in the position of brokers.56  These activities remained undisclosed 
until 1941 when 60,000 new shares were offered, and Courts?s firm, Courts & Co., was 
retained to market them. In their book on Delta, historians Lewis and Newton concluded: 
 
There was no implication that Delta had knowingly broken the law; its legal 
advisers in Monroe were simply unfamiliar with the technicalities surrounding the 
operations of a firm that was all too plainly outgrowing the city that had been its 
birthplace. On the other hand, as Courts pointed out, the SEC was sure to become 
aware of the earlier issue when Delta attempted to register the new one, and 
officials of the company would in fact become liable to criminal prosecution.57 
 
 
 The need of southern industry for a regional investment banker was a concern of 
Richard W. Courts who founded Courts & Co. in 1925. His father, Richard W. Courts, 
Sr., joined him as a partner and together they ?determined to build a firm which could 
supply equity capital to southern corporations.? Fundamental to their vision was a faith in 
southern businessmen and their conviction the New South would prosper and grow 
industrially and financially.58 Under the circumstances, absent fraudulent intent, 
prosecution of Delta management was unlikely, but the prospect was nevertheless 
alarming.    
 The Senate Banking and Currency Committee investigation, conducted from 
1932-1934, and known as the ?Pecora Hearings,? established disclosure of material facts 
as the fundamental precept underlying the Securities Act of 1933.59 The Securities 
Exchange Act of 1934 created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and 
                                                 
56 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 78. 
 
57 Ibid. 
 
58 Courts & Co., Courts & Co. Celebrating 35th Anniversary, 1925-1960 (Atlanta: 1960): 5.  
 
59 Joel Seligman, The Transformation of Wall Street: A History of the Securities and Exchange 
Commission and Modern Corporate Finance (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982), 39. 
 
 202
empowered it ?with broad authority over all aspects of the securities industry. This 
includes the power to register, regulate, and oversee brokerage firms, transfer agents, and 
clearing agencies as well as the nation's securities self regulatory organizations 
(SROs).?60  The idea behind registration and disclosure was to give investors the 
information necessary to make an informed decision as to the soundness of an offering.61 
 Courts brought the Delta matter to the attention of the SEC, and not finding any 
evidence of fraud, the SEC applied a remedy that would assure full disclosure.62 It 
mandated a prospectus be distributed to all stockholders to disclose the facts and make an 
offer to repurchase the shares with interest. Rescission could have wrecked Delta?s 
financial structure, but fortunately none of the subscribers demanded their money back.63 
 The new issue of 60,000 shares was successfully placed, although not without 
some difficulty. Eventually Courts persuaded R. J. Reynolds, the tobacco heir, to buy a 
large block in June 1941.64 He took particular satisfaction from his company?s success in 
underwriting Delta?s common stock. According to Time Magazine, it was ?one of the 
biggest air-line underwritings ever handled by a single investment banker. Courts & Co. 
bossed by smart, wise Richard Winn Courts Jr. hung the ?sold out? sign on 60,000 shares 
of Delta Air Corp. common, priced at $9.50 a share.? This ?meant $495,000 with which 
                                                 
60 U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission, ?The Laws That Govern the Securities Industry?: 
http://www.sec.gov/about/laws.shtml (accessed July 1, 2010). 
 
61 Ibid. 
 
62 The author?s search for an SEC case was assisted by Tim Dodge and Harmon Straiton at the 
RBD library, Auburn University, but did not reveal any SEC case involving Delta under the circumstances 
outlined. 
 
63 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 80. 
 
64 Ibid. 
 
 203
to bolster working capital, reduce debts, [and] look ahead.?65  
 Historians Lewis and Newton attribute the stock imbroglio to the unfamiliarity 
with the intricacies of stock dealings of a small company?s management and legal 
advisors situated far from the nation?s financial center.66 Given the non-punitive remedy 
imposed by the SEC, this interpretation is plausible, but a more fundamental structural 
cause, articulated by SEC commissioner William Douglas, may have been a determining 
factor.  
 Douglas ?believed the principal obstacle to small business finance was not the 
cost associated with an SEC filing [as critics of the SEC were arguing], it was the 
unwillingness of investment banks to make a firm commitment to underwrite the smaller 
firms? securities.?67 Good advice may not have been readily available under any 
circumstances to Delta?s managers. The unwillingness of large brokerage houses to back 
small firms was not lost on at least one southern opportunist eager to help small 
businesses in the region.  
 Although Delta?s management may have broken SEC rules, the situation was 
probably not as threatening as it was thought at the time. In such situations, absent 
indication of fraud or deceit, the SEC offered an interpretative and advisory service. In 
this regard the SEC?s Sixth Annual Report stated that ?during the past fiscal year, 
thousands of requests for such assistance have been responded to by correspondence and 
                                                 
65 Time, June 23, 1941. 
 
66 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 78. 
 
67 Seligman, Transformation of Wall Street, 202. 
 
 204
in conferences.?68 Under the guidance of Court, acting in the capacity of the company?s 
investment advisor, and without allegations of fraud or deceit, the remedy was a 
relatively routine matter for the SEC.  
 The concern of rescission was real, but unlikely. The affected shares were not 
widely distributed and the people that held them were closely associated with the airline. 
Rescission would have negatively affected the company?s future and maybe even many 
of the stockholders jobs at Delta. As the nation built up its military defenses in response 
to world events, the investors could expect future economic growth and thus would not 
have wanted to place the company?s future in doubt 
 By 1941, the fates of Atlanta and Delta were closely bound. The December 7 
attack on Pearl Harbor and America?s massive involvement in World War II transformed 
the nation, the city, and the airline. But, as historians Lewis and Newton observe, Delta 
entered the war ?with the foundations for future growth already established.?69 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
68 Securities and Exchange Commission, Sixth Annual Report of the Security and Exchange 
Commission for the Fiscal year Ending June 30, 1940 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 
1941), 137. 
 
69 Lewis and Newton, Delta, 84. 
 205 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Conclusion 
 
 
 At the outbreak of World War II, Delta was established as a small regional carrier. 
Its employees managed, serviced, and maintained ten modern aircraft--five Electras and 
five DC-3s--serving the southern states.
1
The process of Delta?s evolution was incremental, moving from stage to stage 
dependent on circumstances and the individuals involved. First, calcium arsenate was 
synthesized under the direction of B. R. Coad at the Delta Laboratory. Then, Ohioans 
Nelly and Houser with the assistance of the Army Air Service at McCook Field 
discovered airplanes could spread dust effectively from the air. Finally, a crop dusting 
company, Huff Daland Dusters was formed that evolved into a passenger carrier, Delta 
Air Service, Inc.  
 It was a modest enterprise in comparison to the 
major trunk lines but in its development it had surmounted almost impossible odds. That 
a passenger airline would evolve from an agricultural pest migrating from Mexico in 
1892 was improbable to foresee. The outcome resulted from the emergence of agrarian 
and aviation technologies and the effect of cultural, economic, and political factors.  
Delta Air Lines was not the result of a plan or an idea of a single person or group 
of people with special insight. Its creation was the result of a series of ideas and events 
that intersected and were acted upon by many individuals over an extended period of 
time. Each contributed to Delta?s evolution. The path was distinct from the development 
of American commercial aviation fostered by the post office. In the annals of American 
                                                 
1
 R. E. G. Davis, Delta, An Airline And Its Aircraft (Miami: Paladwr Press, 1990): 48. 
 206 
 
 
 
commercial aviation history, Delta?s genesis is therefore unique.  
 Delta Air Lines literally and figuratively grew from the ground up. As the boll 
weevil migrated across the South, methods were found to counter the threat. The fight 
centered in the Mississippi Delta region with the ?Southern Field Crop Insect 
Investigations? study conducted at the Delta Laboratory, Bureau of Entomology, USDA, 
in Tallulah, Louisiana. Under the direction of B. R. Coad, calcium arsenate proved to be 
an effective agent to kill the boll weevil, but its application by ground-based machinery 
was slow and laborious. When technologies of aviation and agricultural merged the 
problem was resolved. As a result, a new industry--aerial applications--was founded. 
Historian Pete Daniel, though, argues the combining of science and mechanization 
(including machinery other than aircraft) was not without consequence. Capital intensive 
and scientific farming led to ?government intrusion into agriculture,? which by the 1950s 
?drove off millions of farm laborers? from the land.
2
  Ironically the first use of aircraft to spread poison occurred far away from the 
cotton fields of the south. It was in Ohio on a grove of Catalpa trees near Troy. The 
experiment was so successful it suggested using aircraft on low-growing plants. Tests 
with military aircraft conducted at the Delta Laboratory in 1922 and 1923 verified the 
concept. Coincidently, about the same time the Huff Daland Company in Ogdensburg, 
New York, was exploring commercial uses for aircraft. Thomas Huff and Elliot Daland 
grasped the potential for crop dusting as a business opportunity. They were leaders in 
testing and designing specialized crop dusting machines.  
  
 A subsidiary company, Huff Daland Dusters, Inc., was incorporated primarily to 
                                                 
2
 Pete Daniel, Toxic Drift: Pesticides and Health in the Post-World War II South 
 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2005): 7. 
 207 
 
 
 
treat cotton, but could also protect other agricultural crops as well, such as peach and 
pecan trees, and vegetables.  A business plan, outlined by George B. Post and endorsed 
by Coad, was implemented in Macon, Georgia, in 1925, but proved unsuccessful there, so 
the company relocated to Monroe, Louisiana. Two significant individuals in Delta?s 
evolution, Harold Harris and C. E. Woolman, joined the duster company at this time.  
 Both Harris and Woolman traveled to Peru to secure and operate a dusting 
concession for Huff Daland Dusters. The idea to extend operations south of the equator--
where the seasons are reversed--did not originate with Woolman as is commonly 
understood. A Peruvian planter, Pedro Beltran, representing cotton growers in Peru, came 
to the United States seeking help to counter agricultural pests affecting cotton yields on 
Peru?s haciendas. Coad directed him to the Huff Daland Dusters company, and Woolman 
was sent to Peru to acquire a concession and negotiate contracts.  
When Woolman returned to the United States, Harris took his place and in 1927 
dusted cotton with aircraft, men, and supplies shipped to Peru from the United States. On 
his way home Harris conducted a survey on the status of aviation in Latin America and 
drew up a map of potential air routes that he presented to Juan Trippe and Richard Hoyt 
upon his arrival in New York. Simultaneously, but unknown to Harris, Tripp and Hoyt 
were in the planning stages of Pan American Airways. 
 The tie between the origins of Peruvian Airlines, Panagra, Delta Air Lines, and 
Pan American was confusing. The Delta corporate archives and Harold R. Harris 
collection were invaluable in unraveling the sequence of events. The discussion in 
chapter seven places Woolman?s and Harris?s roles in context. Up to this point Harris 
was the general manager of Huff Daland Dusters, but when he was hired by Trippe his 
 208 
 
 
 
position changed by default. His departure left Woolman nominally in charge. Woolman 
organized Delta Air Service under trying circumstances following Irwin Auerbach?s 
betrayal. From that point forward Woolman?s and Delta?s future were inextricably bound. 
Woolman?s part in Delta?s operations was obscured, however, by the lack of information 
resulting from the lost records of the 1930s. 
 In the year 2029, Delta Air Lines will celebrate its one-hundredth anniversary of 
passenger service. If the past is any indication of the future, the coming years will be as 
turbulent for the company and the industry as it has been from its inception. Indeed, after 
the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 was enacted Thomas Petzinger, in Hard Landing: 
The Epic Contest for Power and Profits That Plunged the Airlines into Chaos, 
underscores the point.
3
 As a final observation this study focuses only on the understanding of Delta?s 
early years up to World War II. It complements the study by historians W. David Lewis 
and Wesley Phillips Newton, Delta: The History of an Airline that tells Delta?s history 
through 1979. A useful addition to the historiography on Delta Air Lines will explore the 
ramifications of deregulation on the airline and the further development of commercial 
aviation.  
 During the deregulated era, in addition to unregulated 
competition, executives have dealt with the controller's strike, recessions, accidents, fuel 
cost spikes, bankruptcies, and wars. The attacks on September 11, 2001, precipitated a 
cycle of distress that drove many airlines out of business and led to Delta?s bankruptcy. 
In 2010 the industry?s recovery remains tenuous. The future is always uncertain and to 
survive Delta will have to adapt and evolve as it has in the past.  
                                                 
3
 Thomas Petzinger, Jr., Hard Landing: The Epic Contest for Power and Profits 
That Plunged the Airlines into Chaos (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1996).  
 
 209 
 
 
 
 In closing, the past eighty-one years have witnessed the evolution of a mega-
carrier from improbable origins. In one year Delta Air Lines will carry more than 160 
million passengers to ?367 destinations in 65 countries on six continents.? Its 70,000 
worldwide employees and more than 700 aircraft operate 13,000 daily flights.
4
                                                 
4
 
 
Remarkably, Delta Air Lines rose from the ground to this status when a small bug 
crossed from Mexico to Texas in 1892. 
http://www.delta.com/about_delta/corporate_information/index.jsp (accessed  
Sept. 5, 2010). 
210 
 
 ` 
 
 
 
 
Bibliography 
 
Primary Sources 
 
Archives: 
 
Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama 
 
Delta Air Lines Corporate Archives, Atlanta, Georgia 
 
Louisiana State University Libraries Special Collections, Baton Rouge 
Collett Everman Woolman Papers, 1916-1979 
 
National Archives and Records Service 
 Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of  
Peru, 1910-1929. Accessed at RBD Library, Auburn University. 
 
Ogdensburg Library Archives, Ogdensburg, New York 
 
Special Collections and Archives, RBD Library, Auburn University, Alabama 
RG 245, Peter Gushue Papers 
 
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Archives 
 Collett Everman Woolman Papers 
 
Wright State University Special Collections and Archives, Dayton, Ohio 
 MS-167, International Cyclopedia of Aviation Biography 
MS-214, Harold R. Harris Papers 
 
 
Interviews: 
 
 
Ball, T. P. Interview by author, Sept. 6, 1995. 
 
Ball, T. P. Interview by author, Oct. 3, 1994. 
 
FitzGerald, Catherine. Interview, John N. White, 1976. 
 
Ford, Arthur. Interview by author, Sept. 5, 1996. 
 
211 
 
Harris, Harold R. Interview by Dr. Lawrence Clayton, Nov. 5, 1979. 
 
Preston, Barbara Woolman. Interview by Wesley Phillips Newton, Dec. 21, 1977. 
 
Preston, Barbara Woolman. Interview, Sept. 27, 1999. 
 
Schwaemmle, Fritz. Interview by Delta Air Lines, Dec. 7, 1973. 
 
Stevens, Eugene. Interview by Larry Michaud, Feb. 1984. 
 
Welch, Virginia P. Interview by author, July 21, 2009. 
 
 
Published Primary Sources: 
 
______. ?Aircraft Declares War on Insects.? The Slipstream Monthly 4 (July  
1923): 14-27. 
 
______. Aircraft Yearbook 1923. New York: Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of  
America, Inc. 1923. 
 
Coad, B.R. ?Relation of the Arizona Wild Cotton Weevil to Cotton Planting in the Arid 
West.? Bulletin of the USDA 233 (May 27, 1915): 1-12. 
 
Coad, B. R., E. Johnson, and G. L. McNeil, ?Dusting Cotton From Airplanes.? USDA 
Department Bulletin 120. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 
1924. 
 
Coad, B. R. Testimony, Jan. 28, 1924, U.S. Congress, House, Subcommittee on  
Appropriations, Agricultural Appropriations Bill, 1925, Hearings, 68th Congress, 
1st. Sess. Washington, D.C.: Government printing Office, 1924. 165. 
 
Coad, B. R. Testimony, May 8, 1924, U.S. Congress, Senate Subcommittee on  
Appropriations Bill 1925, Hearings, 68th Congress, 1st. Sess. Washington, D.C.: 
Government Printing Office, 1924. 157. 
 
Brown, J. J. ?Annual Report of Georgia Department of Agriculture for 1924.? Georgia 
Department of Agriculture 99 (First Quarter 1925). 
 
Brown, J. J. ?Biannual Report of Georgia Department of Agriculture for 1925-1926.? 
Georgia Department of Agriculture 103 (First Quarter 1927). 
 
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