Western Airlines was a major airline in the United States based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and Nassau. Western had hubs at Los Angeles International Airport, Salt Lake City International Airport, and the former Stapleton International Airport in Denver. Before it merged with Delta Air Lines in 1987 it was headquartered at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Throughout the company's history, its slogan was "Western Airlines...The Only Way to Fly!"
Boise Airport is a joint civil-military airport in the western United States in Idaho, three miles (5 km) south of downtown Boise in Ada County. The airport is operated by the city of Boise Department of Aviation, overseen by an airport commission. The busiest airport in the state, it serves more passengers than all other Idaho airports combined and roughly ten times as many passengers as the next busiest airport at Idaho Falls.
Walter Thomas Varney was an American aviation pioneer who founded forerunners of two major U.S. airlines, United Airlines and Continental Airlines, which combined under United Continental Holdings long after his death. Varney was also one of the most prominent airmail contractors of the early 20th century.
The Air Mail scandal, also known as the Air Mail fiasco, is the name that the American press gave to the political scandal resulting from a 1934 congressional investigation of the awarding of contracts to certain airlines to carry airmail and the subsequent disastrous use of the U.S. Army Air Corps to fly the mail after the contracts were revoked.
Elko Regional Airport, formerly Elko Municipal Airport, is a mile west of downtown Elko, in Elko County, Nevada, United States.
Pueblo Memorial Airport is a public airport located six miles east of Pueblo, in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. It is primarily used for general aviation.
Robert Forman Six was the CEO of Continental Airlines from 1936 to 1980. Beginning his career in the early days of commercial aviation in the United States, his time as Continental Airlines CEO saw it become one of the largest and most profitable legacy airlines in the world.
The Aviator is a 1985 American aviation adventure drama film directed by George T. Miller and starring Christopher Reeve and Rosanna Arquette.
The Boeing Model 40 was a United States mail plane of the 1920s. It was a single-engined biplane that was widely used for airmail services in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s, especially by airlines that later became part of United Airlines. It became the first aircraft built by the Boeing company to carry passengers.
Pacific Air Transport was an early US airline, formed in 1926 for carrying mail as well as passengers. It was acquired two years later by Boeing Air Transport.
National Air Transport was a large United States airline; in 1930 it was bought by Boeing. The Air Mail Act of 1934 prohibited airlines and manufacturers from being under the same corporate umbrella, so Boeing split into three smaller companies, one of which is United Airlines, which included what had been National Air Transport.
Leon Dewey "Lee" Cuddeback flew the first scheduled, civilian Air Mail flight in the United States on April 6, 1926. He did so as chief pilot of Varney Air Lines. His route began in Pasco, Washington, had a stop in Boise, Idaho, and terminated in Elko, Nevada. Because the start of the contract air mail system is considered the beginning of airline service, Cuddeback's flight is cited as the first U.S. airline flight, and is also celebrated as the "birthday" of United Airlines.
The Boeing Model 95 was a single engine biplane mailplane built by Boeing in the United States in the late 1920s to supplement the Boeing Model 40s being used on Boeing's airmail routes.
United States airmail was a service class of the United States Post Office Department (USPOD) and its successor United States Postal Service (USPS) delivering air mail by aircraft flown within the United States and its possessions and territories. Letters and parcels intended for air mail service were marked as "Via Air Mail", appropriately franked, and assigned to any then existing class or sub-class of the Air Mail service.
The Stearman M-2 Speedmail was a mail-carrier aircraft produced by the Stearman Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas. It first flew in January 1929. The Speedmail was a single-seat biplane, with two large cargo compartments in place of a front cockpit. The fuselage and tail unit were constructed from welded chrome-moly steel tube faired with wooden formers and fabric covered aft of the pilot's cockpit, and detachable aluminium alloy panels covered the fuselage forward of the cockpit. The wings were constructed from spruce spars and plywood built-up ribs, all fabric covered. It differed from previous Stearman aircraft by having a tailwheel instead of a tailskid due to its size and weight.
Ford Air Transport Service is a defunct airline based in United States of America. The airline was also registered as Ford Air Freight Lines.
United Airlines is the third largest airline in the world, with 92,795 employees and 945 aircraft. It was the brainchild of William Boeing and emerged from his consolidation of numerous carriers and equipment manufacturers from 1928 to 1930.
National Parks Airways was an airline operating in the US states of Idaho, Montana, and Utah in the 1920s and 1930s.
Roy Herbert Warner was an American farmer, navy sailor, army soldier, army pilot, airmail pilot, Royal Air Force pilot, and one of ten recipients of the Airmail Flyers' Medal of Honor.
The Air Mail Act of 1925, also known as the Kelly Act, was a key piece of legislation that intended to free the airmail from total control by the Post Office Department. In short, it allowed the Postmaster General to contract private companies to carry mail. The Act was sponsored by Pennsylvania representative Clyde Kelly, and became legislation in February that year.
