"No
one person is an airline. An airline is a team. It must be friendly, courteous,
cooperative, efficient and bound as closely as a devoted family." – C.E.
Woolman, founder of Delta Air Lines
CARR-WOOLMAN FLIGHT APPRECIATION CENTER
Welcome
to the Carr-Woolman Flight Appreciation Center. This site is dedicated to one
of the passions of my life, aviation, and specifically the airline industry. I
named it for two of the pioneers of American civil aviation, Hal N. Carr and
C.E. Woolman. These men led my two favorite airlines of all-time. Mr. Carr led
the late, great North Central Airlines and Mr. Woolman led Delta Air
Lines.
Mr.
Carr took a fledgling regional airline and built into one of the nation’s
leading regional carriers in the 1970s. He then went onto help amalgamate a
number of regionals into Republic Airlines, which was for a time, the nation’s
largest airline. Sadly, to me, Republic was lost into merger with Northwest
Airlines. Republic was a victim of over expansion in the early 80s era of
de-regulation.
Mr.
Woolman’s legacy begins with purchasing a crop dusting service, turning it into
a mail service and then passenger service. He carefully grew Delta from its
roots covering routes from east Texas to Georgia in the 1930s. He stewarded
Delta’s reach beyond America’s south though the mid-1960s. While he stepped
away from day to day operations as Delta headed into the late 1960s, his
imprint on the “Delta Family” continued. While there is debate inside and
outside of Delta as to how much of this family spirit is still there, in my
experiences it largely is. It is what makes Delta so rare. I hope the infusion
of Northwest people, only strengthens the family, especially those who go back
to Republic Airlines.
I
look upon the recent merger of Northwest into Delta as the two legacies having
joined, in fact. I am glad to see the corporate DNA of North Central and
Republic now merged into Delta. As a fan of both, it is practically the best of
both worlds. Seeing the image of a once, North Central DC-9 now in Delta livery
was very cool for me to see. Now,
if only Delta could have the widget and Herman the duck on the plane, that
would be airline nirvana for me.
If
you look to the left of the page you see the CFAC divided into concourses with
gates (links) to sites about Delta, North Central and other airlines of the
past and present that I have an interest in. If you put your cursor over a
gate, you will see a description of the destination.
On the right, you will see connections to sites that
will help you learn more about aviation. Visit the Control Tower to find out
more about the technical and business sides of aviation. Go to the Passenger
Information Desk for the latest on the ins and outs of airline travel. My lists in all areas are by no means
comprehensive, but I think are a good selection to help you learn more about
the world of aviation. I hope you enjoy the Carr-Woolman Flight Appreciation
Center. Welcome Aboard.
Great job Tim! I'll be checking it regularily...:) Peder
Posted by: Peder Flaten | March 09, 2009 at 11:37 PM