2-839-627 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Steel tube fuselage with wood wings, all fabric covered, biplane. The Huff-Daland Duster was designed in 1925 for a new method of controlling agricultural insect pests, aerial crop dusting. The Huff-Daland Manufacturing Company modified its sturdy Petrel military biplane with a large hopper for chemicals and spraying equipment and established the nation's first aerial dusting business, Huff-Daland Duster Company of Macon, Georgia and later, Monroe, Louisiana. C.E. Woolman took over the company in 1928 and renamed it Delta Air Service (forerunner of Delta Air Lines) to reflect the addition of mail and passenger service in Travel Airs. The remains of two of the original 18 Dusters stayed in storage until 1967 when Delta Air Lines selected one of them for restoration. Its registration number is unknown.