Happy 85th birthday, Delta: Museum reopens to tell airline's story

Happy 85th birthday, Delta: Museum reopens to tell airline’s story

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Vintage flight attendant uniforms are showcased in an exhibit at the Delta museum’s grand reopening. (David Goldman / Associated Press)

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The landing gear of a Northeast Airlines Stinson SR-8E Reliant airplane built in 1936 hangs at the Delta museum. (David Goldman / Associated Press)

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A family examines the engine of a Boeing 767 airplane at the grand opening of the renovated Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta. The museum reopened Tuesday. (David Goldman / Associated Press)

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First-class seats from 1960 are on display at the 68,000-square-foot museum housed in hangars that date to the 1940s. (David Goldman / Associated Press)

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The museum tells the 85-year history of Delta Air Lines. It is housed at the airline’s original Atlanta headquarters.

(David Goldman / Associated Press)

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Model airplanes and vintage flight uniforms document the history of Delta Air Lines.

(David Goldman / Associated Press)

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“This museum is a testament to the rich history and unique culture of Delta, which has always been deeply rooted in our people,” said Richard Anderson, Delta’s chief executive officer, who spoke Tuesday. (David Goldman / Associated Press)

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Elijah Branch, 4, of Atlanta, takes the wheel in the cockpit of a Lockheed L-1011 airplane. (David Goldman / AP)

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Visitors wait in line to enter a Boeing 737-200 flight simulator. (David Goldman / Associated Press)

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Andy Pharo, 2, sits on the shoulders of his father Mark Pharo as they explore a Western Air Express Douglas M-2 model airplane. (David Goldman / Associated Press)

By Mary Forgione

June 18, 2014 7:15 AM PT

Daily Deal and Travel Blogger

It was wheels up Tuesday on the renovated Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta, an attraction dedicated to telling the story of how a rural crop-dusting operation in the South became the modern-day Delta Air Lines.

The carrier operated its first passenger flight from Dallas to Jackson, Miss., on June 17, 1929. Its 85th anniversary was cause enough for a splashy reopening of the nonprofit-run museum at the airline’s original headquarters near Harstfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and Delta’s Chief Executive Richard Anderson took the stage to talk about the carrier’s role in passenger travel and the local community.

“It’s an honor to be here today, both to showcase the rich history of commercial aviation in Georgia and to honor the thousands of people who have worked to make Delta one of the world’s most successful airlines,” the governor told the crowd.

The 68,000-square-foot facility houses five historic planes, including a Travel Air 6B Sedan similar to the one used in Delta’s first flight, a Boeing 767 and a DC-3. It also has a Boeing 737-200 full-motion simulator for pilot training that visitors can try out. There’s also an exhibit dedicated to C.E. Woolman, Delta’s founder.

Vintage suits and clothing worn by cabin crew members, first-class seats from airplanes (wow, orange? really?), and other memorabilia such as model planes also are on exhibit. The museum, formerly known as the Delta Heritage Museum, opened in 1995 but underwent an extensive yearlong renovation.

It was redone with a $6.3-million grant from the Delta Air Lines Foundation, according to the airline.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays (closed Wednesdays) and noon-4:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets cost $12 for adults and $6 for children 5 to 17 years old. It costs $395 plus tax for up to four people to try out the full-motion flight simulator (ages 16 and older only).

Info: Delta Flight Museum, (404) 715-7886

Happy 85th birthday, Delta: Museum reopens to tell airline’s story

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