Skip to main content

Archives at The Museum of Flight


Western Airlines

 Organization

Dates

  • Existence: 1925 - 1987

Historical Note

Western Airlines was a major United States airline from 1925 to 1987. It first incorporated in 1925 as Western Air Express. The company reincorporated in 1928 as Western Air Express Corp. and was then purchased by Standard Air Lines in 1930 and merged with Transcontinental Air Transport to form Trans World Airlines (TWA). In 1934, Western Air Express was severed from TWA and briefly changed its name to General Air Lines, but then returned to the name Western Air Express after several months. It merged with National Parks Airways in 1937. In 1941, Western Air Express changed its name to Western Air Lines (WAL) and later to Western Airlines. The airline ceased operations in 1987 when it merged with Delta Air Lines.

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

Arthur Wayne Byron Airline Pilot Collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 2009-06-05
Contents of the Collection The Arthur Wayne Byron Airline Pilot Collection is comprised of primarily textual materials with some photographs that document Byron's commercial pilot career with Western Airlines and Delta Airlines. Materials date from mid-1940s through the 1980s.Textual materials include pilot logs dating from 1955-1987; organizational records for Western Airlines, including documents related to the merger of Western Airlines and Pacific Northern Airlines in 1967, as well as the merger of...
Dates: circa 1940s-1980s

Larry Michelsen Pacific Northern Airlines textual materials

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 1985-02-20
Contents of the Collection The Larry Michelsen Pacific Northern Airlines (PNA) textual materials is a small collection of assorted newspaper clippings about PNA, circa 1959 and a photocopy of a merger decision for Western-Pacific Northern by the Civil Aeronautics Board, 1967. Many of the clippings are from unidentified newspapers, although some include identifying information. The materials are bound in a booklet with a front label, "Western-Pacific Northern Merger - Art Quinn." It is unknown who collected the...
Dates: 1959-1967

The Museum of Flight | 9404 E. Marginal Way South | Seattle WA 98108-4097 | 206-764-5874
Contact us with a research request
curator@museumofflight.org