Varney Air Lines was an airline company that started service on April 6, 1926, as an
air-mail carrier. Formed by
Walter Varney
Walter Thomas Varney (December 26, 1888 – January 25, 1967) and Continental Airlines,Continental Airlines WebsiteCompany History 1934 to 1958/ref> which combined under United Continental Holdings long after his death.
Varney was also one of the ...
, the airline was based in
Boise, Idaho
Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...
, United States. The airline is one of the predecessors of
United Airlines
United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. .
Historical background
![Walter T](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Walter_T._Varney%2C_founder_of_United_and_Continental_Airlines%2C_1921.jpg)
In 1925, the Congress passed HR 7064 entitled ''"An Act to encourage commercial aviation and to authorize the Postmaster General to contract for Air Mail Service"'' (aka "The
Kelly Act
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 ...
") which directed the
U.S. Post Office Department
The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, in the form of a Cabinet department, officially from 1872 to 1971. It was headed by the postma ...
to contract with private airlines to carry the mail over designated routes many of which connected with the Government operated Transcontinental Air Mail route between New York and San Francisco. Varney won the contract for CAM-5 as the only bidder. Boise Postmaster L.W. Thrailkill had the vision that brought the city into the aerial age. He heard about the proposed northwest route and Varney’s plan and quickly drew up a petition and got signatures from three dozen postmasters from the towns surrounding Boise. Its first flight under contract with the USPOD was from
Pasco, Washington
Pasco ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Franklin County, Washington, United States. It had a population of 59,781 at the 2010 census, and 75,432 as of the July 1, 2019 Census Bureau estimate.
Pasco is one of three cities (the others b ...
to
Elko, Nevada with an intermediate stop in Boise. That air freight contract grew into the birth of one of the world’s biggest airlines.
Pasco at the time was a rail center, more or less midway between
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, and
Spokane
Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...
. Mail trains leaving those cities in the evening arrived in Pasco early the next morning. Mail could be transferred to and from the biplanes cutting coast to coast delivery by days. This was the logic for basing the CAM service in Pasco.
First flight
Pilot
Leon D. Cuddeback Leon Dewey "Lee" Cuddeback (May 16, 1898 – July 6, 1984) flew the first scheduled, civilian Air Mail (Contract Air Mail) flight in the United States[Pasco, Washington
Pasco ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Franklin County, Washington, United States. It had a population of 59,781 at the 2010 census, and 75,432 as of the July 1, 2019 Census Bureau estimate.
Pasco is one of three cities (the others b ...]
. Between 4,000 and 6,000 cheering people sent the pilot off with of mail. Cuddeback flew a Curtiss powered ''Laird Swallow'' biplane with a top speed of .
The first westbound flight that afternoon was much less successful, however, as it was forced 75-miles off course by a storm en route from
Elko, Nevada, to
Boise, Idaho
Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...
, before making a forced landing near
Jordan Valley, Oregon
Jordan Valley is a city in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Ontario, OR– ID Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies along Jordan Creek, a tributary of the Owyhee River; the creek is named for a 19th-century pr ...
. The mail plane and its pilot, Franklin Rose, remained missing for two days until pilot Rose finally managed to reach a telephone on April 8 after carrying the of mail for many miles out of the wilderness by foot and later on a horse borrowed from a farmer. The westbound flown mail finally arrived at the post office in Pasco late on the morning of April 9, three days after leaving Elko.
Later history
Varney added a
Breese-Wilde Model 5
The Breese-Wilde 5 is a custom-built high-wing monoplane that was produced for and used in the Dole Air Derby of 1927.
Design
The aircraft were conventional geared high-wing aircraft, powered with a Wright Whirlwind J-5 engine.
Operational h ...
and replaced its original Swallows with C-3 Stearmans and thereafter upgraded as new equipment became available. Subsequent aircraft included the larger M-2 "Bull" Stearman and the
Boeing 40
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 Airlin ...
dedicated mail planes, and finally the more modern
Boeing 247
The Boeing Model 247 is an early United States airliner, and one of the first such aircraft to incorporate advances such as all-metal ( anodized aluminum) semimonocoque construction, a fully cantilevered wing, and retractable landing gear. twin-engine monoplane. Arriving in 1933, the 247 greatly expanded Varney's ability to carry passengers as well as mail.
Varney soon added
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
,
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
and
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
to its route.
In 1930, Varney was acquired by
United Aircraft and Transport Corporation
The United Aircraft and Transport Corporation was formed in 1929, when William Boeing of Boeing Airplane & Transport Corporation teamed up with Frederick Rentschler of Pratt & Whitney to form a large, vertically-integrated, amalgamated firm, ...
, itself formed by a merger of
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
and
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, and folded into its airlines group along with the other acquired airlines:
Pacific Air Transport
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.
Early history
Pacific Air Transport (PAT) was formed in January 1926 by Vern C. Gorst ...
,
Boeing Air Transport
United Airlines is the third largest airline in the world, with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Airlines Holdings) and 721 aircraft. It was the brainchild of William Boeing and emerged from his consolidation of n ...
, and
National 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, ...
In 1934, the
Air Mail scandal
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 ...
resulted in the passage of the
Air Mail Act
The Air Mail scandal, also known as the Air Mail fiasco, is the name that the American news media, press gave to the political scandal resulting from a 1934 United States Congress, congressional investigation of the awarding of contracts to cert ...
which forbade aircraft manufacturers from operating airlines. As a result United Aircraft and Transport Corporation was broken up. The airlines group became
United Airlines
United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. . Since Varney was a part of United, the founding year of United is 1926, and making United the oldest commercial airline in the United States.
United Airlines started jet service to Boise on October 16, 1964, and is the only airline to serve Boise continuously since 1933. With the Beeson terminal remodeling at the airport, the last Varney building was torn down in 2002.
Continental Airlines
Following cancellation of all domestic airmail contracts by the
Roosevelt
Roosevelt may refer to:
*Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th U.S. president
* Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd U.S. president
Businesses and organisations
* Roosevelt Hotel (disambiguation)
* Roosevelt & Son, a merchant bank
* Rooseve ...
administration in 1934,
Robert F. Six learned of an opportunity to buy into the Southwest Division of Varney Speed Lines which needed money to handle its newly-acquired Pueblo-El Paso route. Six was introduced to Louis Mueller, who had helped found the Southwest Division of Varney in 1934, and bought into the airline with US$90,000 becoming general manager on July 5, 1936. The carrier was renamed
Continental Air Lines
Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers.
Continental started ...
(later changed to "Airlines") on July 8, 1937.
[Serling, Robert J., Maverick: The story of Robert Six and Continental Airlines (), Doubleday & Company, 1974.][Davies, R.E.G., Continental Airlines: the first fifty years, 1934–1984, Pioneer Publications, 1984.] Six changed the name to "Continental" because he wanted the airline name to reflect his desire to have the airline fly all directions throughout the United States. Decades later, United (the direct successor to Varney) would merge with Continental as well.
[Continental Facts]
." Continental Magazine. July 2009. Retrieved on February 8, 2010.
See also
*
List of companies based in Idaho
This is a list of companies based in Idaho. Idaho is a state in the northwestern region of the United States. It is the 14th largest, the 39th most populous, and the 7th least densely populated of the 50 United States. The United States Census ...
*
Swan Island Municipal Airport
The Swan Island Municipal Airport was a joint civil-military airport that was operational on Swan Island in Portland, Oregon. Though it officially opened in 1927, the United States Postal Service had been using the airfield for a year. After the ...
*
List of defunct airlines of the United States
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
*
* Tillman, Barrett. 'Six Million Miles: The Varney Airlines Story'. Fall, Winter 1971. ''Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society''.
*
United Airlines
United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.
*
Idaho Statesman
The ''Idaho Statesman'' is the daily newspaper of Boise, Idaho, in the western United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company.
History
The paper was first published as the ''Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman'' on July 26, 1864, by James S. Reynolds ...
*
Idaho State Historical Society
The Idaho State Historical Society (ISHS) is a historical society located in the U.S. state of Idaho that preserves and promotes the state's cultural heritage.
The society was founded as the Historical Society of Idaho Pioneers in 1881, nine years ...
*
History Link
HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia of Washington state history. The site has more than 8,100 entries and attracts 5,000 daily visitors. It has 500 biographies and more than 14,000 images.
The non-profit historical organization History Ink prod ...
*
Washington State University
Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...
* Warhawk Air Museum
* Sue Paul
* Roni Adams
{{Portal bar, United States, Companies, Aviation
Defunct airlines of the United States
Defunct companies based in Idaho
Airlines established in 1926
Airlines disestablished in 1934
Companies based in Boise, Idaho
Transportation in Ada County, Idaho
Airlines based in Idaho
American companies established in 1926
American companies disestablished in 1934
1926 establishments in Idaho
1934 disestablishments in Idaho