Walter Thomas Varney (December 26, 1888 – January 25, 1967)Varney Santa Barbara DCT or Obit
Accessed 21 June 2007 was an American

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

pioneer who founded forerunners of two major U.S. airlines,

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

United Airlines Websit
Era 2: 1926 - 1933
/ref> and

Continental Airlines 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 o ...

,Continental Airlines Website
Company History 1934 to 1958
/ref> which combined under United Continental Holdings long after his death. Varney was also one of the most prominent

airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

contractors of the early 20th century. Varney served as a pilot in the

Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps The Aviation Section, Signal Corps, was the aerial warfare service of the United States from 1914 to 1918, and a direct statutory ancestor of the United States Air Force. It absorbed and replaced the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps, and con ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After the war Varney established an aviation school and air taxi service in northern California.

Aviation career

In October 1925, Varney was awarded one of the first contracts under the recently passed Contract

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 ...

after the determination was made the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

was not suited for air mail flying. He based his operation, Varney Air Service, in

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 ...

, and flew routes between Pasco, and Elko,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, stopping 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 are ...

each way. Varney's first airmail flight took off on April 6, 1926. Varney, following a five-company merger, sold the much expanded Varney Air Group in 1930 to United Aircraft and Transport. The company's name was changed to

United Air Lines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

in 1933. Continental Airlines was founded in 1934 by Varney and his partner Louis Mueller as Varney Speed Lines. On July 15, 1934, Varney Speed Lines flew its first trip on a 530-mile route from

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo () is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, Pueblo County, Colorado ...

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

with stops in

Las Vegas, New Mexico Las Vegas is a city in and the county seat of San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Once two separate municipalities (one a city and the other a town), both were named Las Vegas—West Las Vegas ("Old Town") and East Las Vegas ("New Town" ...

, and Santa Fe and

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

. Varney ceded control to Mueller in 1934, and in 1936 a controlling interest in the company was sold to

Robert Six Robert Forman Six (June 25, 1907 – October 6, 1986) was the CEO of Continental Airlines from 1936 to 1980. His career began in the earliest days of U.S. commercial aviation; his determined, scrappy, risk-taking nature paid off for Continental A ...

who renamed it

in 1937, moving its headquarters to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. In 1932, Varney contributed half of the $40,000 needed to purchase the Lockheed division of

Detroit Aircraft Corporation The Detroit Aircraft Corporation was incorporated in Detroit, Michigan on July 10, 1922, as the Aircraft Development Corporation. The name was changed in 1929. The Detroit corporation owned the entire capital stock of the Ryan Aircraft Corp., Air ...

out of bankruptcy. The company was reorganized in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

as the

Lockheed Aircraft Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer. Lockheed was founded in 1926 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995. Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but o ...

.Aerofiles: A Century of American Aviatio
Lockheed 1 to J
History Notes Varney retired from that company in 1951.

Later years and death

In his later years, Varney suffered from chronic pulmonary emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and valvular heart disease. He lived for a time with the family of his son-in-law, Richard Lambert. He died of bronchial pneumonia on Jan. 25, 1967 at Dani's Nursing Home in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

. He was buried in

Cypress Lawn Memorial Park Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, established by Hamden Holmes Noble in 1892, is a rural cemetery located in Colma, California, a place known as the "City of the Silent". History Cypress Lawn Memorial Park is the final resting site for several memb ...

Colma, California Colma (Ohlone for "Springs") is a small incorporated List of municipalities in California, town in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 1,507 at the 2020 census. The town w ...

in the Varney family plot.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varney, Walter 1888 births 1967 deaths American aviators Continental Airlines people United Airlines people American airline chief executives Deaths from pneumonia in California Deaths from bronchopneumonia Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area Businesspeople from Idaho United States Army personnel of World War I 20th-century American businesspeople