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Pilot Behncke and ALPA
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Commercial pilot Dave Behnke, who later headed Airline Pilots Association, signing for a load of airmail. After service as a pilot during World War I, Behnke, a native of Cambria, worked for a number of airlines that served the Chicago-Minneapolis routes. Concerned about the safety conditions he experienced and the salaries of commercial pilots, Behnke became a leader in organizing the Airline Pilots' Association (ALPA) in 1932. Dave Behnke served as ALPA president until 1951.
1920
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Physical Description
Collection Information
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W013IFM
WHi 10549
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Air Mail Begins
November 22, 1927
Souvenir envelope mailed by John A. Lester on the flight that inaugurated air mail service between Madison and Minneapolis in 1927. Madison's first incoming airmail consignment from Chicago and Mil...
Pilot "Cash" Chamberlain
1929
Commercial pilot C.B. "Cash" Chamberlain posed with a Hamilton Metalplane owned by Universal Airlines. Chamberlain began his flying career with the Walter Liskowitz airline company of Waukesha. Lat...
Northwest Airlines DC-3
1936
Passengers boarding a Northwest Airlines DC-3 at Madison Municipal Airport. When this airplane was photographed for the WPA by Harold Hone, the DC-3, one of the most important airplanes in the hist...
Walter's Airline
1925
Walter Liskowitz of Waukesha in his two-place Standard. This photograph was taken shortly after he organized Walter's Airline to provide service to Chicago. Apparently he also found that his airpla...
Northwest Airways Air Mail Delivery
July 1, 1933
A Northwest Airways crew delivers a bag of airmail to Madison postmaster W.A. Devine. With him, posed in front of the Ford TriMotor, are pilots Elmer Wahl (left) and Lee Smith. A passenger can be s...
