All American Aviation was an airline company founded by Lytle Schooler Adams in 1937. It evolved over the decades to become Allegheny Airlines, then USAir and subsequently US Airways, with the latter's merger with American Airlines in 2013 creating the largest airline in the world.[1]
History
All American Aviation was founded in 1937 as a patent holding company. Its sister company, Tri-State Aviation, was founded on the same date, serving as the physical operating company. Founder Lytle Schooler Adams was the first president of both companies.
Adams had started experimenting with an airmail pick-up system in 1927, developing numerous patents on the system, which he rolled into All American Aviation in 1937. Initial flights of the airline pick-up service were made by a Stinson Reliant single engine high-wing monoplane. Mail containers were suspended from ropes or cables suspended from two poles. The aircraft swooped down with a suspended hook hanging below and snagged the rope or cable. This was further developed in a system that could pick up personnel.
The du Pont family brothers Richard C. du Pont and Alexis Felix du Pont, Jr. bought stock in the company in 1938—on the same date as a bill was passed in Congress to enable the