Bert Zimmerly founded his air transport company in 1938 in Clarkston, Washington, initially focusing on training civilian pilots but in June 1940 expanded his operation with a contract from the War Department and a second school location at LaGrande, Oregon. Zimmerly also conducted fire patrols and support, crop dusting, air ambulance service, and passenger charters during wartime. As military needs wound down, Zimmerly filed with the CAB to launch a scheduled airline, and this got off the ground on October 2, 1945, using a trio of Boeing 247Ds on local service routes in Idaho and eastern Oregon and Washington. Assets of a proposed airline were acquired in September 1946, and Zimmerly adopted its name for the whole organization starting March 1, 1947, as well as a route extension to Spokane, Washington.
Empire upgraded to Douglas DC-3 equipment in 1948. Zimmerly died in an airplane crash in late 1949, and his airline struggled in the years afterward as the territory was light on population and industry – and route development that might have pulled in connecting traffic hit a standstill. Negotiations with neighboring West Coast Airlines were concluded in August 1952, and the merger took place in early 1953.
Our indexing of the NWAHC physical Archive is still in its early stages, so we aren’t certain exactly what issues we hold, if any. Stay tuned!
- November 1, 1950 Empire System Timetable – From Bjorn Larsson’s collection at http://www.timetableimages.com
- March 5, 1949 Empire System Timetable – From David Keller’s collection at airlinetimetables.com
- December 1, 1947 Empire System Timetable – From the Craig Morris collection via http://www.timetableimages.com
- March 1, 1947 Empire System Timetable – From the Craig Morris collection via http://www.timetableimages.com
- October 2, 1945 Zimmerly System Timetable – (First schedule) From the Craig Morris collection via http://www.timetableimages.com
