The city has quite a connection to aviation history. Delta Air Lines (originally Delta Air Service then Delta Air Corporation) was formed in Monroe in 1928 with the purchase of the local crop-dusting company Huff Daland Dusters; the fleet eventually began passenger and mail service. During World War II, Monroe’s Selman Field Navigation School was the country’s largest such school, graduating more than 15,000 navigators. In the late 1940s Monroe gained a very storied aviator as a resident—Lt. Gen. Claire Chennault. His military accomplishments included his role in helping to persuade President Franklin Roosevelt to send volunteer American pilots to assist China in its battle against Japan as well as becoming the leader of the Flying Tigers and the U.S. 14th Air Force. Chennault lived in Monroe until his death in 1958. Learn More...