Empire Air Lines Pilot Wing 1st Issue

Seattle, WA 1946-1952

There have been several airlines carrying this name, but this was the first one.  Empire was founded as Zimmerly Air Lines on 1 April 1944 with a modest fleet of three Boeing 247s.  Scheduled services were flown from Boise to Lewiston, Pocatello and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The name was changed to Empire Air Lines on 1 March 1946. In 1946 Zimmerly was bought by Empire Air Lines and renamed Empire Air Lines based in Seattle, WA. The airline merged into West Coast Airlines in 1952, then later to Air West, then to Hughes Air West, then to Republic and they merged with Northwest Airlines which merged with Delta Airlines in 2008.