Archives West Finding Aid

Richard Leferink learned flying during World War I. He continued his love of flying after the war, barn storming or flying cargo for businesses until he had flown in forty-one states and Mexico before he settled in Casper and began Wyoming Air Service, Inc. in 1931. Within eight years he expanded the company, providing mail and passenger service along the Front Range of the Rockies from Pueblo, Colorado, to Billings and Great Falls, Montana; Huron, South Dakota; Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and Alberta, Canada. In 1941, Wyoming Air Service was one of seventeen domestic airlines in the United States.

World War II interrupted domestic, commercial flying service. Leferink sold the company in 1944 to Western Air Lines, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. This collection consists of a scrapbook of newspaper clippings, correspondence, and photographs Leferink kept throughout his flying career. It begins with his entry into World War I and stops once he sold the company. The scrapbook contains many news stories explaining how the company started, how it quickly expanded, and the people involved, from pilots to civic boosters, wanting air service in their communities.