U.S. Government flown air mail On February 18, 1911,
Fred J. Wiseman transported two letters to
Santa Rosa, California Postmaster H.l. Tripp from
Petaluma, California Postmaster John Olmsted. When the letters arrived, Fred became the pilot who carried the first airmail sanctioned by a U.S. postal authority. The first scheduled US airmail service connected Washington, D.C., and New York. This 218-mile route was designed by
Augustus Post, the Secretary of the
Aero Club of America, who had served as an assistant to
Alexander Graham Bell's
Aerial Experiment Association in 1908 and was newly returned from special military service training aviators in Britain and France. The route was the first step in establishing a transcontinental route by air. Transcontinental air service was the best opportunity for airmail to provide faster service at lower cost than the existing railroads. Routes like
College Park, Maryland to New York were only slightly faster than the railroad, but were a good laboratory for developing safe and reliable airmail operations. Throughout the airmail's planning, the US was preparing to fight World War I and this exposed deep flaws in American airpower including obsolete aircraft and too few pilots, both in quality and quantity. As a result, Post Office and military officials believed airmail could increase the speed of communication while also improving military pilots. By flying the mail, novice pilots would develop their long-distance flying skills including aerial navigation. The first scheduled U.S. Air Mail service began on May 15, 1918, using six converted
United States Army Air Service Curtiss JN-4HM "Jenny" biplanes flown by Army pilots under the command of Major
Reuben H. Fleet and operating on a route between
Washington, D.C. (Washington Polo Grounds) and
New York City (
Belmont Park) with an intermediate stop in
Philadelphia (Bustleton Field). Among those who were on hand for the departure of the first flight from Washington, D.C., were
President Woodrow Wilson,
U.S. Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Franklin D. Roosevelt. Army 2nd Lt. George L. Boyle was selected to pilot aircraft #38262 on the first northbound flight which, unfortunately, turned out to be a somewhat less than successful initial venture. Almost immediately after taking off at 11:47 AM, Boyle became disoriented and started flying South when he followed the wrong set of railroad tracks out of the city. Realizing that he was lost, Boyle attempted to find out where he was by making an unscheduled landing just 18 minutes later at 12:05 PM in
Waldorf, Maryland, about 25 miles south of the city. Unfortunately, however, he broke the prop on his airplane when he made a hard landing, so the 140 pounds of mail he was carrying had to be trucked back to Washington. However aviators 1st Lt. Torrey H. Webb and 2nd Lt.
James C. Edgerton completed the scheduled southbound relay with 144 pounds of mail, and Edgerton then flew Boyle's mail to Philadelphia the following day. The site of the first continuously scheduled air mail service is marked by a plaque in
West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C.. The route was extended to
Boston three weeks later on June 4. After four months of the mail being flown by the Army, all flight operations were taken over by the USPOD's Aerial Mail Service on August 12, 1918, using a fleet of six purpose built
JR-1B mail biplanes designed and constructed by the
Standard Aero Corporation of
Elizabeth, New Jersey, and flown by civilian pilots hired by the Post Office Department. After a number of "pathfinder" flights made in September, November, and early December, the first flight providing scheduled east–west service between New York and Chicago occurred on December 17, 1918. Flight operations moved nine miles northeast to the
College Park Air Field. Already a proven airfield for training military pilots between 1909–1911 and with active civilian flight operations in 1918, it was already a functioning field requiring minimal modification for airmail operations. In fact, College Park was the preferred location when Major Rueben Fleet scouted locations for the Army airmail. However, officials chose the Polo Grounds for its proximity to the White House and Congress. In 1919, the Post Office built a new hangar and a "compass rose" at College Park (both still exist today). The compass rose was a concrete compass in the ground to continuously display true north. At the time, airplane compasses needed to be calibrated before every flight. Pilots lined up their planes on the roses’ north-south directional axis to check their compass’ accuracy. This was a temporary solution until better instruments and navigation systems were developed for aircraft. While the role of the DC-NY route was to create an organization and develop reliable operations, the long-term success in aviation both economically and velocity required it to expand across the continent. In 1921, postal officials closed the College Park airmail station to focus on routes where airmail was clearly superior in speed and cost to the railroad. However, the field remained home to researchers, inventors, and businesses focused on developing commercial aviation.
Air mail franking The original air mail letter rate per ounce between any two points on the route when service began was 24 cents per ounce for which the first special-purpose U.S. air mail stamp (C-3) was issued on May 13, 1918. The red and blue stamp's vignette depicted Army JN-4 #38262, the aircraft that made the first airmail flight from Washington two days later, and the 24 cent fee it represented was apportioned at two cents for postage, 12 cents for air service, and 10 cents for Special Delivery. On July 15 the rate was dropped to 16 cents for the first ounce and 6 cents for each additional ounce, and on December 15 the rate was dropped again to 6 cents per ounce when Special Delivery was made optional.
Additional monochromatic stamps of similar design to C-3 were also issued contemporaneously with these rate changes in 16-cent (green) and 6-cent (orange) denominations. Although these extra fee stamps were issued for use on mails to be serviced by air, the legend "AIR MAIL" did not appear on any USPOD stamp until eight years later when the 10-cent C-7 rectangular was issued on February 13, 1926, two days before the first ever mail flight under
contract with a commercial carrier was made on February 15, an eastbound trip between Detroit and Cleveland over CAM Route 7.
Air mail strike Angered by the insistence of Second Assistant United States Postmaster General
Otto Praeger that they fly their routes on time even in
zero visibility conditions in order to maintain fixed schedules or be fired – a policy that had resulted in 15 crashes and two fatalities in the previous two weeks alone – U.S. Airmail Service pilots began a spontaneous strike on July 22, 1919. After Preager and the United States Post Office Department received much negative comment in the press, the strike ended in less than a week, on July 26, 1919, when the Post Office Department agreed that officials in Washington, D.C., would no longer insist on pilots flying in dangerous weather conditions.
Transcontinental air mail Scheduled transcontinental air mail service flown between New York (Hazelhurst Field, L.I.) and San Francisco (Marina Field ) began on September 8, 1920, over a route laid out in July and August by
Eddie Rickenbacker and
Bert Acosta who had helped pilot the first experimental through flight carrying about 100 letters which landed at Durant Field located at 82nd Ave and E. 14th St. in East Oakland. The transcontinental mails were originally flown only during daylight hours while being entrained at night, although on February 22, 1921, a nighttime leg on this route (Omaha to Chicago) was flown for the first time with
Jack Knight as the pilot. The first daily Transcontinental Air Mail service involving both day and night flying over the entire route was opened on July 1, 1924, which reduced the time of the trip from more than 70 hours to a schedule of 34 hours 46 minutes Westbound, and 32 hours 3 minutes Eastbound.. In addition to New York and San Francisco, the route included thirteen intermediate stops where mails were exchanged and aircrew relieved. This was accomplished at airfields located at
Bellefonte (PA),
Cleveland (OH),
Bryan, (OH),
Chicago (IL),
Iowa City (IA),
Omaha (NE),
North Platte (NE),
Cheyenne (WY),
Rawlins (WY),
Rock Springs (WY),
Salt Lake City (UT),
Elko (NV) and
Reno (NV). During this time, a series of
navigational beacons were constructed across the country to help guide pilots delivering air mail. They were placed about 25 miles apart from each other, and included large concrete arrows with accompanying lights to illuminate them. ==Shift to commercially flown air mail==