The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, May 21, 1943, Image 7
THE SUN, NEWBERRY, S. C, MAY 21, 1943
Our Air Mail Observes Its 25th Birthday
THEN—This DeHaviland was built for the First World war, became
a mail plane when the post office department started the (irst coast-to-coast
airway in 1920. Equipped with a 400-horsepower Liberty motor, it carried
its pilot and up to 400 pounds of mail at a cruising speed of around 100
miles an hour. It was an open cockpit job—as was the ancient Model T
in the background!
NOW—This United Air Lines Mainliner, with its two 1,200-horsepower
Pratt and Whitney Wasp engines carries two pilots, a stewardess, up to
21 passengers, baggage, and approximately 2,000 pounds of mail and ex
press at a cruising speed of 200 miles an hour. It flies coast-to-
coast overnight.
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
Released by Western Newspaper Union.
Y OU lived on the Atlantic sea
board and you wanted to
send a letter to a friend out on
the Pacific coast. So you put a
two-cent stamp on it, dropped
it in the mail and about a week
later your friend was reading
what you had written.
That was back in 1918.
Today you put a six-cent (air
mail) stamp on your letter and
the next day the postman hands
it to your friend.
And that, in brief, is the mod
ern version of Aladdin and his
magic carpet which has become
such a commonplace that we
accept it as a matter of course
and never give it more than a
passing thought.
But Uncle Sam thinks we shouldn’t
take it so casually. So this month,
even while he’s busy fighting a global
war, he’s putting on special ceremo
nies to honor the 25th anniversary of
regular air mail service and he’s
signed up a number of pioneer air
mail pilots, army and navy aviation
leaders and others prominent in avi
ation development, to help him in
this nation-wide celebration.
It all began back in May, 1918,
When a group of World War I pilots,
sitting in the open cockpits of Lib
erty-powered DeHavilands, began
flying the first scheduled air mail
service between New York and
Washington. Today, as the nation
observes the 25th anniversary of that
event, air transportation is accom
plishing a job which, even two years
ago, would have seemed impossible
to its most enthusiastic advocates.
The 218-mile air route between New
York and Washington, which in two
decades and a half has developed
into respectable proportions as a
passenger - mail - express network
within the continental United States,
and to foreign lands, suddenly has
become a vast system of scheduled
and unscheduled lines sprawling all
over the face of the globe.
Of course, there were demonstra
tions of the possibilities of delivery
by air even before the 1918 New
York to Washington venture, such as
that of Pilot Earl E. Orvington in
carrying letters between Mineola and
Long Island, N. Y., away back in
1911. But 1918 is now recognized
as the real “birthday” of air mail.
For it was in that year that the post
office department inaugurated the
service in co-operation with the war
department which supplied planes
and pilots.
President Woodrow Wilson was on
hand with a large crowd which saw
the start of the service from Wash
ington’s Potomac park on May 15,
1918. So successful was the experi
ment that the post office department
began making plans for transconti
nental air mail service. It was log
ical that it should project this route
in the air over the mid-continent
pathway which had been used by the
early explorers on foot, the covered
wagon, the Pony Express, the stage
coach and the first transcontinental
railroad.
The Chicago-Cleveland leg of the
route was opened May 15, 1919; the
Cleveland-New York section a month
and a half later, on July 1; the
Chicago-Omaha on May 15, 1920; and
the Omaha-San Francisco on Sep
tember 8, 1920. Thus, in a little over
two years air mail began winging
its way from coast to coast. True, it
had to depend part of the way on
the railroad, for the mail was car
ried by plane only in daytime and
then transferred to trains at night.
But, even so, it cut down the travel
time for letters to approximately
three days.
Looking at this plane-railroad ar
rangement, air mail pioneers said:
“We can’t let air mail grow up with
one foot on the ground! ” So a group
of volunteer post office pilots de
termined to prove the effectiveness
of all-air schedules from the Atlan
tic to the Pacific. On February 22
and 23, 1921, they celebrated George
Washington’s birthday by making
the first through day and night flight
from San Francisco to New York.
That paved the way for the lighting
of the transcontinental airway which
made night flights of mail planes
possible and by July 1, 1924, regular
day and night service had been in
augurated.
A milestone in air mail history
was the transfer of operations from
the post office department to pri
vate companies in 1926 and 1927.
Having proved the practicability of
scheduled air mail service, the post
office department began turning
over routes to private contractors on
open, competitive bidding. Prede
cessor companies of the present-day
United Air Lines — National Air
Transport on the Chicago-New York
section and Boeing Air Transport
on the Chicago-San Francisco sec
tion—took over operation of the na
tion’s first coast-to-coast airline, the
pioneer mid-continent route.
Build Special Planes.
Having won their new air mail
contracts, the newly formed air mail
lines tackled the job with determi
nation and energy. United’s prede
cessor, Boeing Air Transport, for ex
ample, built an entire fleet of 25
special mail planes in just 150 days
THEN—E. Hamilton Lee was one
of the original post office depart
ment pilots on the New York-Wash-
ington air mail route.
NOW—Capt. E. Hamilton Lee is
dean of all air mail pilots with a
record of 3,500,000 miles of flying.
He now flies the San Francisco-Los
Angeles section of United’s Pacific
Coast airway — sometimes accom
panied by his son, Robert E. Lee,
who is a United co-pilot.
to handle the San Francisco-Chicago
operation. In these days of mass
airplane production, that doesn’t
sound so startling, but it was a genu
ine achievement 16 years ago.
Developments on old “U. S. Air
Mail No. 1” between New York and
the Pacific coast were rapid. The
sturdy single-engined mail-two pas
senger Boeing 40s which began the
service were replaced by 12-passen
ger tri-motored Boeing 80s. On the
Chicago-New York route of National
Air Transport, tri-motored Fords
made their appearance. Through
connections of the two companies,
multi-motored coast-to-coast trans
port service was established, also
T.A.T. soon inaugurated its coast-to-
coast rail-air trips.
Among the air mail companies
were several no longer in existence,
including such companies of the past
as Clifford Ball, Inc., Stout Air Serv
ices, Universal Air Lines, Interstate
Airlines, Gulf Air Lines, Maddux Air
Lines and Standard Airlines. Most
of these companies became parts of
larger group systems. The start was
made in the grouping of routes and
companies which resulted in Amer
ican Airlines, TWA, Eastern and
other present major companies. Pan
American got its start as the world’s
greatest overseas operator by flying
from Miami to San Juan, Nassau
and Havana.
One of the greatest technical de
velopments was the adaptation of
radio to airplane use. “Father” of
this far-reaching project was the late
Throp Hiscock of United Air LineS,'
who insisted that two-way radio
telephone communication between
planes and ground stations could be
effected. Through his efforts, in
stallations of two-way radio-tele
phone equipment proceeded on a
large scale in 1929. Pilots and
ground stations were linked by voice
communication to the everlasting
benefit of all scheduled air trans
portation.
Other aids were summoned to add
to the efficiency and reliability of
mail-passenger-express schedules.
Weather reporting services were im
proved, the radio range came along
with its provision of an “aerial high
way,” planes themselves became
more efficient. The Boeing 80s, aft
er five years of meritorious service,
gave way to the Boeing 247s of Unit
ed Air Lines, first all-metal, low-
wing, twin-engined transports in the
country. These 10-passenger, three-
mile-a-minute planes revolutionized
air transportation, introducing new
factors of speed, comfort and all-
around efficiency. Travel time from
coast-to-coast was cut to 19% hours.
Coast-to-Coast Overnight.
Then came the Douglas DC-2—the
speedy Lockheeds and later Doug
las DC-3s and the Lockheed Lode
stars again to spell big gains in
speed, comfort and efficiency.
By the mid-1930s, air mail had be
come a habit with a large part of
the American public. Business and
industry had come to rely on its
speed. Air mail poundage had in
creased year by year, even as air
mail rates had gone down. As
against the 217,000 pounds carried in
1926, 7,400,000 pounds were carried
in 1934. Air mail pound miles per
formed by the nation’s airlines rose
from 6,280,000,000 in 1931 to 22,293,-
000,000 in 1941. Meanwhile, air mail
postage had dropped from 10 cents
for one-half ounce or fraction there
of in 1927 to a flat six cents pel
ounce for the transportation of. a
letter from any place to any place
in the United States.
Starting from the keystone of air
mail, there has been built under pri
vate enterprise in this country the
world’s greatest air transport sys
tem. And that’s one of the reasons
why Uncle Sam looks back so proud- '
ly over his air mail’s epic achieve
ment in the relatively short time of
a quarter of a century!
15,000 TONS OF AIR MAIL—It is estimated that the commercial airlines of the United States will carry
30,000,000 pounds of air mail during 1943. Here’s a part of it being loaded into a coast-to-coast Mainliner.
PATTERNS
S■EWING CIRCLE
8380
34-48
Always Right.
^■EVER a worrisome moment
about your looks when you’re
wearing this flattering princess
house frock.
• • •
Pattern No. 8380 Is In sizes 34, 38, 38,
40, 42, 44, 46 and 48. Size 36 takes, with
short sleeves. 4% yards 35-inch material.
5 yards ric-rac.
Fetching Dress.
7OUNGSTERS will look as pret-
^ ty and graceful as a ballet
ancer in this fetching dress. The
eart shape of the neckline which
ling idea and the profuse use of
ric-rac is certain to delight the
wearer.
* • •
Pattern No. 8358 is In sizes 2, 3, 4. 5
and 6 years. Size 3 takes 1% yards 35-
inch material,
for trimming.
Due to an unusually large demand and
current war conditions, slightly more time
is required in filling orders for a few of
the most popular pattern numbers.
Send your order to:
12 yards ric-rac required
SEWING CIRCLE PATTERN DEPT.
530 South Wells St. Chicago.
Room 1958
Enclose 20 cents in coins for each
pattern desired.
Pattern No Size
Name
Address
Subway Factory
In a London suburb, a large fac
tory making electrical equipment
for aircraft is only 40 feet wide
but seven miles long. It occupies
an unused subway.
ASK Mi 7
AHOWiK!
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
- O- O'- O-
A quiz with answers offering
information on various subjects
1. Are American soldiers bigger
than they were in World War I?
2. Were any Presidents of the
United States baldheaded?
3. What speed does the swing of
a pugilist attain?
4. What is a “Blue Ox”?
5. What possession of the United
States borders on twc oceans?
6. If your ring is stamped 18K,
how much gold does it contain?
7. What is a shibboleth?
8. Which is the world’s largest
cathedral?
9. What street of London com
pares to our LaSalle street or Wall
street?
10. The amount of heat required
to raise the temperature of one
pound of water one degree Fahren
heit is called what?
The Answers
1. Yes. They average two inches
taller and are 14 pounds heavier.
2. The only baldheaded Presi
dent of the United States was John
Quincy Adams.
3. A device that times a pugil
ist’s swing shows that the fastest
punch of most heavyweight boxers
attains a speed of 40 miles an hour.
4. Our fliers call the Norden
bombsight, the secret device that
allows them to do uncanny preci
sion bombing, the “Blue Ox.”
5. Alaska (on the Pacific and
Arctic oceans).
6. An 18K ring contains 75 per
cent of gold.
7. A pet phrase or watchword.
8. St. Peter’s in Rome.
9. Lombard street.
10. A British thermal unit.
When the word went out that
soldiers overseas wanted pack
ages from home—the response -.vas
so overwhelming that Uncle Sam
reluctantly had to call a halt. To
day, due to shipping space, there
are Post Office restrictions on
packages to overseas Army men—
but you can still send packages
to soldiers in the U. S., and to
Sailors, Marines, and Coast
Guardsmen wherever they are.
When you do, remember—one of
their favorite gifts is cigarettes,
and the favorite brand is Camel.
Sales records in Post Exchanges
and Canteens show that Camel
is first choice with men in all the
services. So send him that carton
of Camels today.—Adv.
Happiness as You Travel
Happiness is not a station yoa
arrive at, but a manner of travel
ing.—Margaret Lee Runbeck.
Add Indigestion
Relieved in 5 minutes or doidde money bedi
When excens stomach add causes painful, nuffai^*
fngr eras, sour stomach and heartburn, doctors onnriRp
prescribe the fastest-acting: medicines known tm
symptomatic relief—medicines like those in Pit —
Tablets. No laxative. Bell-ana brings comfort inn
jiffy or double your money back on return of kwMftp
to us. 25c at aH drugguts.
SHAVE with SHELBY*
.AND
BASHES'
SuperficM
Cxternatly
Causey
• RELIEVE the stinging itch—allay
• irritation, and thus quicken healing
Begin to uae soothing Resinol today.
RESINOL
Get Your War Bonds it
★ To Help Ax the Axis
AVegetablb
[Laxative
For Headachy
Sour Stomach
and Qixxa
Spell* wheal
caused by Con
stipation. Use
only at directedL
15 dosea foe
only 18 cent*.
Dr. Hitchcock's
LAXATIVE POWDER
HOW NOT CI V
TO CATCH A lL/
The SHOT GUN METHOD is
the best direct attack with which
to dispose of a fly. A ten gauge
gun and a number six shell wiS
raise havoc with the fly as well
as the neighborhood. Result: a
dead fly usually calls forth an
aroused police department. A
better way is to
Catch ’£#0 w&s
TanglefooT
1 FLYPAPER I
The old reliable that never fails.
Economical, not rationed, for sal*
at drug and grocery stores.
IN THE TANK
FORCES
they say:
"IRON HORSES*
for tanks
"GEAR HAPPY*
for shifting gears too often
"THIN SKINS"
for unarmored trucks
"CAMEL"
for the service man’s favorite c'g.r-eh*
FIRST IN THE SERVICE
With men in the Army, Navy, Marine
A Corps, and Coast Guard, the favorite
cigarette is Camel. (Baaed on wtw.1
sales records in Post Ex
changes and Canteens.)
"camels
ALWAYS
TRAVEL WITH
ME- THEY'VE
GOT WHAT IT
TAKES IN
TACTS AND
MUDHESS. I'VE
SMOKED 'EM
FOR YEARS