Barnstorming America Part 1Status: Active
Description: Park the heave iron! Here's low and slow. Explore the country side from your favorite classic single engine aircraft!
Participants: 3
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Barnstorming America Part 2Status: Active
Description: Here's Part two of Barnstorming America. Explore the country side from your favourite classic single engine aircraft!
Participants: 1
| | | 1930's U.S. AirmailStatus: Active
Description: Join in on American Airlines 1930's Airmail route!
Airmail: A Brief History
The air mail route is the first step toward the universal commercial use of the
aeroplane.
—Benjamin B. Lipsner, Superintendent of Aerial Mail Service, 19181
When airmail began in 1918, airplanes were still a fairly new invention. Pilots
flew in open cockpits in all kinds of weather, in planes later described as “a
nervous collection of whistling wires, of linen stretched over wooden ribs, all
attached to a wheezy, water-cooled engine.”2 A 1918 article titled “Practical
Hints on Flying” advised pilots “never forget that the engine may stop, and at
all times keep this in mind.”3 Pilots followed landmarks on the ground; in fog
they flew blind. Unpredictable weather, unreliable equipment, and
inexperience led to frequent crashes; 34 airmail pilots died from 1918 through
1927. Gradually, through trial and error and personal sacrifice, U.S. Air Mail
Service employees developed reliable navigation aids and safety features for
planes and pilots. They demonstrated that flight schedules could be safely
maintained in all kinds of weather. Then they created lighted airways and
proved that night flying was possible. Once the Post Office Department had
proven the viability of commercial flight, airmail service was turned over to
private carriers, flying under contract with the Department. In the days before
passenger service, revenue from airmail contracts sustained commercial
airlines.
To read more: https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/airmail.pdf
Participants: 1
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