opment of America’s Fastest Postal Transportation; New York. Washington Route Was First By JOSEPH W. LaBINE The scene was Mineola, N. Y. The date, sometime hetween September 23 and 30, 1911. An excited postmaster lifted his eyes to the heavens and saw mail pouches plummet toward him from the cockpit of an early model army airplane. That was the start of air mail, a national institution which currently observes its twentieth birthday anniversary. Officially, air mail dates back to May 15, 1918, when the first scheduled flight was made between New York and Washington under post- office department supervision. But in 1911 the intrepid Earle Ovington made history by carrying about 37,000 pieces of mail from Nassau boulevard airport, Long Island, to Mineola, where he dropped the pouches and flew back home. In 1911—and even in 1918—it was considered an imprac- tical stunt. Today, in 1938, giant silver airliners glide to every corner of the nation day and night, carrying the writ- ten word of man to distant destinations in incredibly fast time. Last year 760,000,000 letters were flown by a service which has become an all-im-# portant factor in American business and industry. in DH-4s and ing between Cleve Such an institution woul ig hing bring ; man Wise cong pose the c f craft. But also have had he realized fronting av fore it reach velopment. For smooth route t¢ joy named rose Night Flying Experiments, was davlight flving ne- ress arria v W I prematurel air and has weathered vere than the mountain nigh has seen the flus} cess, as in mail brought 1,000 miles tra has 1933, ment canc cause a few swallowed wh “ wien War Speeded Air Mail, The World war sped air mail because aircraft hz used so successfully in France. In the beginning the postoffi partment had complete over the work and army de- )ervision fliers in weather. Even the next pilot had left the airport. Knight, realizing the flight's im- portance, volunteered to take off for Chicago, a route he had never be- fore flown, and under difficult weather conditions. He took off for Des Moines, passed over that city without incident and headed for Iowa City where he was due to take gas. Storms and low visibility ham- pered him until he reached Iowa City, where he circled 20 minutes seeking the airport. The field crew there had been told the flight was cancelled at Omaha and had left for home. Only a blessed watchman was on duty and he finally heard Knight's motor, igniting a flare to help the beleaguered pilot land. His gas supply replenished, he headed for Chicago to complete the most flight in air mail's his tory. The system began n. To supply army planes handled the tation. But late in ranspor- affiliation and bought its own planes As in 1938, the economic rule gov- erning air expansion in 1918 is that such service becomes a nec- essary utility when it operates be- tween points farther apart than a night's journey by train. With that in mind the postoffice department began planning a transcontinental route from Atlantic to Pacific. This job was flavored with the pioneer- ing spirit of America’s first trans- continental railroad or her coast-to- coast telephone and telegraph sys- tems. It was a challenge to the in- genuity of clear-visioned modern pi- oneers. 1 mail The route was composed of four distinct sections. The first, flown May 15, 1919, was between Cleve- land and Chicago. established July 1, 1919, between Cleveland and New York. On the anniversary of the first section, May 15, 1920, the third division was opened between Chicago and Oma- ha. And the following September 8 the fourth section between Omaha and San Francisco was inaugurated. It sounds simple and matter-of- fact, but many a grim faced pio- neer pilot acquired the lines of age during that short span of years. Such famous pioneers as Jack Knight and E. Hamilton Lee became identified with the game—Knight fly- ¥ Jack Knight, one of air mail's pioneer pilots, as he appeared in the aviator’s costume of 15 years ago, shortly after his epochal night flight from Omaha to Chicago. Knight, now retired from active flying, is with United Airlines in Chicago. | $3.00 a pound for ti miles gressive popularize the systen Profits Excessive. | Changes were soon made to pro- | vide for the granting of air mail | “certificates’’ which permitted car- riers to apply for contracts By | 1930 profits became excessive, ac- cording to the and charges were changed from a poun basis to the space-mile basis riers were further ordered to all available space with passengers, amounting to government subsidy o passenger traffic In 1833 came the dark hour for commercial aviation, when four ma- | jor companies emerged through a merger of operators. It had been expected that the act of 1930 would produce keen bidding for but the mergers resulted major operators in turn entered gentlemen's agreements about which routes each should seek That state of affairs led to can- cellation of all air mail contracts by the post office department in February, 1933. The army air corps was ordered to fly the mail. But army pilots were ill trained for tation. For several years the post- office department conducted experi- ments in night flying with radio, ra- dio beams and airway lights. On July 1, 1924, the first scheduled night | flight was successfully completed, but as early as 1921 a day-nigh flight was made across the nent to demonstrate its practicabili- ty to congress. Behind this venture was Otto Praeger, former assistant postmas- ter general who pioneered the ex- pansion of aviation. Praeger felt a day-night flight would win congress over to the value of a progressive view on air mail At 4:30 a. m., February 22, 1921, an eastbound plane left San Francisco loaded with mail that landed in New York city at 4:50 p. m. the following day. Trouble Over Iowa City. It was on the central portion of this flight that Jack Knight ran into such trouble as had seldom plagued an air mail pilot, but he came through with flying colors to give day-night flying a good name. Knight's portion of the flight was from North Platte to Omaha. The ship reached Omaha at midnight and Knight was told the hop to Chi- cago was canceled because of bad Immediately advertising conti- government, contracts the into and cross-country and instrument flying. Twelve deaths and great loss of property resulted during the tragic experiment. Aviation's story since the 1933 af. fair is a complex one, filled with legislative investigation and new congressional acts. It will suffice that public denunciation of the gov- ernment’s unsuccessful operation resulted in a return of contracts to private operators under conditions | more satisfactory from a mutual standpoint. Rates Have Dropped. Today the United States probably has an air mail service | to that of any other nation in speed, | dependability and economy. Its history is one of constantly decreas- ing costs. Oldtimers who dispatched mail in that first historic pouch from New York to Washington may re- | member they paid 24 cents an ounce, compared to the present rate of 6 cents. | Such is the brief story of Uncle | Sam's latest venture in speeding the mails. Who can say that the pony express, colorful symbol of an ear. lier era, held more adventure than the night flights of pioneer birdmen who flew above the same trails sev | eral decades later? © Western Newspaper Union, A ADVENTURERS’ CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF! “No Fear of Bullets” By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter I ELLO EVERYBODY: There's that a man who is born to be hanged will never be drowned, and Pete Lovett of Brooklyn, Y., has a hunch that something of the sort is true in his own case. Pete doesn’t know what sort of an end the Fates have in store for him, but he's darned that no bullet will ever put an end to his career. an old saying ny iv, certain Pete went through two years of the World war without getting killed, but that only helped make hin he was bullet proof The thing that convinced n of it in irst place happened before the war thirteen vears old Pete even wa broughnt playing around the waterfron A regular dock rat, Pete was in those days—a youngster who loved to be in, or on, or anywhere near the water. He and a couple of other lads used t 10 down to the docks e¢ boys had a brother-in-law who was captain of Db at the foot of Ce the Red H 1} imbia street in The Captain Was Drinking Whisky. 4 nf Only the captain didn't drink any tea. He had a bottle of whisky alongside of him and he took frequent nips out of that, § at in fe n't returned i e | © \ f sry tn Ce ted what came late if he had pouring it down He Began Shooting at Pete. her two boys had gone he told Pete his ought he d start getting supper ready fs the a hatch w re ! Pete walked aft and st red his potat . * { vas . ve a arted down the hatch “In the meantime,” says Pete, ““he must have gone stark mad. Most barge captains keep pistols aboard for protection against har- bor thieves, and he had two loaded ones somewhere about the boat. I was down below, standing just to one side of the hatchway, when all of a sudden he appeared overhead and began blazing away at me!” It was dark down there in », and Pete was thankful for that The captain couldn't see him ar he was standing to one side, out of range of the fire. ‘“‘At the sound of the first shot,” says Pete, “I went stiff with fright. I never prayed so long or so hard in my life. I have faced machine gun fire and hand grenades in France, but Ming ever scared me as much as | was scared that r ywn the hatch before he stopped er down on me and locked it so “The captain emptied one revolver d« iring. Then he slammed the hatch cov I couldn't get out while he went back, y to get other gun. I could hear him screeching and yellin yelling that I was a river pirate and he was going to kill me if he had to come down the hatch to do it. “Now 1 heard his s} the hatch cover and descend two or three steps down the ladder. I began creeping slowly away from the hatch. I moved along on a string piece barely wide enough to walk on. The barge had four feet of water in its hold for ballast, and if I slipped anc EB fell into that, the captain would surely kill me.” Trapped Down the Dark Hatch. Pete was right alongside of the hatch stairway now. The captain's legs were within a few inches of his hands. In a sudden desperation he made a grab for those legs. He thought if he threw the captain into the water he'd be able to escape. But in the gloom of the hold, he missed his grab. He caught the cuff of the captain's trousers, and pulled with his might, but he miscalculated his strength. He couldn't budge captain Instead, the captain brought his gun down across Pete’ wrist, paralyzing his arm Pete let go his hold. In the darknes, he began creeping along the stringpiece toward the back of the dark hole he was trapped in. Then, again, came the sound of shots. Bullets splashed in the water alongside of him and thudded into the wooden side of the barge. Again the captain emptied his gun, and and then he went back on deck, closing and locking the hatch after him. He was up in the cabin, reloading his pistols when Pete's two young friends came Back with the beer they had been sent for. They got the guns away from him and ran out on the dock. Another bargeman came running to the rescue. The police were called. They came and took the now thoroughly crazed captain away in a straitjacket. “All the time,” says Pete, ‘1 was pounding on the hatch tover and him open came and let me out, but in that hour I passed through a century of horror. Now, all fear of bullets has been erased from my mind. After that experience, I don't think I'll ever Be killed by one.” Copyright. WNU Service. First Trains Horse Drawn The first two railroads in the coun- try, the Quincy railroad of Massa- chusetts and the Mauch Chunk rail road of Pennsylvania, both dating from the year 1827, used horse pow- er and not locomotives. Needed Good Swimmers | Usually, in the Ohio pioneer days, | the first question asked by a pros- pective buyer of a saddle horse was, “Is he a good swimmer?’ For with no bridges over the streams, swim- ming was the only way over, Naming Downing Street i 1 Signed Constitution, Declaration Downing street, residence of : George Washington and James Madison were signers of the Consti- tution, and Thomas Jefferson and John Adams signed the Declaration of Independence. British prime ministers, was named for Sir George Downing, a Seven teenth century secretary of the treasury. CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT INDIAN ARROW HEADS QEND R100. 1 *¥ nies arrow heads Will Mall Prepaid 20 ¥ V. licker Danvilis, Pa CHICKS MARYLAND'S FINEST BLOOD. TESTED CHICKS Be and Up r breeds and « tarted Ducks d Poulls Hatches MILFORD HATCHERY. Liberty Rd... Pikesville, Md Rn. Eight popu chicks. niso twice weekly Milford Road nr FP. 0. Reckdale sen Pikesville Bob White's SUPERIOR CHICKS NEW LOW PRICES Peking Ducklings Turkey Poults ® Blood tested, leading breeds. All chicks uncon- ditionally guaranteed. Bob White’s Hatcheries 4001 Eastern Ave, Baltimore, Md. Baby Chicks blood-tested HATCHERY, 8 § ie “§ Best RICHMOND CHICK tnd Sit Richmond, Va. HOTELS HOTEL YORK 7th AVE. at 36th ST. From $ 50 per Day 3 50 Per Day * SINGLE * pousLE Large, Airy Rooms FIREPROOF — NEWLY DECORATED In NEW YORK RAZOR BLADES DE BAZOR BLADES : ge tubes ’ > ’ es 5 100 re ‘ CHAR. ALMES $1 0 i" E. PHILADELPHIA. PA. OPPORTUNITY i you will send bo w persons w opments We would then send y AVE WE WILL MAKE IT WORTH YOUR WHILE # names anc addresses of Live be | slerested i: evel free, with out any cost 1 y ar owning oil leases in the | name Ww not be wee A ove WESTERN OIL TRUST J 0.0000 Ask Me Another @ A General Quiz The Questions The Answers es, under our first Constitu- Dither presidents before him little more than presiding of- over the Continental con- of gold would oximately one ton to and including March 46.661 burials have been made in Arlington nal cem- etery. 5. The population States is 127,000,000 ae Nat f the United Start the day feeling ~~. ©) FITand ACTIVE! Doa’t let # sluggich overcrowded rystem hod you back. CLEANSE WTERRALLY WITH SARFIELD TEA Get rid 01 the wanton that viow you up and keep you feel. ing run-down and inactive Usually works within 8 to 10 brs, MILD bot prompt §t drug stores 25c4& 10c. Yh 41010 of Health ; that may Sage body-wide dis ress. One may suffer n backache, Ds che: attac so diem. up nig! swell pufioess under the eyes—feel tired, Sorvoul wil | Emin | 'DOANS PILLS
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers