CHAPTER IX

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AERO MAIL

FIRST MAIL CARRIED BY AIRCRAFT—NEW YORK-PHILADELPHIA-WASHINGTON SERVICE—NEW YORK-CLEVELAND-CHICAGO SERVICE—FOREIGN AERO MAIL ROUTES

As soon as the aeroplane demonstrated that it could travel at least twice as fast as the fastest express-train, even when going in the same direction, and that in addition it could traverse mountains, rivers, forests, swamps in a straight line, its possibilities as a mail-carrier were immediately realized, and steps were taken in most countries to establish aero mail routes.

In the United States the first attempt to carry mail was made by Earl Ovington from the Nassau Boulevard aerodrome near Mineola, N. Y., September, 1911. Postmaster-General Hitchcock delivered a package to Mr. Ovington to be carried to Brooklyn, N. Y. The machine was a Bleriot. The distance of five and one-half miles was made in six minutes. Two trips a day were made by Mr. Ovington—one to and one from Mineola. On Sunday, September 23, 6,165 post-cards, 781 letters, 55 pieces of printed matter were carried. Captain Beck using a Curtiss biplane also carried 20 pounds of mail, and T. O. M. Sopwith, using a Wright machine, also carried some mail.

The first regular permanent aero mail service was started on May 15, 1918, at Belmont Park, New York, and at the Polo Grounds, Washington, D.C. Leaving Belmont Park, New York, at 11.30 in the forenoon with a full load of 344 pounds of mail, Lieutenant Torry S. Webb flew in one hour to Philadelphia, from which point the mail was relayed through the air by Lieutenant J. C. Edgerton, who delivered it in Washington at 2.50 P.M. The actual flying time of the two couriers, deducting the six minutes’ intermission in relaying at Philadelphia, was three hours and twenty minutes. This record was considered highly satisfactory for the initial trip with new machines.

Owing to a broken propeller Lieutenant George Leroy Boyle was forced to descend in Maryland with the aero mail bound for Philadelphia and New York. On May 16 Lieutenant Edgerton flew from Washington to Philadelphia with the mail, making the first continuous connection in that direction. President Wilson and official Washington were present at the Polo Grounds to see the first aero mail off.

During the year the aero mail service has been in operation between Washington, Philadelphia, New York, it has demonstrated the practical commercial utility of the aeroplane.

On the anniversary the Post-Office Department released the following summary, which gives us the first complete account of commercially operated air service, dating over the period of a year:

ONE YEAR’S AERO MAIL SERVICE

The two aeroplanes that took to the air to-day, one leaving Washington and one leaving New York, are the same that carried the mail a year ago, and have been constantly in the service, and they are propelled by the same motors. One of these has been in the air 164 hours, flying 10,716 miles, and has carried 572,826 letters. It has cost, in service, per hour, $65.80. Repairs have cost $480. The other plane has been in the air 222 hours, flying 15,018 miles, and has carried 485,120 letters. It has cost, in service, per hour, $48.34. Repairs to this machine have cost $1,874.76.

The record of the entire service between New York and Washington shows 92 per cent of performance during the entire year, representing 128,037 miles travelled, and 7,720,840 letters carried. The revenues from aeroplane mail stamps amounted to $159,700, and the cost of service, $137,900.06.

The operation of the aeroplane mail service every day in the year except Sunday, encountering all sorts of weather conditions and meeting them successfully, has demonstrated the practicability of employing the aeroplane for commercial service, and the air mail organization has been able to work out problems of great value in the adaptation of machines to this character of service. From the inauguration of the service until the 10th of August, the flying operations were conducted by the army, in connection with its work of training aviators for the war. Since August 10 it has been operated entirely by the Post-Office Department, with a civil organization. When the service was started there was great divergency of opinion among aeronautical experts as to the possibility of maintaining a daily service regardless of weather conditions, and the opinion was held by many that it would have to be suspended during the severe winter months. The service has been maintained, however, throughout the year with a record of 92 per cent, gales of exceptional violence and heavy snow-storms being encountered and overcome. Out of 1,261 possible trips, 1,206 were undertaken, and only 55 were defaulted on account of weather conditions. During rain, fog, snow, gales, and electrical storms, 435 trips were made. Out of a possible 138,092 miles, 128,037 miles were flown. Only 51 forced landings were made on account of weather, and 37 on account of motor trouble. It has been demonstrated that flying conditions for such a commercial service as this, which is regulated by a daily schedule regardless of the weather, are very different from those of military flying. Aeroplanes designed wholly for war purposes are not suitable for commercial service, as they lack the strength necessary for daily cross-country work, with its incidental forced landings. Aeronautical engineers have developed for the Post-Office Department a stronger and more powerful plane suitable for commercial service while retaining the excellent flying qualities of the De Havilland machine. The De Havilland 4’s, which were transferred to the Post-Office Department after the signing of the armistice, are being reconstructed to fit them for commercial requirements. In specially constructed mail-carrying planes, for the building of which the department has called for bids to be opened June 2, a form of construction is called for which will enable a mechanic to make important minor repairs in flight, making it possible with a multiple motor to avoid forced landings.

DANGER ELIMINATED

One of the lessons learned from the operation of the air mail service during the year is that the element of danger that exists in the training of aviators in military and exhibition flying is almost entirely absent from commercial flying. Second Assistant Postmaster-General Praeger, in reporting to the postmaster-general the operations for the year, says that the record of the air mail service, which includes flying at altitudes of as low as 50 feet during periods of marked invisibility, throws an interesting light on this question. During the year, more than 128,000 miles having been travelled, no aeroplane carrying the mail has ever fallen out of the sky, and there has not been a single death of an aviator in carrying the mail. The only deaths by accident which have occurred were that of an aviator who made a flight to demonstrate his qualifications as an aviator and that of a mechanic who fell against the whirling propeller of a machine on the ground. But two aviators have been injured seriously enough to be sent to a hospital. Other accidents consisted mainly of bruises and contusions sustained by planes turning over after landing. Of the three types of planes operated regularly in the mail service, one type was more given than the others to turning over on rough ground, and it was principally on planes of this type that pilots were shaken up or bruised by the plane turning turtle. One type of machine in the mail service which has performed almost half of the work has never turned turtle. The record of the air mail service with respect to accidents will compare favorably with that of any mode of mechanical transportation in the early days of its operation.

One of the first studies to be taken up by the air mail service was to determine whether visibility is absolutely necessary to commercial flying. The first step necessary was the refinement of the existing radio direction-finders so as to eliminate the liability of 3 to 5 per cent of error. This has been successfully worked out by the Navy Department on an air mail testing-plane. The second problem was that of guiding the mail plane after it had left the field to the centre of the plot for landing. This problem has been solved by the Bureau of Standards in experiments conducted on the air mail testing-plane in connection with the radio directional compass. This device is effective up to an altitude of 1,500 feet, and with the further refinements of the device another thousand feet is expected to be added. Aeronautical engineers are working upon a device for the automatic landing of a mechanically flown plane which would meet the condition of absolute invisibility that could exist only in the most blinding snow-storm or impenetrable fog.

A year’s flying in the mail service, with all types and temperaments of aviators, has established the fact that 200 feet visibility from the ground is the limit of practical flying, although a number of runs have been made with the mail between New York and Washington during which a part of the trip was flown at an altitude as low as 50 feet. The objection of aviators to flying above a ground-fog, rain, snow, or heavy clouds with single motor-planes is the possibility of the motor stopping over a village, city, or other bad landing-place, with the radius of visibility so little as to afford no opportunity to pick out a place for landing. It is generally accepted that with two or more motors, forced landings under such conditions can be avoided.

FLYING IN ROUGHEST WEATHER

A number of severe gales have been encountered during the flights between New York and Washington. Gales of from 40 to 68 miles an hour have been encountered and overcome. Pilot J. M. Miller, who was formerly a naval flier, made the flight from Philadelphia to New York in a Curtiss R4 with a 400 horse-power Liberty motor, rising from the field against a 43-mile gale and arriving in New York through a blinding snow-storm with a wind velocity reported by the Weather Bureau to be 68 miles an hour and which was 15 per cent greater at the altitude at which he flew.

Mr. Praeger says in his report that from experience it is learned to be useless to send against a 40-mile gale a plane having a top speed of no more than 75 or 80 miles. “The two types of planes in the air mail service of this speed,” he said, “are the Standard JR 1 mail plane, having a wing spread of 31 feet 4 inches, and the Curtiss JN 4, having a wing spread of 43 feet 7⅜ inches. Each plane of this type is equipped with a (Hispano-Suiza) 150 horse-power motor, which does not provide enough reserve power to combat the disturbed air conditions at the surface in a wind of more than 40 miles an hour, especially if the wind comes in descending columns or gusts. Under these conditions it is possible to make headway only with a Liberty engine, which has plenty of reserve power. A plane equipped with a 150 horse-power motor, if it succeeds in breaking through the surface winds, can make only slow and laborious headway against a full or a quartered head wind of about 40 miles. There have been many instances where the planes equipped with 150 horse-power motors have been held down to a speed of between 30 and 37 miles an hour; and also many instances where a hundred-mile-an-hour plane equipped with a Liberty motor has been held to between 55 and 60 miles. A few wind-storm conditions were encountered where the planes at the height of the gust were actually carried backward.”

The same six planes that were in operation at the inauguration of the service, and have been in continuous employment during the year, are in operation to-day, and the one which made the initial flight from New York to Washington, May 15, 1918, made the flight May 15, 1919. This is regarded as throwing a new light on the question of the life of an aeroplane and as demonstrating that the mechanical requirements and the operation in commercial flying are more economical and safer and in many instances more practical than in exhibition or military flying.

The fact that there were only 37 forced landings due to mechanical troubles during flights makes a record not heretofore approached in aviation and is creditable in the American-built aeroplane and mechanics who keep them in fine condition. Especially is this record a strong tribute to the American-built Liberty and Hispano-Suiza motors.

The transportation by aeroplane is ordinarily twice as fast as by train, and on distances of 600 miles or more, no matter how frequent or excellent the train service, the aeroplane mail at the higher rate of postage should equal the cost of its operations. Wherever the train service is not as frequent or as fast as it is between Washington and New York the aeroplane operations should show an immense profit on all distances from 500 miles up.

Again, with large aeroplanes and over greater distances, substantial saving in the cost of mail transportation on railroads would be made, besides cutting down the time of transit by one-half.

BOSTON-NEW YORK PATHFINDER AERO MAIL

Another step in the evolution of the aero mail service was made on June 6, 1918, when Lieutenant Torry S. Webb carried 4,000 letters from Belmont Park, Long Island, N. Y., to Boston in three hours and twenty-two minutes, the distance being 250 miles.

With R. Heck, a mechanician, as passenger, Lieutenant Webb got away from Belmont Park at 12.09 o’clock.

Two hours later, as the aviator neared Haddon, Conn., he found that his compass was working badly, and he descended at Shailerville and fixed it.

At 3.31 o’clock Lieutenant Webb circled over Saugus, Mass., near Revere Beach and Boston, and then planed down on the estate of Godfrey Cabot, now the Franklin Park Aviation Field.

For some reason or another, presumably lack of funds, the service was not made permanent.

NEW YORK-CHICAGO AERO MAIL

September 5, 1918, the Post-Office Department started the first pathfinding mail service between New York, Cleveland, Chicago. Mr. Max Miller was scheduled to leave Belmont Park, Long Island, at 6 A. M., but owing to a storm and the breaking of a tail-skid he did not leave until 7.08 A. M. After flying through a fog he landed at Danville, N. Y., 155 miles from New York City, and after getting his bearings Lieutenant Miller next landed at Lock Haven, Pa., because his engine was missing. At 11.45 A. M. he left for Cleveland. But the fog continued, and he finally was forced to land in Cambridge, Pa., owing to a leaking radiator. After some delay he flew to Cleveland, but owing to the darkness he had to remain there overnight.

At 1.35 P. M. Lieutenant Miller left for Bryon, which he reached and left at 4.35 P. M., and he arrived at Grant Park at 6.55 P. M. The distance was 727 miles in a direct line.

On his return trip he left Chicago on September 10 at 6.26 A. M. with 3,000 pieces of mail, and he landed at Cleveland, and leaving there at 4.30 P. M., reached Lock Haven, Pa., that night. He left there on September 10 at 7.20, and reached Belmont Park at 11.22 A. M.

Mr. Edward V. Gardner left Belmont Park at 8.50 A. M., Thursday, September 5, 1918, two hours after Max Miller had started in a Curtiss R. plane, with a Liberty motor, taking Mr. Radel as mechanic, and carrying three pouches of mail, containing about 3,000 letters.

Gardner landed at Bloomburg, Pa., near Lock Haven. He reached Cleveland before dark, and after spending the night there, on September 6 Mr. Gardner left Cleveland and landed at Bryon at 5.15 P. M., leaving there for Chicago at 5.50 P. M., but was compelled to land at Westville, Ind. He left there the next morning and reached Grant Park, Chicago, at 7.30 A. M. On his return trip Mr. Gardner flew from Chicago to New York in one day, September 10. Leaving at 6.25 A. M., he landed at Cleveland, Lock Haven, and landed at Hicksville, Long Island, in the dark.

The record non-stop for the 727 miles between the two, Chicago and New York, was made by the army pilot Captain E. F. White in six hours and fifty minutes, on April 19, 1919, flying a D. H. 4 army plane.

[Illustration:

_Courtesy of Aerial Age Weekly._

The pathfinding aerial mail flight, New York-Cleveland-Chicago.

Max Miller starting in a Standard Aircraft plane equipped with a 150 h.-p. Hispano-Suiza motor.]

On May 15, 1919, the postal authorities intended to inaugurate aero mail service between New York and Chicago, but owing to the fact that some of the machines which were being renovated from war-machines to mail-machines were not ready, that branch of the service had to be postponed for a few days.

The aero mail between Chicago and Cleveland and Cleveland and Chicago was inaugurated. The delivery at Cleveland and Boston will be reduced to some sixteen hours, and to New York some six hours. Letters mailed in New York City in time for the train leaving at 5.31 P. M. will reach Chicago in time for the 3 o’clock carrier delivery instead of the following morning carrier delivery, as would be the case if sent all the way by train.

Mail from San Francisco and the entire Pacific coast States put on Burlington train No. 8, mail from South Dakota and northern Illinois put on Illinois Central No. 12, mail from northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin put on Northwestern train No. 514, mail from Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana put on Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul train No. 18, and mail from Kansas City and the entire southwest put on Sante Fé train No. 10, will reach Chicago in time to make connection with the air mail eastbound. The air mail from these trains will be taken direct to the air mail field. At Cleveland the air mail will catch the New York Central train at 4 P. M. for the East.

Under this arrangement the air mail will be delivered in Cleveland and Boston on afternoon deliveries instead of the following morning. At Albany, N. Y., and Springfield, Mass., this mail will catch the morning delivery instead of the afternoon following.

The aero mail stamps for this service are the same as for the aero mail service between Washington and New York. It will be recalled that originally the amount necessary to carry a letter was 24 cents. This was reduced to 16 cents, and finally to 6 cents, where it now is.

Without a doubt when large bimotored machines have been put into aero mail service, letters will be carried for 3 cents apiece between New York and Chicago.

One company has already made a proposal to the postal authorities to supplement the mail service between Chicago and New York.

The aero mail service between Chicago and Cleveland started off on schedule. Pilot Trent V. Fry left Chicago at 9.35 A. M., and arrived at Cleveland at 12.48 P. M., in a rebuilt D. H. 4, carrying 450 pounds of mail. The opening trip was made in very good time, with a five-minute stop at Bryon, Ohio.

Another plane with Edward Gardner as pilot left Cleveland at 9.30 A. M., carrying 300 pounds of mail, arrived at Chicago at 1.25 P. M.

[Illustration:

_Courtesy of Aerial Age Weekly._

The reconstructed De Haviland biplane, showing the limousine accommodations for passengers.

The De Haviland 4’s were built in large numbers by Dayton Wright Company and equipped with Liberty engines for fighting on the western front. Some of these rebuilt machines are being used for aero mail service between Chicago, Cleveland, and New York.]

FOREIGN AERO MAIL SERVICE

Aero mail service has been started in nearly every country in Europe, and many South American countries are also making plans for carrying mail by aeroplane. In May, 1919, Mr. Joaquin Bonilla, son of the President of Honduras, visited the United States to see about arranging to use New Orleans as one base and Tegucigalpha as another for the aero mail landing-places.

Mr. V. H. Barranco, of Cuba, is also in this country for President Menocole, of Cuba, to arrange aero mail between Key West and Havana, Cuba.

The French aerial mail service officially started on March 1, 1919, between Paris and Bordeaux, Marseilles, Toulouse, Brest, and St. Nazaire, under the supervision of the director of civilian aeronautics.

THE PARIS-LILLE MAIL SERVICE.—The aeroplanes engaged in the Paris-Lille mail service which had been instituted in April, 1919, started from the Le Bourget aerodrome. The machines and pilots engaged had been lent to the postal authorities by the military authorities.

A daily postal service has been started between Avignon and Nice also. An aeroplane carries mails for Nice left at Avignon by the Paris-Lyons train which arrives at midnight. A machine will also deliver mails from Nice at Avignon in time for the midnight train for Paris. A regular postal service by aeroplane is also announced between Rabat (Morocco) and Algiers.

GREAT BRITAIN.—London-Paris (240 miles). Daily passenger service, weather permitting, by means of twin-engined D. H. 10 biplanes. Now being jointly organized by the Aircraft Transport and Travel (Ltd.), of London, and the Compagnie Generale Transaerienne, of Paris. Average time, two and one-half to three hours.

British aerial highways now in operation: (1) London to Hadeigh (79 miles). (2) London to Dover (65 miles). (3) London to Easteigh (53 miles) to Settenmeyer (152 miles). (4) London to Bristol (95 miles). (5) London to Witney (55 miles) to Bromwich (51 miles) to North Shotwick (72 miles), and to Dublin, Ireland (143 miles). (6) London to Wyton (63 miles) to Harlaxton (41 miles) to Carlton (28 miles) to Doncaster (28 miles) to York (27 miles) to Catterick (38 miles) to Redcar (26 miles). Catterick to New Castle (42 miles) to Urnhouse, Scotland (95 miles) to Renfrew, Scotland (40 miles). New Castle to Renfrew (124 miles). (7) London to Hucknall (114 miles) to Sheffield (50 miles) to Manywellheights (97 miles). Hucknall to Didsbury (52 miles) to Scalehall (50 miles) to Luge Bay (99 miles) to Aldergrove and Belfast, Ireland (55 miles). Luge Bay to Renfrew, Scotland (72 miles).

ITALY.—(1) Civitavecchia-Terranova, Sardinia (150 miles). Daily mail service by means of flying-boats. Inaugurated June 27, 1917; temporarily discontinued during the winter of 1917-18; reopened in March, 1918. Average time, 2 hours. (2) Venice-Trieste (170 miles). (3) Venice-Pola (80 miles). (4) Ancona-Fiume (130 miles). (5) Ancona-Sara (90 miles). (6) Brindisi-Cattaro (150 miles). (7) Brindisi-Valeona (100 miles).

Organized shortly after the signing of the armistice with Austria; operating (8) Genoa-Nice (100 miles). (9) Genoa-Florence (120 miles). (10) Florence-Rome (140 miles). (11) Rome-Brindisi (290 miles).

Air mail lines (8) to (11), now being worked out, will constitute the Italian section of an interallied air mail service to be established between London, Paris, Rome, and Constantinople.

FRANCE.—(1) Paris-Mans-St. Nazaire (250 miles). Daily mail service by means of twin-engined Letord biplanes (Hispano-Suiza engines). Inaugurated August 15, 1918. Average time, 3 hours. Postage, 75 centimes (15 cents). (2) Paris-London (240 miles). (3) Paris-Lyons (240 miles). (4) Lyons-Marseilles (165 miles). (5) Marseilles-Nice (140 miles).

Air mail lines (3) to (5), now being organized, will constitute the French section of an interallied air mail service to be established between London, Paris, Rome, and Constantinople.

(6) Nice-Ajaccio, Corsica (150 miles). Daily air mail service by means of flying-boats about to begin operations.

Various air mail lines, operated by the military, are functioning in southern Algeria and Morocco, chiefly for carrying official correspondence. The organization of an air mail line from Marseilles via Algiers to Timbuctoo is now being worked out. The sections Biskra-Wargia (240 miles) and Wargia-Inifel (211 miles) and Inifel-Insala (223 miles) are in operation.

GREECE.—(1) Athens-Janina (200 miles). Daily mail service; inaugurated August 8, 1918. (2) Athens-Salonica (220 miles). Daily mail service projected.

DENMARK.—(1) Copenhagen-Odense-Fredericia-Esierg (170 miles). (2) Copenhagen-Kalundborg-Aarhus (105 miles). (8) Copenhagen-Gothenburg-Christiania (330 miles). Daily mail service projected.

AUSTRIA.—Vienna-Budapest (140 miles). Daily mail service; inaugurated July 5, 1918. Postage, 5.10 kronen ($1).

NORWAY.—(1) Christiania-Stavanger-Bergen-Trondhjem (670 miles). Oversea route. (2) Christiania-Bergen (200 miles). Overland route. (3) Stavanger-Bergen (100 miles). Oversea route.

Projected air mail lines to be operated by the Norwegian Air Routes Company.

SPAIN.—(1) Madrid-Barcelona (320 miles). (2) Barcelona-Palma, Balears (170 miles).

Projected air mail lines to be operated by a Spanish company.

GERMANY.—Berlin-Munich (350 miles). Daily mail and passenger service, weather permitting. Average time, four and one-half hours; passage, $1 per mile.

Several other mail and passenger services are operating between the larger cities, but no details are available.

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