Bellefonte among stops during airmail re-enactment
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BELLEFONTE - The Antique Airplane Association is sponsoring a nation-wide event to commemorate the 90th year of airmail service in the United States and tiny, historic Bellefonte is first on a long list of sheduled stops.
The cross-country flight will begin Sept. 10 at New York's Republic Field on Long Island. The planes are scheduled to land in Bellefonte by late morning and will include a short educational program about the first airmail flights and how the industry changed the future of the United States Postal Service.
The re-enactment flight will consist of three historic aircraft - a 1928 Boeing 40C flown by Addison Pembertom, a 1927 Stearman C3B flown by Larry Tobin and a 1930 Stearman 4E flown by Ben Scott.
To add to the authenticity of this epic flight, the pilots have been authorised to carry official U.S. mail for the post office from New York to San Francisco, where the re-enactment will reach its end.
In August 1918, shortly after the onslaught of World War I, the U.S. Post Office Department took control of the airmail service from the U.S. Army Air Service, thus launching the first regular airmail flights from College Park, Md., to Philadelphia, according to http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Government_Role/1918-1924/POL3.htm.
Within the first two years the Post Office Department hired 40 pilots and delivered more than 49 million letters. Initially, the Post Office Department was using World War I surplus de Havilland DH-4 aircraft, but those were flimsy and not equipped for long cross-country flights.
They eventually started using Standard Aircraft Company JR-1B planes, which were much stronger and could hold 3,000 pounds of mail and 60 pounds of fuel, the Web site said.
International airmail service began in March 1919, just seven months after the Post Office Department took over operations. Bill Boeing and Eddie Hubbard carried 60 letters from Vancouver, Canada to Seattle, Wash., in a Boeing Model C airplane, according to the Web site. A few months later Hubbard began making regular flights back and forth from Seattle to Victoria, British Columbia in a Boeing B-1 aircraft, thus solidifying international mail delivery. He ceased his flights only eight years later but in that time racked up more than 350,000 miles in the air.
Transcontinental airmail flights began in Sept. 1920 but only during the day because many of the pilots relied on visual landmarks to fly their planes successfully. Nighttime mail service did not stop, however, and was, instead, carried by rail to the next waiting plane.
By 1924 cross-country airmail flights became a regular service and pilots even began flying at night thanks to the development of rotating beacons and well-lit emergency landing strips along a transcontinental airway. Pilots usually tried to time their flights so they would reach the end of the lighted airway by the time morning came.
As technology improved, progress continued and airmail flights became faster, safer and much more efficient. The use of planes to transport mail across the country - and into Canada - eventually sparked the beginning of the first commercial flights.
And now, 90 years after the first regular airmail flights began, they are being remembered by three aviation enthusists dedicated to sharing the history and legacy of transcontinental airmail service.
It is estimated the re-enactment flight from New York to California will take just over six days to complete, making stops in Bellefonte, Pa.; Cleveland, Ohio; Bryan, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.; Iowa City, Iowa; Omaha, Neb.; North Platt, Neb.; Cheyenne, Wy.; Rawlins, Wy.; Rock Springs, Wy.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Elko, Nev., and Reno, Nev., before finally ending the commemorative flight in Haywood, Calif.
For more information about the re-enactment, and daily blogs and pictures visit www.airspacemag.com.
