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1. #THESE PIONEER AVIATORS HELPED MAKE AIRMAIL POSSIBLE FULL#
2. #THESE PIONEER AVIATORS HELPED MAKE AIRMAIL POSSIBLE TRIAL#

" Fleet told a gathering of Air Mail Pioneers on their golden anniversary.

#THESE PIONEER AVIATORS HELPED MAKE AIRMAIL POSSIBLE TRIAL#

But no sooner had he completed the successful trial then he received the order to initiate the world’s first scheduled airmail service. He banked and turned, looped, stalled, kicked it into a spin and landed.

PHOTO: First airmail routes - Washington to Philadelphia to New York.Īssigned to test the second Liberty engine in a DH bomber, Fleet put the plane through its paces. After inspecting the wreck, Fleet determined the cause of the accident was not engine failure, but a rogue spark plug, wedged between the wing’s trailing edge and the aileron and preventing the plane’s ability to bank on landing. water-cooled, 400 hp Liberty engine, and it had proved a disaster, ending the life of Col. This had been the first test flight of the DH bomber powered by the new American-produced 12-cylinder. Oblivious to the pronouncement and the part he would eventually play in executing it, Fleet at the time was traveling between Washington and Dayton, Ohio, hurrying to inspect the crash of a American-produced British de Havilland bomber. That was the day the War Department issued an order to the Air Service to begin preparations for launching the airmail service. "Hap" Arnold had given him the added task of training aerial observers.įor his story, flash back to May 03, 1918. He was in charge of establishing America’s pilot training program for all army aviators, an assignment that saw him overseeing 34 fields and as he said, "students crashing every hour of the day." On top of this, Col.

#THESE PIONEER AVIATORS HELPED MAKE AIRMAIL POSSIBLE FULL#

S Air Service, Signal Corps Aviation Section, Fleet already had a full plate of duties. As executive officer for pilot training in the U. airmail service the way a fledgling pilot welcomes a tail spin at 500 feet. Fleet welcomed his new responsibility as officer-in-charge of inaugurating the first U.S.

Regardless of employer – Army, Post Office Department or private airline companies - pilots who flew America's airmail for the first few decades were among the most courageous pioneers of aviation.Courtesy of National Aviation Hall of Fame Major Reuben H. The list of applicants for these positions was consistently long, and any pilot that did not live up to expectations could quickly find himself without a job.Įight years later, the Air Mail Service was turned over to private contractors who hired their own pilots, including several of the postal pilots. The postal pilots were a fascinating mix of men, including native born Americans immigrants former military pilots civilian instructors loud, brash and confident fliers and quiet, steady and reliable aviators. When the Post Office Department took command of the service in August, civilian pilots were hired to fly the mail. Philadelphia and New York, New York.that pilot Eddie Gardner got his nickname "Turkey Bird" because of his wobbly takeoffs? These first airmail pilots flew a total of 254 trips during those months, flying mail on the first scheduled airmail route between Washington, D.C. were Army Air Service pilots who flew the mail between May 15 and August 9, 1918. The first regular airmail pilots in the U.S.