- 1 day ago
For educational purposes
Airmail pioneers demonstrated to a public already infatuated with flying, that airplanes had a bright commercial future.
They led the way for the great commercial ventures that would one day span the globe.
The variety of aircraft was dazzling, but conditions were harsh and pilots had to be hardy and brave to risk flying the mail.
Featured Aircraft:
- Bleriot
- Douglas M-2 Mailplane
- Pitcairn PA-6 & PA-7 Mailwings
- Ford Trimotor "Tin Goose"
Airmail pioneers demonstrated to a public already infatuated with flying, that airplanes had a bright commercial future.
They led the way for the great commercial ventures that would one day span the globe.
The variety of aircraft was dazzling, but conditions were harsh and pilots had to be hardy and brave to risk flying the mail.
Featured Aircraft:
- Bleriot
- Douglas M-2 Mailplane
- Pitcairn PA-6 & PA-7 Mailwings
- Ford Trimotor "Tin Goose"
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:01Hi, I'm Neil Armstrong. Join me for an adventure through time.
00:53I'm Neil Armstrong.
00:58The first official airmail flight took place on February 18, 1911, in Allahabad, India.
01:06The airplane carried about 6,500 letters and covered about five miles.
01:12Flying the mail became an issue of national pride, and countries scrambled to provide aerial postal service.
01:19A variety of aircraft, including the Blario, like this one, were pressed into service as mail carriers.
01:27After World War I, the airplane opened new horizons for both communication and travel,
01:34and regular airmail routes were established in many countries.
01:39The airmail pioneers would prove that aircraft could cross continents and oceans safely.
01:46That demonstrated to a public already infatuated with flying that airplanes had a bright commercial future.
02:01Within a two-week period in 1911, Britain carried out an airmail flight in India,
02:06France authorized a trial in northern Africa,
02:09an Italian pilot flew the mail from Milan to Venice,
02:13and an airmail flight excited the crowds at an air show in the United States.
02:17But it would be seven more years before any nation had regularly scheduled airmail service.
02:28It was during the First World War,
02:30when airplanes became reliable enough and fast enough to offer somewhat dependable service,
02:36that governments and industries alike realized the potential of airmail.
02:40Like the space race of the 1960s,
02:43nations competed to be the first to reach the far corners of the world with the mail.
02:55Despite low-performance aircraft, harsh climates, and non-existent ground facilities,
03:00countries like Britain, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands
03:03saw airmail as the opportunity to connect far-flung colonial territories
03:08and expanding business centers.
03:13For nearly 20 years after the first flights,
03:16airmail carriers would be on the cutting edge of civil aviation.
03:20They opened the routes that would eventually become
03:23our present globe-spanning commercial network.
03:27Anything with wings could carry the mail.
03:30The aircraft used ranged from light airplanes to massive flying machines.
03:36But the environment was harsh,
03:38and pilots needed equal parts of skill and daring to fly the mail.
03:46Airmail would prove especially valuable to the United States
03:50with its great geographical expanse.
03:56But the U.S. had entered World War I as only the 14th-ranked air power,
04:01with a scant 250 aircraft.
04:04This, combined with an uninterested, if not skeptical, Congress,
04:07made authorization of regularly scheduled airmail service difficult.
04:12Then the post office convinced the Army Signal Corps
04:15that flying the mail would provide invaluable flight training,
04:19and the Washington, D.C. to New York route was established.
04:23When the big day for the first flight arrived,
04:25May 15, 1918,
04:27it was not without incident.
04:30First, the post office discovered
04:32that some of their commemorative stamps
04:33were printed with the Curtis-Jenny biplane
04:36flying upside down.
04:40Then, with President Woodrow Wilson
04:43and other dignitaries standing by
04:44in College Park, Maryland,
04:46the real Jenny would not start.
04:48It was out of gas.
04:50Finally airborne,
04:52the Army pilot circled the field
04:53and flew off in the wrong direction.
04:56Upon landing to get his bearings,
04:58his propeller broke,
04:59so he brought the mail back to Washington
05:01in a call.
05:05Fortunately, the post office
05:06had arranged a simultaneous flight from New York.
05:09It was successful,
05:10and the first flight went into the record books.
05:14This was soon followed
05:15by other celebrated airmail first flights.
05:18The first New York to Chicago run in September,
05:21with a return trip the same day.
05:26The first west to east airmail flight.
05:29Silent film star Mary Pickford
05:31sent off the first package to travel the route,
05:33a film supporting the Liberty Bond drive,
05:35addressed to President Woodrow Wilson.
05:41And in 1920,
05:43the first transcontinental airmail flight
05:45from Mineola, New York.
05:47The pilot stuffed the excess mail
05:49into a suitcase tied to the left wing
05:52and took off
05:52to be welcomed at stops along the way
05:55in New York City, Chicago, Omaha,
05:58and finally, San Francisco.
06:05In the mid-1920s,
06:07the United States government
06:09gave up its monopoly on postal routes.
06:12There was a boom in private airmail carriers
06:16who competed for airmail contracts.
06:19With the establishment of what were called
06:21contract airmail routes,
06:23companies could rely on steady income.
06:27They sought to increase their revenues
06:29by using airplanes with room for paying passengers.
06:41mail planes built for the post office by standard
06:44were soon outnumbered
06:46by war surplus de Havilland DH-4 beings.
06:49The de Havillands were modified
06:51to carry 500 pounds of mail.
06:58The post office demanded dependable service
07:01regardless of the weather.
07:03Rigorous schedules
07:04and the pressure to get the mail through
07:06kept pilots flying through hazardous conditions.
07:12Pilots and aircraft were pushed to their limits.
07:15In 1920 alone,
07:17one out of six airmail pilots
07:18lost their lives in accidents.
07:22During 1926 and 1927,
07:25the post office turned over its mail routes
07:27to private contractors.
07:29These operators supplied mail and passenger service
07:31along their assigned routes.
07:34Contracts went to small businesses
07:35as well as large financial organizations
07:38backed by aircraft manufacturers.
07:42In 1927,
07:43the Boeing 40 entered service
07:45designed to fly the mail over the mountains
07:47of the western United States.
07:50Along with the mail,
07:51the aircraft accommodated two passengers
07:53who crouched in the box-like cabin.
07:57$400 purchased a 32-hour coast-to-coast flight
08:01with 14 refueling stops.
08:05One airmail route,
08:06number 19 between New York City
08:08and Atlanta, Georgia,
08:10went to Pitcairn Aviation.
08:12To service the route,
08:14Harold Pitcairn began building
08:15a series of aircraft
08:17aircraft that would become
08:18the premier mail planes of the era.
08:20The Pitcairn mail wings
08:22were designed for their task.
08:24Strength, stability,
08:25and a large mail bin
08:27were top priorities.
08:30Pitcairn's son, Steve,
08:31and former airmail pilot,
08:33George Townsend,
08:34explained the rugged construction
08:36of the mail wings.
08:37This is a PA-6 mail wing.
08:39It was built by Pitcairn aircraft,
08:42and it was used on their own mail line.
08:45And they designed the airplane
08:47particularly to carry the airmail,
08:48and they decided that 500 pounds
08:50was the most mail they were going to carry
08:52at that time,
08:53and that's what they designed
08:54the airplane to carry.
08:55And this basically,
08:57up through there,
08:57is the mail compartment.
08:59Yes.
08:59As I understand,
09:01it had metal,
09:02sheet metal on both sides.
09:03It's sort of like a metal bin
09:05to keep the mail bags
09:07from hurting the fabric
09:08on the outside of the aircraft.
09:09A lot has been said
09:10about the square tubing
09:13that my dad used
09:14in building the mail wings,
09:15and as you can see here,
09:16all the square tubing.
09:18As I understand,
09:20this was felt to be stronger,
09:23and my dad used it
09:25because he felt that his pods
09:26were very valuable people,
09:28and he wanted to protect the pilot.
09:29Well, there's more area
09:31on a round tube.
09:32If we consider this
09:33as an inch on each side,
09:34we have four inches.
09:35If we used a one-inch round tube,
09:37we'd only have
09:383.1416 inches around the tube.
09:41In manufacturing,
09:42it has another feature
09:43that's interesting
09:44is that all these joints,
09:46see, all these tubes
09:47are cut out with a saw,
09:49and each one of them
09:50is a flat joint.
09:51You don't have to join
09:52around a piece of tube like that,
09:53so it makes it easier to cut it
09:55and makes it easier to weld it.
09:57My dad,
09:58as I understand,
09:59designed to pick your mail wings
10:01to give the pilot
10:02all the comfort he could have,
10:04and part of the design
10:08featured a very streamlined windshield,
10:11as George has just put on the aircraft.
10:13The later models
10:13even had a flatter streamlined windshield.
10:16What the pilots could do,
10:18they could,
10:18with an adjustable seat,
10:20push themselves up for landing
10:21so they could see,
10:21and then they would drop
10:22way down below
10:24to get out of the wind
10:25when they were cruising along.
10:27It's even been said
10:28that they would read books
10:29while they were doing that,
10:30but I doubt it.
10:31You can see on the instrument panel
10:33all the instruments
10:34in the aircraft.
10:35Of course,
10:36they aren't in there right now,
10:37but my dad wanted to put everything
10:40in there that was possible
10:41that was manufactured of that day
10:43so that the pilot would have
10:45as much safety factors as he could.
10:48Even in this day,
10:49although in this day
10:50they didn't have radios,
10:51they did have some instruments
10:52that could help them fly blind,
10:54but they were very primitive
10:55for the date.
10:56The push to keep the mail moving
10:58despite darkness and foul weather
11:00brought developments
11:01in navigational aids
11:03and flight instrumentation.
11:05In the early 1920s,
11:07the lighting of air mail routes
11:08had begun,
11:09and air fields were equipped
11:10with beacons,
11:11boundary and obstruction lights,
11:13as well as landing area floodlights.
11:17By the mid-20s,
11:18over 2,000 miles
11:20of air mail routes were lighted,
11:21including emergency landing fields
11:23every 25 miles.
11:25But flying the mail
11:27remained a perilous occupation.
11:31Retired General Robert Scott
11:32flew an air mail route
11:33from Newark to Cleveland,
11:35the so-called hell stretch
11:37over the Allegheny Mountains.
11:39Opened cockpits,
11:40and there wasn't a single
11:41closed cockpit
11:42until the Martin V-10 came out.
11:44Your shoulders stick out
11:46into the slipstream,
11:47and they slowly become black
11:49from the exhaust,
11:50and then they wear out,
11:52and every pilot you saw,
11:53his shoulders would be worn out.
11:56And open cockpit flying
11:58is something else,
12:00because you're so cold,
12:02you don't have,
12:03you've got on boots,
12:04you can't feel anything
12:05on the rudder pedals,
12:06you've got on this
12:06one-piece flying suit.
12:07But the navigation
12:09was pretty bad.
12:10Our maps were good,
12:11but you can't fly in weather
12:12like that and navigate.
12:13The only thing that saves you
12:15is you're flying a tangent
12:17to the lakes,
12:18like Erie,
12:18and Michigan is the very end
12:20of it over there
12:21where Chicago is.
12:23Tight schedules
12:24and bad weather
12:25forced pilots
12:26into taking risks,
12:27often with disastrous results.
12:30A tough job
12:31of flying airmail was
12:32that we weren't equipped
12:34in the United States
12:35Army Air Corps,
12:36and I don't know
12:38whether any country
12:38in the world was
12:39to fly all-weather flying.
12:41Our airplanes
12:42had no de-icing equipment,
12:44they had no real
12:45navigation equipment,
12:46they had no good radio,
12:48it was a 134 set,
12:49which wasn't worth $10
12:50as far as I'm concerned.
12:52Every cockpit
12:53you got into
12:54was different.
12:55You didn't know
12:56where to hit the,
12:56to hit the wobble pump
12:58even,
12:58or hit the lights
12:59to land.
13:00Another airmail pilot's
13:02written report
13:02on his crash landing
13:03was brief
13:04and to the point.
13:05Landed on Cal,
13:07killed Cal,
13:09scared me.
13:10I never have bailed out,
13:11and I have 33,000 hours.
13:13I was coming from Newark
13:15toward Cleveland
13:16one night,
13:17and I hit this front,
13:19and the Alleghenies
13:20aren't high,
13:21but it's the worst weather
13:22I've ever seen,
13:23and it looks like
13:25a roll cloud like this,
13:26and I went on
13:27to try to stay over it,
13:28but I couldn't stay over it,
13:29and the time came
13:30that I said,
13:30Scott,
13:32get out of your
13:32first airplane.
13:33I moved this way
13:35and took the belt
13:37and tied the stick back,
13:38otherwise it'd drop
13:39just like that,
13:39rolled the nose up
13:40as far as I could,
13:41and started walking
13:42out on the wing,
13:44and the airplane
13:44went like this,
13:45and it looked so lonely
13:46in there,
13:47I crawled back in.
13:53Mail still traveled
13:54across the oceans
13:55by boat.
13:56To cut delivery time
13:57between Europe
13:58and New York,
13:58a mail plane
14:00was launched
14:00from an ocean liner
14:01eight hours
14:02before docking.
14:04When German Lufthansa
14:05began regular
14:06transatlantic mail flights,
14:08it used catapult-equipped ships
14:10as mobile refueling stations.
14:16As profits from mail
14:19and passenger transport grew,
14:21aviation became big business,
14:23linking together
14:24most nations of the world.
14:26Small regional mail operators
14:29were gradually swallowed
14:30by corporate combines
14:32that evolved
14:33into the major airlines.
14:35Bigger aircraft were needed.
14:38The Fokker,
14:39Boeing 80,
14:40Junkers,
14:41JU-52,
14:42and this Ford tri-motor
14:44played pivotal roles
14:46in carrying passengers
14:47and mail.
14:49The Ford Tin Goose
14:51combined a William Stout design
14:53with the Junkers
14:54corrugated aluminum skin.
14:56It was a major step forward
14:58in safe,
14:58all-weather flying.
15:06While the United States
15:07was developing airmail routes
15:08within its extensive borders,
15:10other countries
15:11were extending service
15:13around the world.
15:15French airplane builder
15:17Ladecourt pioneered routes
15:19from France
15:19through Spain
15:20to French Morocco
15:21and Dakar.
15:23With a fleet of
15:24Breguet 14s
15:25outfitted with
15:26under-the-wing mail carriers,
15:28Ladecourt's line
15:29braved the Sahara
15:30to develop
15:31the West African routes.
15:35In 1927,
15:36Juan Tripp's
15:37Pan-American Airways
15:38began mail
15:39and passenger service
15:40from Key West
15:41to Havana Cubic.
15:42Three Fulker F7
15:44tri-motors
15:45with room for
15:45seven passengers
15:46flew the route
15:4790 miles over the water
15:49at 85 miles per hour
15:50if all three engines
15:52were operating.
15:55Charles Lindbergh
15:56scouted additional
15:57Latin American routes
15:58in a Sikorsky dock.
16:02But the real pioneers
16:04of South American airmail
16:05were the French.
16:07Flying Potez 25-byplank,
16:10airmail pilots
16:11near Muz and Guillaume
16:12opened air routes
16:13across the Andes,
16:15connecting the Argentine
16:16coast with Chile.
16:21It was treacherous terrain.
16:23After a blizzard
16:24forced Guillaume
16:25to land in the mountains,
16:26he survived
16:27a six-day struggle
16:28over the icy peaks
16:29until he reached
16:31a mountain village
16:31and rescue.
16:35The daring French
16:36airmail pioneers
16:37achieved the first
16:38transatlantic airmail flights.
16:41By the early 1930s,
16:43Latacor Airlines'
16:44descendant,
16:45Aeropostale,
16:46was regularly linking
16:47Europe with many cities
16:49of South America
16:50and Africa.
16:55Britain interconnected
16:57its vast empire
16:58with flights carrying
16:59both passengers
17:00and mail.
17:01During the 1920s
17:03and 30s,
17:04Imperial Airways'
17:05routes spread to Africa,
17:07the Middle East,
17:07India,
17:09the Far East,
17:09and finally,
17:10Australia.
17:12By the 1930s,
17:14most of the former
17:15airmail companies
17:16were carrying passengers
17:17as the major source
17:19of revenue.
17:20The daring airmail carriers
17:21who had risked
17:22their planes
17:23and their pilots
17:23to deliver the mail
17:24had developed
17:25into commercial
17:26passenger airlines,
17:27providing safe
17:28and dependable
17:29transportation
17:30to the public.
17:32The mail went along,
17:34but it was not
17:35the primary payload.
17:37There were new ideas
17:38for mail delivery,
17:39however,
17:40that showed little promise
17:41for passenger transport.
17:43Experiments with rocket
17:45propulsion suggested
17:46new techniques
17:47for high-speed mail service.
17:49In Germany,
17:50Reinhold Tilling's rocket
17:51carried 180 postcards
17:53in its nose.
18:01The British Postal Service
18:02permitted the test
18:03of a postal rocket
18:04intended to deliver mail
18:06to the Isle of Wight.
18:07Further trials
18:08were stopped
18:09due to the danger
18:10to the public.
18:14In the U.S.,
18:16a rocket-propelled airplane
18:17was designed
18:18to carry the mail
18:19across Greenwood Lake
18:20from New Jersey
18:21to New York.
18:24Shooting the mail
18:25through the sky
18:26was an exciting idea.
18:31The technique,
18:32unfortunately,
18:33needed a bit more work.
18:40One last attempt
18:41at mail-only service
18:42was made by All-American
18:44in areas too remote
18:45for profitable
18:46passenger routes.
18:47The mail was picked up
18:49by hooks dangling
18:50from aircraft in flight.
18:52Although the concept worked,
18:53the service didn't last long.
18:55But All-American did.
18:57It eventually evolved
18:59into U.S. Air.
19:01By 1949,
19:03the pioneer companies
19:04of airmail service
19:05had become
19:06full-fledged commercial airlines
19:07and an era
19:08in aviation history
19:10had ended.
19:12The daring days
19:13of airmail flight
19:14live on
19:15in Robbinsville, New Jersey,
19:17where Steve Pitcairn
19:18flies his father's mail wings.
19:21This is a Pitcairn 7
19:24PA-7 mail wing
19:25which flew the mail
19:27back in the 30s.
19:35At the time,
19:36there was the Havilland DH-4
19:38with the big 12-cylinder
19:39Liberty engines
19:40that were available,
19:40but my dad knew
19:42they were too big,
19:42carried too much,
19:43and were too costly.
19:45So he and his engineer friend
19:47Agnew Larson,
19:49they started from scratch
19:50and designed
19:51to pick and carry
19:51mail wings
19:51strictly for carrying
19:52the mail.
19:53The Havilland DH-4
20:28It's a very stable aircraft.
20:31They flew at night,
20:32so they had to be stable.
20:33The wing design
20:34was my dad's.
20:35It's a very fast wing.
20:36Flies at least 20 miles
20:38an hour faster
20:38than any of the airplanes
20:39of the day.
20:40I fly this airplane regularly
20:42and along with my other
20:43three mail wings.
20:44And they're a lot of fun
20:46to fly.
20:47They're very stable.
20:48They're very light
20:48on the controls.
20:49They're quiet.
20:50And it's just a real joy
20:51to fly them.
20:52And you get out
20:52with smiles all over your face.
21:04Much of the world's mail
21:06travels by air.
21:07We take it for granted.
21:09We're irritated
21:10when our letters
21:11are not promptly delivered.
21:14But flying the mail
21:15was a battle
21:16not easily won.
21:18So when you mail
21:19that next letter
21:20remember the sacrifices
21:21of those
21:22who made it possible.
21:24Join me again next time
21:26for First Flights.
21:29We'll see you next time.
21:29We'll see you next time.
21:40guitar solo
22:01guitar solo
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