![]() ![]() Airmail routes could still only be run during the day, which meant that wintertime restricted the service even further. ![]() There were no long-range routes to cross the country, and many areas didn’t even have airport infrastructure to receive and refuel the planes. The post office still operated only a few routes and struggled to beat ground delivery much of the time due to maintenance and pilots getting lost. Letters in the WindĪfter the initial failures, airmail routes were successfully established, though rarely utilized by the public due to the high expense of the stamps. Eventually, the pilot landed for directions and simultaneously damaged the plane, resulting in failed delivery. Aerial navigation at the time was quite primitive, which resulted in the pilot flying in the wrong direction immediately after takeoff. The first flight was piloted by an army veteran and would use dead reckoning to fly from Washington DC to New York City with a stop for refueling inland in Philadelphia. The government’s airmail program was much publicized and drew crowds to view the takeoff of the first flight. Unfortunately, airmail still had a few kinks to work out before running smoothly. After the end of the war, the post office made use of the many returning aviators, hiring them as aerial postmen, though instructing them to land to make deliveries. World War 1 meant that domestic airframes were in short supply, as were the few qualified pilots of the era. In principle, mail could be moved by air without any major mishaps.Īirmail languished for six years after this first initial success, though. Legend has it that Ovington chucked the sack of mail over the side of his Bleriot Queen monoplane at an altitude of around 500 feet. The national post office commissioned an experiment and soon, with the skilled piloting of an amateur pilot named Earle Ovington, delivered a sack of letters a mere six miles, flying between one airfield in Long Island to another nearby. Soon after the invention of powered flight, in 1911, the Postal Department saw the potential for airmail to really take off. What made the jump from aspiration to airmail possible? Delayed by Neither Wind Nor by Snow It goes without saying that airmail wasn’t all that successful before the era of self-propelled flight, though the 1800s saw many balloon-based efforts. Starting from as early as 1785, 1 humanity dreamed of a reliable system of aerial mail and parcel transportation. This convenience wouldn’t be possible without the hard-fought process and long history of airmail, however. In our era, we’re used to being able to order something across the world with a few quick clicks and have it show up on our doorstep promptly without much thought. The History of Airmail: Believe it or not you couldn’t always get one-day shipping ![]()
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