Plus now there would be the added challenge of flying at night. ![]() Item #M12186 – Get 100 different airmail First Day Covers. They weren’t fully enclosed, so pilots were exposed to cold and rain, and frequently had to wipe hot oil from the engine off of their goggles. Meant for combat, they weren’t suited for long-range flights and were very uncomfortable. Pilots were flying de Havilland DH-4 biplanes left over from World War I. US #C1-150 – Get every US airmail stamp with one easy order.Īt the time, daytime airmail flights alone were no easy task. They selected February 22, 1921, George Washington’s birthday, as the day to launch the flight, to gain widespread attention. The journey would be much quicker than the current 78 hours and it could prove the effectiveness of airmail to the public and the president. They would stage an airmail flight across the country without the use of the railroad. Click image to order.Īs a result, the postmaster general and his assistant conceived a plan to show how effective airmail could be. ![]() US #5281-82 were issued in 2018 for the 100th anniversary of airmail service. He stated that he would veto any proposals from Congress to give money to airmail. But Harding didn’t believe that decreased time was good enough, arguing that rail mail was cheaper. On its own, a train could cross the country in 108 hours, while this mixture of air and rail took 78 hours. At night it was transferred to railcars, which carried it to a plane ready to take off at dawn. At the time, transcontinental airmail, a service that began in 1920, was only flown during the day. ![]() Not wanting to charge more for airmail, the post office hoped the government would use tax money to help support the airmail system. However, in the years that followed, it lost money because of increased costs due to a higher number of routes, greater distances traveled, and more mail that weighed down the planes. When US airmail service first began in 1918, it was a success, making more money than it spent. On February 22, 1921, overnight transcontinental airmail service in the US began with flights between San Francisco and New York. Transcontinental Airmail US #C1 – The third and final airmail issued in 1918 that would have been in use at the time of this flight.
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