Show 0 0 A two 06 d a 10 3 10 ron C goo a figures in is circles show 0 0 approximate log at samira elapsed N hours of A us mot mail express HIM passenger 0 WICHITA paul planes from AD AIR MAIL CHICAGO Is given cop olev preference over ausam SPICA ordinary SAN tah 4 mail and two travels 6 AIR MAIL ROUTES sit approximately cities in 42 states harv daily air service and practically every three time city to reached through plane rall the mail planes flying ever the shown As fast ih here travel miles daily carrying letters a very 24 hovirs Z T e V ma AP ane RA I 1 0 ChriStMa 51 C eer M map ap and pictures courtesy united air lines by ELMO SCOTT WATSON such as this of a famous poem A etwas the night before christmas and all through the house not a creature arenture cren ture was stirring riot not even a mouse but up in ID tile sky over all of the land soared airplanes and pilots a new santa claus band tight light be aptly used to describe the situation of air lr ball and air express this christmas truly airplane pilots will be roaring through tit the skies carrying christmas gifts and greetings mm one end of the united states to the other aid quite fitting it Is too gifts arit arile in this manner for it true that those deer steeds of santas always had a pro pita 8 ity for air travel always the pictures we ire have seen of them show them coming down the diky bout about to settle on the snowy roofs of houses wow them fint but now instead of dasher and dancer pran t and nd vixen donder and blitzen the six fast lull mals nho aho tor for so BO long have pulled santas aleigh tieh loaded with gifts to our chimney tops it 1 is pratt and whitney curtiss and fokker boeing ellIg and corsair airplanes and engines that win through the skies carrying the great load of christmas christinas nail mail and d that rotund figure with maite v alte beard and boily ally face who dressed in ill a bright red costume knitted with arctic fur has been supplanted by A different breed of man one who bo 1 Is 19 9 leaner of figure toe and sterner of face he Is no less jolly by 1 nature perhaps but he be Is serious with the lew w intelligence oi of air navigation he and his fellow pilots are men who have been selected to y the mall mail because of their superior qualities s aviators vla tors the hie well placed faith which the public has the accuracy and speed of air mall mail dispatch more lore than usually evident lit at christmas ti time rue 1 sinning about the first of december air line Plo start preparation for the rush of R air ir dball 1 I ind and express that fal begin about that little alt and bd by three days before christmas will hate reached an almost cyclonic pitch As the lux bl of mall mail increases extra planes and pilots ul be tailed called into service and in some instances I 1 U be necessary to cancel passenger reserva t 0 0 that the space a pass passenger eDger would oc PY in i a ship can be utilized for carrying more mati w it is 1 a common sight around an airport at atnia lt nia time to see people who hove have delayed r christmas In balling alling until the very last minte come colne hurrying in their cars on 00 foot and street t cars to get their packages in a plane bleb ill gt bt g B t them to their destination in time nii all types of merchandise Is 19 ac spited rw by air lines for transport and it variety of vats tt find end their way into the cockpit 0 nete fisherman who lived on the coast klacka mat last ladt year rear sent a 40 pound ales alaska ka olg to his sportsman friend in ne new york for heni he be worked during the fishing season M 4 el m A X t only a small pa part rt of it as a guide with such a tremendously rapid medium of transportation as 09 the airplane that accomplishment fell ell into a the realms of the commonplace mon place no more precautions were taken for preparing that fish for at a 2500 mile ride across the continent than would be taken by a confectioner preparing an icing to be delivered to a suburban customer 20 miles away the fish was packed in a bit of dry tee ice placed in the compartment part ment of an airplane and about 48 hours later was served in the course of a christmas dinner for a group of new anew yorkers A young woman living in los angeles sent as a christmas gift to a fri friend end living on the snow swept prairies of illinois a bouquet of orchids santa claus with his very swift reindeer have done much better in delivering a perishable gift such a long distance many malay shipments of toys such as little sets of tin soldiers dolls and mechanical gadgets form a part of the cargo of a mail plane an exquisite qui site beautifully set get pearl bracelet whose value was almost that of the ship which carried it was as once part of the cargo in a shipment of air express what about the nail mail pilots on christmas day do they share in the festivities or Is it just another work day for them in the isolated districts in the far west and northwest it Is customary for the people to come from miles around and gather at the airport to see the ship corn come in just as it used to be customary in small communities to go down to the depot and see the train trail come in at many airports on christmas day the attendants tend ants there prepare a christmas dinner tor for the incoming pilot who will descend from a bitterly cold sky throw oft off his fur lined lying flying suit and join with ravenous appetite in as festive a christmas dinner as will be served in the land of the air mall mail the story of the development service berrice in this country Is an interesting one on the tent tenth h anniversary of its establishment harry barry S new then united states postmaster gen gell eral prepared an article on the early development of the service fro from which the following excerpts excerpt g are taken 1018 1918 that the department it was as may 15 over which I 1 now preside took the initiative and pilots borrowed from the and with I 1 planes alanes war department essayed a regular service by washington and new york air between 0 on that eventful day the stage was set and of a major event rightfully so as in celebration the president of the united states and other high officials were present to witness the in augu ratiOn of the first air mall mail route they were hour when it was kept waiting a quarter of an discovered that the plane ready to start otherwise was without gas this inauspicious beg beginning 10 redeemed when the inexperienced was by no means landed near waldorf md lid to experienced d pilot that be had b been een traveling almost in discover f from rom philadelphia which the opposite had bad been his goal subsequent efforts at flying the mull proved however and three months month later more took over operation the post office department furnishing its own equipment and of the route persona personnel I 1 before the end of a year it had been demonstrated that with the solving of various problems flights on regular schedule and in ID all kinds of weather could be made with a cred bitable degree of performance it was exactly one year following the inauguration of the new york washington route that service was begun between cleveland and chicago designed as the first leg of a prospective transcontinental system the cond leg new york to cleveland was established less than two months later july 1 1919 it was september 8 1920 before landing fields had been laid out and other necessary work completed to permit of operation from one coast to the other the transcontinental operation was not a through service planes flew in the daytime carrying only such mail as could be advanced in delivery or speeded on its way at a saving of from 12 to 24 hours it was called an advancing service it resulted in clipping something like 24 hours from the best possible tran scon tin train time of 87 hours in august 1923 the first continuous flights from coast to coast were made As aa they blazed the way for a new nev worlds record in aviation the pilots were guided by the newly installed land lighthouses for 4 days and 4 nights a gallant group of air pioneers spanned the con with air mall mail 4 times in each direction at A t the end of the 4 days they quit with a record of loo per cent perfect the next important steps in ID the progress and growth of the air mall all came with the inauguration of the contract service and the reli ment by the government to private initiative of the operation of the transcontinental route the first of the contract routes was placed in operation february 15 1926 between detroit and cleveland and detroit and chicago other contracts were awarded from time to time and the service expanded rapidly many of the contract routes operating as feeders to the transcontinental and the overnight new york chicago lines the government operated route between chicago and san francisco went into private operation july 1 1927 followed two months later by the double dally service between new york and chicago 0 0 0 since that government operated route went into private operation many more advances in air mall mail transportation have been made no longer Is thoi the danger imminent of a pilot landing some place only to discover that he has been flying for hours in the opposite direction from his destination as happened on that first air mall mail flight in 1918 now besides the magnetic compass the earth inductor compass slid and numerous other t tonal aids tile the pilot Is aided by the use of the directional radio beam stations which trans mit L this his beam are located along the flight route an and of each station emits a radio beam towards the other so that the two beams converge and form a direct line for the airplane in flight to follow the brain beam of course Is not visible to the human eie but a recel apparatus in the cockpit of the airplane Is sensitive to the beani and ludi indicates cutes by a radio dash dot dystel whether the Is on its course or oil off it its course either to the left or the right 0 by newspaper union |