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Show Airmail Marks Twentieth Anniversary Of First U. S. Transcontinental Service I 1 1 1 ' Y j By WILLIAM PITTMAN (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) CHICAGO. American aviation will lace up its Seven League boots on September 8 to observe the twentieth birthday birth-day of transcontinental airmail. air-mail. Giant strides have been taken tak-en during those twenty years. Mail planes have increased (n size from small converted army planes with open cockpits cock-pits to 25-ton luxury liners. Transcontinental flying time has been cut from 82 hours to less than 14. Airports throughout the country will celebrate the anniversary of the event which revolutionized communications commu-nications and travel in this country. While rapid progress has been made, great improvements have already been planned for the future. United Airlines, for example, will put a fcore of 25-ton luxury liners into service next year. They will cruise 228 miles an hour with their loads of 40 passengers, crew of five, bag-aoc bag-aoc mail and express. 1 Twenty years ago Captain Jack Knight (inset) helped make the Brst transcontinental airmail flight. Assigned to fly several hours at night, he had to stay in the air until dawn because his relief pilot failed to meet him. The De Haviland plane shown at the top was commonly used as a mail carrier when the coast-to-coast flights were inaugurated. It had been built for service in the World war. The tremendous advance made in aviation avia-tion since that time is shown by the new 25-ton United Air Line luxury liner which is pictured below. Twenty of these huge planes will be put into service next spring. ganized an accurate and efficient system of weather reporting. Today, To-day, 'expert meteorologists work 24 hour shifts at terminal stations, compiling com-piling their reports. Many Improvements Made. Other scientific help for the airlines air-lines followed rapidly. Engines and propellers were improved, new and almost human instruments appeared on the pilot's panel, and attention was focused on the importance of reliable schedules. The directional radio beam, furnishing a radio "highway" from coast to coast, and the automatic pilot with its uncanny uncan-ny ability to handle the controls of a transport plane, were developed after ceaseless research. The day of the ruggedly individualistic air mail pilot, flying by "instinct" and a few instruments, was over. Pilots looked with distaste upon the first passengers who "intruded" into their machines. It didn't take long, however, before commercial aviation recognized the possibilities of passenger transport. The world's first stewardesses were employed in the spring of 1930. This experiment proved so successful that more were hired, until there are now more than The demonstration flight almost ended at Iowa City when Knight, about out of gasoline and unable to locate a bonfire which was supposed to have been set for him, considered consid-ered a forced landing in the darkness. dark-ness. ""At the last moment he spied a red flare. He landed near the marker to refuel and shake the hand of the night watchman who had heard his engine and had placed the guiding light on the airport. Knight flew on, reaching Chicago at dawn. Other pilots, flying in relays, carried the mail to New York, completing the first coast-to-coast flight in 33 hours. The flight was a complete success. suc-cess. Congress appropriated money for continued airmail service, and lights were installed at several of the most important airports. Nine years were to pass, however, before be-fore the lighting system was completed. com-pleted. Passenger Service Started. The United States government began be-gan turning airmail service over to private contractors in 1926. The first passenger service from coast-to-coast was inaugurated on September Septem-ber 1, 1927, just seven years after Transcontinental airmail was born when U. S. Airmail Route No. 1 was opened on September 8, 1920. The 400 pounds of mall wouldn't fit into the plane, so the overflow was ftuffed into a suitcase and strapped onto a wing. Night flying was too dangerous, so (t dusk the mail was transferred to train. The following morning it was again picked up by a waiting plane. The first pilots who blazed the trail across the continent had to work bard to make the trip in three days. Their single, 400-horsepower engines weren't too reliable, and the meager Instruments on the dash didn't al-wayi al-wayi give accurate readings. No radio beam guided the plane, lights on airfields were unknown, and weather reports were very sketchy. Congress wasn't very impressed by this dual method of carrying the mail, and seemed inclined to dis-tontinue dis-tontinue the service. Seven pilots who volunteered to "save the air mail" by flying it across the continent conti-nent paved the way for the world's first airway lighting system. The first flight ranks among the top in egas of transportation history. 500 working on commercial airplanes air-planes in this country. At first the traditional meal on planes consisted of a sandwich, an apple and a cup of coffee; now the menus include everything ev-erything from soup to a steak and dessert. United Air Lines succeeded in reducing re-ducing the cross-continent flying time in 1937 to less than 16 hours. Last month it was again cut by the Transcontinental and Western Air Lines to 13 hours, 40 minutes. The celebration to be held on September Sep-tember 8 will do more than mark the twentieth anniversary of coast-to-coast air mail in America. It will mark the end of the period of air pioneering and the beginning of efficient, dependable aviation. the first airmail trip was made. Passengers Pas-sengers who dared to make the trip would crowd into the front cockpit two was the maximum where they were unable to move around or even communicate with the pilot. Weather came to receive greater great-er attention. In the pioneering days of the air mail, just about anyone who could guess at visibility and ceilings qualified as a "meteorologist." "meteorolo-gist." Pilots received telegrams from points ahead, telling them that the clerk or railroad station agent could see "pretty far," that the clouds were "high" or "medium," or, perhaps, that it was "raining pitchforks." Aviation took a forward step when the United States government or- Historic Flight. Just before dawn of February 22, 1921, a pilot headed east from San Trancisco. After fighting bad weather weath-er to Reno, he turned the mail over to a fresh pilot in a fresh plane. By nightfall the mail was in North Platte, Neb., where it was picked up by Jack Knight. He flew the mail to Omaha, following fol-lowing the lights of bonfires set by public-spirited farmers. Tired and ready for a rest, he learned that his relief pilot had been unable to reach Omaha, due to bad weather. Although very weary from his flight and entirely unfamiliar with the route ahead, he decided to "take the mail through." Knight took off into the blackness of the night almost al-most without flying aids. He picked his way from point to point, alternately alter-nately studying a railroad map with the aid of his flashlight and peering through snow flurries at lights below. be-low. He pinched himself and slapped his face to keep awake. |
