AIRMAIL100™ CENTENNIAL FLIGHTS
[Omaha, NE, August 2020] September 8, 1920 began the start of transcontinental air mail service from New York to San Francisco. Exactly 100 years ago, a series of U.S. Post Office air mail biplanes landed in 16 airports carrying sacks of First Class mail destined for the West Coast. This was not just a first for the Post Office and America, but also for the world. It would spur great engineering breakthroughs that led to faster, safer, more reliable air travel. In turn that would open the doors to the creation of the great airlines of the world.
More than three dozen General Aviation pilots volunteered to celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of the US Air Mail Service. On September 8, 2020, these pilots will recreate the original Post Office air mail route. Back in 1920 when those original pilots took to the air there were no maps. Just the thin line of railroad tracks and sometimes only a simple, often erratic compass. The Pilots' Directions New York-San Francisco Route was a 70 page booklet issued by Otto Praeger, the Second Assistant Postmaster General of the United States. One hundred years later, we'll be flying with the 21st Century aids of GPS, digital maps, and in-flight weather radar.
To honor the memory of these original pilots and their oath to let “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” we are carrying commemorative postcards dedicated to each of the 16 airfields. They will be turned over to the Postmaster in San Francisco and cancelled with a special event stamp. From there they’ll be mailed to their addressees and become a part of American history.
http://airmail100.com/
[Note: no one's getting any money out of this]
[Omaha, NE, August 2020] September 8, 1920 began the start of transcontinental air mail service from New York to San Francisco. Exactly 100 years ago, a series of U.S. Post Office air mail biplanes landed in 16 airports carrying sacks of First Class mail destined for the West Coast. This was not just a first for the Post Office and America, but also for the world. It would spur great engineering breakthroughs that led to faster, safer, more reliable air travel. In turn that would open the doors to the creation of the great airlines of the world.
More than three dozen General Aviation pilots volunteered to celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of the US Air Mail Service. On September 8, 2020, these pilots will recreate the original Post Office air mail route. Back in 1920 when those original pilots took to the air there were no maps. Just the thin line of railroad tracks and sometimes only a simple, often erratic compass. The Pilots' Directions New York-San Francisco Route was a 70 page booklet issued by Otto Praeger, the Second Assistant Postmaster General of the United States. One hundred years later, we'll be flying with the 21st Century aids of GPS, digital maps, and in-flight weather radar.
To honor the memory of these original pilots and their oath to let “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” we are carrying commemorative postcards dedicated to each of the 16 airfields. They will be turned over to the Postmaster in San Francisco and cancelled with a special event stamp. From there they’ll be mailed to their addressees and become a part of American history.
http://airmail100.com/
[Note: no one's getting any money out of this]
