The Washington times., 1920-05-13
A|RMA|L TWOYEARS
0LDNEXT SATURDAY
Service Has Saved U. S. Thou
sands Of Dollars and Proved
Better Than Train Facilities.

The sirmail service VIII celeo'A'
its second birthday SATURDAY, .
The second year OF the service is
renorted TO have been even more sue
cessful than the nrst. Routes now In
operation extend from Washington 10
New York. from New YORK TO 0h-
cago, and from Chicago to Omaha,
Within a few weeks tne 49,
will be extended to St. Louis. a sur
yey and inspection OF the route TO
San Francisco is now being made ana
service VIII De
opened as soon after the opening OF
the fiscal year as fields ana equip
ment can be secured.
During the second year OF opera.
tion, postal airplanes covered 49o,oof
miles, transporting a total or oSo'fo1
pounds of mall. The New YORK w Ash-
ington route operated daily with an
etficiency percentage OF better than
90, it's success justifying the exten-
sion from New York across the Al
legheny mountains to Cleveland ana
Chicago, and resulting In Congress
authorizing a daily round trip service
during she coming fiscal year be-
tween New York and San Francisco
Success in Winter.
During the past winter. which was
the most severe for some years, the
airmail operated successfully, al
vancing the mail practically all OF
the time from twelve to sixteen hours
under train time.
Economically. the airmail has been
justified in a striking manner. NOT
only has the cost OF operations KEPT
down far below anticipated ngures'
but on the New York-Washington
line there has been a saving to the
Government OF 42.500 a year, and on
the New York Chicago line at rate
of more than $4,000 a year.
When the New York-San Francisco
route is opened, mail which leaves
New York Monday morning VIII De
in Omaha before sunset, and In san
Francisco by o'clock Wednesday
morning, less than fifty hours after
mailing. This is thirty-two hours
less than the best railroad schedule,
and seventy-six hours less than the
schedule for 40 per cent OF the nrst
class mail.
The air mail has made many con-
tributions to aviation, the greatest be-
, ing the salvaging of more than 100
De Haviland war planes. and the
transformation of the single motor
ed De Haviland into a double motored
plane with twice the factor of safety,
and considerably more speed.
Plane Carries 2-ton Load.
At the recent Aeronautical show. in
New York, the greatest advance
shown in airplane construction con-
sisted of two ships built for the air
mail. One Of them. the largest ever
constructed in America, can carry two
tons of mail and the other a load
equal to so per cent of its own weight.
The best previous record was 25 per
cent of the weight of the plane for
useful load.
The mail has operated through
many severe storms. During the re-
cent tornado that passed over Ohio
and Illinois, in which 103 persons
were Killed and the buildings in cit
les and villages wrecked, the air
mail plane flew through the storm
. and landed safely with the mail in
Chicago. At one time the storm was
so great that the pilot could not see
his hand at arms length from his
eyes.
One pilot in eight months made 106
flights with tbut one forced landing.
On the Chicag go-Cleve division 205
consecutive trips of 325 miles each
were made without a forced landing
for any. cause. The air mail has
come to New York from Washington
and from Chicago in storms which
tied up shipping. Planes arrived in
Cleveland and Chicago when they
ton in operation.
During two years of service only
six pilots have lost their lives carry
ing the mail.
'sThe aggregate service OF the Ssl.
walton Army cannot be measured in
dollars and cents"