The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-06-04
WILLSTART
NIGHT MAIL
SERVICE
july l Is the Date Set For the
Beginning of Continuous
Mail Service
BY LARRY BOARDMhN
NEA Service Writer

Washington, June 4.-The dream
Of the Postal OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Gus transcontinental air mail ser
vice--is to become a reality July l..
On that day postal service flyers
will start plotting their planes IN
steady flight between New York and
San Francisco.
An air mail pilot will take off
from New York at noon, arriving III
Chicago at sundoW There another
pilot Will take off with his cargo
Of mail in pursuit Of the setting
sun.
When darkness fails. he will be
guided by u line Of bcacons l,o0o
miles long, between Chicago and
Cheyenne, WfO.
Coming into Cheyenne with the
dawn, the second pilot will be re
laycd by third. who will wing over
the rugged tops of the Rockies and
Sicrras and land by the shores Of
the Golden Gate before sunset.
Giant BcacOns Light Way
At the same time, Il relay Of three
pilots will be making the castbound
trip.
1t is upon night flying flight
between Chicago and Cheyenne -
that the fate of transContlnentaI
ain mail service depends.
Realizing this, the Postal Depart
mcnt has established a lighted air
way i'm the darkness zone" calcu-
lated TO make night flying scarcely
mere hazardous than flying by day.
Automatic ace .ylcnc lamps have
been placed every three miles. Every
70 miles there is an emergency land
ing field, equipped with revolving
electric searchlight. AT intervals of
300 miles are the regular landing
ho Ids, provided with revolving
scarchlight bcacons of 500,000,O00
candlepower, casting their beams $50
miles.
AS an added prccaution, bids for
hcw planes with slower landing
speeds have been called for. The de-
partment will furnish the motors
Liberties while in other respects
the planes must fulfill rigid depart
rental specifications.
Special Stamps
The personnel of the air mail fly
ing forcc--ll pilots and 1877 me-
chanics- will not be augmented; nor
Will the number of planes now in
usc-varying from rs to SO-be in
creased.
Special air mail stamps have
been printed and div, dCd into thr e
zones-bctween New York and Chi
cago, ChiagO and Cheyenne ald
Cheyenne and San Franciso. An s.
cent stamp will carry letter any
where WITHIN two zones, and Il "a
cent stamp within two zones, and a
24-cent stamp within three zones.
Letters destined to cities off tn,
air mail route Will not require cXtr;
postage. They will be taken from
the planes at the nearest point tc
their destination and sent on from
there by train.
Special air mail post boxes ar,
now under construction-to b,
painted red, white and blue. desig
mated by signs, and honored by spe
cial collection.
Auxiliary air mail service ha.
been in operation for several years
but its purpose has been merely t.
advance the mails-pickng up lat,
mails in New York, for example
carrying them to Cleveland ant
placing them aboard westbount
train which left New York the day
before.
The new system will lift air mai
out of its auxiliary status and Civ,
1T the standing of an independent
service. 1t is to be tried for ON,
year on an appropriation of $2,750
600. Then, if successful it will b,
made permanent institution.