Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-18

| first airmail line in the United States,
established May IS, 1918, by the Army
| Air Service between the National Capt.
| tai and New York. The anniversary
occurs during month of happenings
of vital Importance to the entire future
of the airman service in the United
! States.
Enactment of the McNary- Watres bill
reorganizing the contract airmail sys-
| tenn this month has been followed by
| the awarding of five contracts and the
| extension OF two contract lines, which
It is estimated will effect an annual saw
| ing to the Government Of $l,50O,OOO q
year. Twenty other contracts are to be
negotiated soon.
This months also marks the second
anniversary of the establishment OF the
! present contract airmail line between
| Washington, New York and points
south.
Airmail Pilots Honored.
The first celebration in honor of air
mail pilots, particularly the pioneers in
the airmail service, was held in New
York a few days ago as part OF the
New York Air Show. The celebration
| served to disclose facts never before
disclosed regarding the history OF the
first months of the airman service IN
the National Capital.
The early history of the line was told
in an address by James C. Edgerton,
now a resident of the National Capital,
who was the first pilot to complete
scheduled airmail flight over the line
and in the world, and, who later became
first chief of flying operations OF the
Post Office Department Airmail Service.
Only by gradually and quietly" ig--
noring orders of the War Department
not to fly through storms, then regarded
foR =. yAfN Tart r.
| ton and other pioneer pilots on the
| New Washington line make pos
| sible the establishment of airman on
| q practical basis he revealed.
The early airmail, he declared. stag
gered along by divine grace and bull
headedness" The fate of the first air
mail service hung by 9 threrad several
times before even the first flight was
| made, he declared.
On May IA, 1918, the day before the
scheduled Inauguration Of the first air.
mail service, Edgerton declared. the
planes which were to be used were de-
livered after many delays. They had
to be uncrated, assembled, serviced,
fight tested and flown from Hazelhurst
Field, N. Y, where delivery was made,
TO Philadelphia and Washington.
The first two were not ready for
flight testing until 3 pm, when they
Culver. No other planes were ready, so,
after council Of war, it was decided
to send the two on down the line,
though only an hour and q half of
daylight remained and the clouds were
closing down. The pilots were ordered
to Bustleton Field, Philadelphia though
they knew nothing of its condition or
location: except that 1t lay IL miles
north of the city.
C,tlver apd Edoartov rr,ark &oroucl,
the clouds and landed there at dusk,
but Maj. Reuben H. Fleet, commander
OF the first mail force, who had started
| in an older type Army plane, failed to
| get through. He finally telephoned that
he had made q forced landing, with
| minor damage, on q golf course about 3
miles away. After heroic efforts, the
plane was repaired and flown after
dark to Bustleton, landing by the lights
from automobile headlights.
An Embarrassing Moment"
early the next morning, May 49,"
Edgerton said, Maj. Fleet ferried TO
Washington, leaving Culver and me
with our own ships in readiness for the
Inauguration. Fleet reached the polo
field in Washington in time for the re-
turn flight, only to find no gas. Under
the watchful eyes of President Wilson
| and many dignitaries, the starting hour,
| II o'clock, came and went to the ac-
| compartment of wild scramble for
| aviation gas. What a theme for En-
| barrassing Momentsl"
The first northbound plane out of
| Washington failed to get through be-
cause Of the inexpereince of the pilot
who lost his way. This mail was
brought back to the Capital and flown
north on schedule the second day, how
IN 10
rey Webb few the mail from New York
| to Philadelphia, where it was picked
| up by Edgerton, who flew on to Wash
| ington, completing the first regular
| flight Of airmail. He also few the first
northbound out of Washington on the
following morning. and owing to the
| failure of the motor of the Southbound
plane that day. he few back to wash
ington, landing In the polo held long
after dark by the light Of automobile
headlights, thus completing the second
southbound and starting the first north
bound.
Great Psychological Handicaps.
| zone of the greatest handicaps ex-
| perienced by the infant airmai was,
! strangely enough, psychological" Ed
gerton said. Some of you will recall
that weather conditions were treated
with the greatest difference during the
early war days. For example, the poor
and unwary pilot who permitted him
1 self TO be caught in the air by . thun-
| derStorm was counting sudden and dire
| disaster. There were supposed to be
| mysterious and terrifying down cur
rents which would deposit q pilot on
| the ground amidst O mass Of wreckage,
whether he would or no.
This small group OF airmail pilots
| was therefore instructed by the War
| Department to sit down on the closest
field at the approach of bad weather.
am glad to be able to record the fact
| that these instructions were gradually
and quietly ignored, SO that before the
new service was more than n month old
these supposedly terrible weather con-
diti01S had been met and largely con-
quered. II it had not been so, the Post
Office authorities would have given up
the experiment as impracticable. Who
can now measure the paralyzing results
Of such q setback?
There were other handicaps. One
Of these was the Washington terminus Of
the airmail line. The contrast is laugh
able in comparison with the present
successful agitation for huge airports.
Our field in 1918 was the Polo Field
in East Potomac Park, an area about
1000 feet long and 400 wide, oval in
| shape and entirely surrounded by 60
foot trees. To maks the situation more
enjoyable, o covered bandstand stood