Evening star., 1938-05-15

spreader bar as guerdon of victory over
those same clutching trees
The Army continued operation Of its
pioneering airmail service over the 2ls-
mile route. with frequency of one
round trip day. Sundays excepted, until
August ~, 1918, when the service was
transferred to the Post Office Department,
which furnished its own equipment and
personnel. With the close of the war,
1t Edgerton was transferred to the postal
service and became chief Of operations
Of the service and established radio COM
munications service-only one of the orig
inal Army group to go into the civil air
mail service.
Begin Anniversary Celebration.
The Post Office Department is sponsor
ing one-week celebration beginning to-
day, the Goth anniversary of the first
flight, which will reach into every State
and a majority of the communities in the
United States Commissioning of "airmail
pilots for a day. and establishment of
temporary one-day airmail service to any
town or city in the United States which
has an airport and desires the service;
use of special commemorative airmail
cachets in every State; high school essay
and poster contests, with tranScontinental
all-expense tours as prizes; Nation-w wide
radio demonstrations and local exhibitions
and programs of all kinds are scheduled
Well may the Post Office Department
rejoice In the lusty growth of the most
youthful communications and transporta-
ton medium Within brief two decades
alrman volume has grown from a few
thousand air letters in 1918 to 760, 900 900
In 1887 Airmail service has become
vital factor in business and industry of
the Nation; could not be discontinued
industries which have keyed themselves up
to the new schedules which airmail offers.
So successful was the Army's opera
ton Of its experimental Washington-N
York route that the Post Office DEPART
ment, Immediately upon taking over the
service, began to prepare for extension of
airmail service. The first leg of q trans
continental route from New York to San
Francisco was established between Cleve-
land and Chicago, with stop at Bryan,
Ohio, on May is, 1919, the first ami
versary of the Armys Inauguration. The
second leg, New York Cleveland was estab-
lished July l, 1919, across the difficult and
dangerous Alleghenies.
Heroism and elf-Sacrifice.
During the fiscal year 1919 there were
in the air daily eight airmail planes,
flying an aggregate of 1905 miles daily.
Their record of performance was 1854
per cent, despite the fact that 80 per cent
Of the trips were flown in rain, fog mist
or other conditions of poor visibility. But
the early service was marked by blood,
heroism and self-sacrifice Fine fellows
went to their deaths in the Graveyard
Of the Airmail' west of Bellefonte, Pa.
On the blazing stars which forever light
the pathway Of the pioneering airmail
shine such names as Allison, Boonstra,
Ellis. Huhng, Knight, Levisee, Lewis,
Lange, Marshall, Mouton, Murray, Wesley
Smith. Vance and Winslow. E. Hamilton
Lee, dean Of them all, and Jack knight,
recently retired from active flying to an
executive post with United Air Lines, rank
especially high.
The second anniversary, May IS, 1920,
was celebrated with the Inauguration Of
the third leg of the transcontinental route,
from Chicago to Omaha by way of Iowa
City. The first feeder routes were estab-
lished that same Chicago-St Louis
on August 16 and Chicago Minneapolis on
December l. The final leg of the trans
continental was opened September 8, 1920.
from Omaha to San Francisco by way Of
North Platte, Nebr.; Cheyenne, Rawlins
and Rock Springs, Wyo.: Salt Lake City
and Elko and Reno, New. The initial
westbound trip was flown at an average
speed Of 80 miles per hour without forced
landing either for weather or mechanical