Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-05-15
RITE TODAY OPENS
A|RMA|L WEEK
Mrs. Roosevelt to Receive
First Sheet of Stamps
From Postmaster.

National Airmail Week will be
opened ofiicially here at / o'clock this
afternoon when the first sheet Of the
new Scent airmail stamps will be
presented to Mrs. Franklin d. Roose-
welt by Postmaster Vincent C. Burke.
This ceremony will take place on the
Commerce Department plan. ut
Fourteenth street and Pennsylvania
avenue NV. where the flagship, Dis
trict Of Columbia, Of American Air
lines has been set up as . special
air mail substation, to stay in opera
tion the rest Of the week.
This will be followed by = Commute
program over the Mutual broadcasting
system in which Mrs. Roosevelt will
take part with Harllee Branch, second
Assistant Postmaster General.
Ts Re-enect First Flight.
Postal officials from Washington
and other guests then will fly to
Newark. leaving there Mt ) O'Clock over
Eastern Airlines in q re-enactment
Of the first New-Washington air
mail flight 20 years ago.
Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, noted
World War flyer and president Of
Eastern, and Dick Merrill of trans
Atlantic fame will be in charge Of the
trip. The party will include James c.
Edgerton and George l. Boyle, who
flew the north and south inaugural
trips Of the airmail in 1918; Mr..
Branch. Postmaster Burke, and two
men who had an active part in the
initial fiight-William H. Haycock.
now assistant postmaster here. who at
that time was superintendent Of mails.
and Merritt o. Chance. then post
master at Washington.
The days Observance will be con-
cluded ut . dinner at the Mayflower
at 7 o'clock tonight when the winner
in the National Air Mail Essay Con-
test will be announced. The contest.
for school boys and girls, was sponsored
by II air lines. the Greater National
Capital Committee of Washington and
the Post ONCE Department. All the
State winners are to attend the dinner
All-Expense Trip Is Prize.
The prize is a five-day, all-expense
trip to Hollywood or Miami.
The speakers will be Mrs Roosevelt,
Mr.. Branch, Ambrose O'Connell, ex-
ecutive assistant to the Postmaster
General; Thomas W. Bird, chairman
Of the Contest Board, and Paul
Younts. executive chairman of the
Air Mail Week Campaign
After today, Flagship Station will
be open from 8 am. until midnight
daily. through Saturday. In addition
to offering postal facilities. the plane
is open to inspection. With 1t are
two exhibits from the Bureau of Air
Commerce. teletype outfit used for
transmitting weather reports, and a
beacon light Of the type used on
Always.
An exhibit also has been arranged
in the lobby Of the City Post Once,
at North Capitol street and Massachu-
sets avenue. There the cabin of an
Eastern Air Lines plane has been set
up, equipped with radio apparatus
that will receive reports from planes
flying on regular service A broadcast
over q National Broadcasting Co.
hook-up has been arranged there from
1880 to 11:45 am. tomorrow, with
the participants including Senate Ma
jority Leader Barley and House
Leader Rayburn.
New Stamps Go on Sale.
The new air mail stamps went on
sale at the City Post Office and the
BENJAMIN Franklin Station in the
Post Once Department Building at
8 O'Clock this morning. The depart
ment has arranged a special cachet
for the observance.
On Wednesday. several hundred
flyers over the country will be sworn
in as special air mail pilots for a one
day mail service for their communities
which are not on regular routes.
As an added attraction of the show
here today, Marion Weldon. a Para
"starlet." Is scheduled to f1y in
from Hollywood to present to Post
master General Farley a 2-foot scale
model OF the type Of plane used in
transcontinental service in the early
days.