Evening star., 1938-05-15

Finally, however, q few minutes late,
the ship was serviced and President Wilson
personally handed the first pouch of mail
to Pilot 1t George Boyle. 1t Boyle took
off, but promptly lost his way and landed,
ironically enough, next door to the farm
Of Second Assistant Postmaster General
Otto Praeger, in charge Of the new airmail,
near Waldorf, Nd. This was. however.
the only bobble. - -
The first southbound airmail left Bel
mont Park on schedule. Capt. Webb, pilot,
The mail was transferred into It. Edger-
tons plane, which already held the mail
originating in Philadelphia and was flown
to Washington. Boy Scouts on bicycles
pedaled through the city making special
deliveries, and many Washingtonians re-
ceived by pm. mail which had left New
York at 10 am. The northbound Phila-
delphia mail finally was flown to New York
by Capt Culver when it became apparent
that the Washington mail was not coming.
Score, rs per cent.
Forced Down on Race Track.
On the morning Of May Is the mail OF
the unfortunate It. Boyle, returned to
Washington by truck, together with the
second days collections, was loaded aboard
1t. Edgerton's plane and flown to Phila-
delphia, whence Capt. Webb relayed it to
New York. 1t. Bonsal, southbound from
New York. was forced down in New Jersey
race track. crashing his plane to avoid
livestock. The mail was sent by automobile
to Bustleton and 1t. Walter Miller took
of with it for Washington, only to be
forced back by missing engine and ap-
preaching darkness.
Rather than risk failure for the
second day, 1t. Edgerton undertook night
flight, leaving Bustleton about 6 pm.
and arriving over the narrow, tree-circled
polo field at about $50 pm. Maj. Fleet
had gotten together q number of auto
mobiles and by the illumination of their
headlights the landing was made safely.
Score, delayed 100 per cent.
Chief handicap. of regularity Of air
mail service at the start was a psychologi-
cal dread Of bad weather. Thunderstorms
were considered almost certainly fatal and
the unwary pilot who was caught in any
kind of heavy storm and escaped was
living on borrowed time. The airmail
pilots, accordingly, were under War De-
partment instructions to get down into the
nearest field on the approach of bad
weather and there wait for conditions to
improve, regardless OF the effect on sched-
ules.
Il am glad to be able to record the
ually and quietly ignored, so that before
the new service was more than a month
old these supposedly terrible weather con-
ditions had been met and largely con-
quered," It. Edgerton recalls. If it had
not been so, the Post ONCE Department
would have given up the experiment as
impracticable. Who now can measure the
Polo Field Another Handicap.
The Polo Field, Washington terminus.
was another Of the handicaps which the
pioneer pilots had to overcome. Only
about 1000 feet long and 400 wide, it
was entirely surrounded by high trees.
The hangar stood in one end and band
stand about $50 feet from the other.
The field was sandwiched between
stretches OF water and there were ample
other hazards to care for forced land
ings in peremptory, unpleasant fashion.
The pilots were forced to make a fine
art Of sideslipping and nshtailing into
the narrow field in cross-winds. The me-
chanics became expert at 'bulldogging"
landing airplanes, catching fitting wing
tip and digging in as the hub Of q ground
loop. which usually resulted in the air.
plane missing the audience Of surround
ing trees. The day was scarcely complete
In which some overloaded airplane did
not bring In . garland Of leaves on it,