page_title: Johnny Miller (aviator)
section_title: Kellett
hierarchical_section_title: Johnny Miller (aviator) / Autogyros / Kellett
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: Shuttle mail delivery demonstrated. Washington, D.C., May 19. The feasibility of a shuttle airmail service was demonstrated here today as part of National Airmail Week when an autogyro, piloted by John Miller, landed on the city post office grounds with a cargo of mail from the branch post office at Washington airport. The U.S. Capitol can be seen in the background, 5/19/38
context_page_description: John MacDonald Miller was a barnstorming pilot, the first person to make a US transcontinental flight in a rotorcraft, the first to land a rotorcraft on the roof of a building, and the first to fly a scheduled US mail rotorcraft service. He was also a test pilot and airline captain. He became the oldest active pilot in the US, making his first flight on his 18th birthday and ending at the age of 101. He died aged 102.
context_section_description: Kellett had obtained a licence to produce Pitcairn autogyros, and asked Miller to be the test pilot for his new wingless version, the two-seat KD-1. The D in the name stood for Direct control, meaning that the rotor was responsible for all aerodynamic control, so that ailerons (and therefore the wings), elevators and indeed airspeed were no longer required. Other test pilots had declined to fly it, fearing for the safety of the aircraft, but Miller, thoroughly understanding the principles involved, was convinced that the radical new design would be safe, and accepted Kellett's offer. The testing went well, Miller even becoming the first pilot to dive an autogyro – the advancing rotors went near-supersonic and caused severe problems for Miller, but he survived, shaken but unscathed, and the aircraft sustained only minor damage, mainly to the rotor blades. The inspector who had asked for this test then declined to pass the aircraft but Miller told him that any aircraft subject to that level of abuse where it and the pilot both survived was obviously worthy of a certificate, and the inspector agreed.
  This success emboldened Kellett and Miller to lobby Washington to enable regular autogyro mail services to start, and an act was passed on 15 April 1938. Remarkably, the act released rotary-winged aircraft from most of the safety provisions that applied to fixed-wing aircraft, mainly on account of their ability to land safely almost anywhere in the event of an emergency. This exemption largely continues into the 21st century.
  Kellett then approached several airlines to bid on mail contracts for an autogyro service. At first only TWA was interested, but Miller thought that they just wanted the publicity. He made two demonstration flights for them between the Chicago postal facility and Chicago Municipal Airport (now Midway Airport), but TWA then rejected the idea.
  Kellett and Miller then approached Eddie Rickenbacker of Eastern Air Lines with a view to using Kellett autogyros to fly the mail between the main post office in Philadelphia and the nearby Camden Central Airport in New Jersey, a distance of just under six miles, crossing the Delaware River and saving a considerable amount of time. Rickenbacker was very enthusiastic and agreed to run a one-year trial. He offered Miller the job as chief pilot of the operation. To Kellett's surprise, Miller asked for twice the amount that Kellett was paying him, and Rickenbacker agreed, even offering to take him on as a regular pilot if the mail service ended.
  On 19 May 1938, on behalf of Eastern Air Lines, Miller made a demonstration mail flight in the prototype KD-1, now modified into a KD-1A with a mail compartment in place of the front cockpit, from the Bethesda, Maryland, postal station to a temporary post office tent outside the main DC post office (now the National Postal Museum), as well as a trip from the DC post office to Washington Hoover airport. Kellett then designed a new version, the KD-1B, with a canopy enclosing the rear, pilot's seat, a radio, blind-flying instruments, a landing light and other changes to Eastern's requirements.
  The Eastern Air Lines mail service, no AM2001, started on 6 June 1939. after Miller had done several practice flights, mainly to get used to the often severe turbulence experienced on the roof of the post office. The new KD-1B was used, with the KD-1A held as a backup. A reserve pilot was recruited after Miller had to take two weeks off with influenza. This was John "Skipp" Lukens, the Pitcairn test pilot who had checked Miller out before he took delivery of his PCA-2. The service, the world's first rotary-wing mail service, and the first to use the roof of a building, ran five return flights a day, six days a week, with Miller doing the majority of the flying. and was a complete success, exceeding regularity expectations. There was only one minor incident when the autogyro, piloted by Lukens, was blown over by a 55 mph (89 km/h) wind on the post office roof while taxiing. Some debris from damaged rotor blades fell into the street below, leading
caption: Johnny Miller flying into Washington in the KD-1A on 19 May 1938
exif: {}