History on the Start of the US Air Mail - Term Paper Example

Running head: US Air mail History on the start of the U.S. Air Mail Air mail services are by far the most important mail services in United States. Mails are transported to different part of the world and across the country using all the means of transportation like road, rail, water and air. Mails were the important medium of communication between the people of different countries before the introduction of telephone and wireless communications. But the path from a conventional road or sea mail service system to the current air mail service system was painful. American postal department has to overcome lot of obstacle in order to develop such a fantastic air mail delivery system as witnessed by us now. Even the American Congress was not much interested in giving funding to the postal department for developing air mail system earlier. But the American military has come forward for the rescue of the postal department and they have extended great support to the postal department for developing air mail routes and to train the postal department pilots in using airplanes. Moreover, the American electrical companies has developed and provided navigation equipments for the usage of postal department planes and finally after watching the huge success of air mail system, American Congress also come forward to the rescue of the postal department. From there onwards American postal department never looked back and developed one of the most advanced air mail delivery system in the world. This paper analyses the American air mail history and early developments. Introduction Postal service was probably one of the ancient communication means in the world. Even though road, rail and sea paths were used earlier for mail deliveries, it caused lot of difficulties in sending and receiving mails through these mail methods. The need for fast delivery of mails has brought the idea of airmail delivery system. “THE FIRST aerial mail transportation may be traced back to 1870, when in that year letters were carried out of beleaguered Paris by free balloons, cast adrift in the winds.  The first of such flights was made on September 23, 1870, and carried 500 pounds of mail” (Keogh) The need for aerial route for fast mail delivery system has been realized even before the 20 th century. Most of the Airplanes which used earlier for war purposes were controlled by the military and hence air mail delivery using airplanes were not imaginable earlier. But the usefulness of airplanes in mail delivery has been realized by human kind at the beginning of the 20 th century itself and in countries like India, England and United States, demonstrations were made in the year 1911 onwards. “The first air mail service in the United States, was conducted at the aviation meeting at Nassau Boulevard, Long Island, N. Y., during the week of September 23 to 30, 1911” (Keogh) From there onwards the air mail history in United States has begun. “The Post Office Department took control of all aspects of Air Mail Service in August 1918, and set out to ensure the service would become a fundamental part of American life. Because of the financial advantages of ever-speedier mail service, banks and businesses were the first to recognize the potential of Air Mail Service. The general public viewed the early years of aviation as an adventurous curiosity” (Air Mail History Comes to Life) Even though the introduction of telephone and internet has affected the written form of postal communication a lot, still general public rely on airmail services for obtaining parcels and goods. No other communication mean is helpful in sending and receiving such material things and hence the relevance of postal service in general and airmail service in particular will never be lost in near future. Air Mail history of United States United States postal department has realized the immense possibilities of air mail services in order to provide fast and efficient mail delivery system to the people and in 1912 they have put forward recommendations to the American congress for sanctioning them a fund of $ 50000 to conduct an experimental service. But the Congress has denied the approval and the air mail delivery system has been delayed further. In 1918, Congress appropriated $100,000 to establish experimental airmail routes, and the Post Office Department urged the Army Signal Corps to lend its planes and pilots to the Post Office to start an airmail service. Congress was reluctant initially in sanctioning more funds to the airmail services. But impressed by the huge success of the experimental routes in which airmail service was implemented, Congress later sanctioned another $1,250,000 for the expansion of airmail service, especially ground facilities, and the Post Office Department went on to install additional landing fields, as well as towers, beacons, searchlights, and boundary markers across the country. (U.S. Postal System 1775-1993) Even though Congress was suspicious initially about the success of the airmail system, the war department had no such doubts. In fact, US postal department has got more cooperation from the war department and they have started to implement air mail services experimentally on some selected routes. “In 1911 and 1912, the Department authorized 52 experimental flights at fairs, carnivals, and air meets in more than 25 states (U.S. Postal System 1775-1993)” “The department used mostly World War I surplus de Havilland DH-4 aircraft, which were flimsy and not designed for long cross-country flights. Another popular plane was the Standard Aircraft Company JR-1B, which could carry 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of mail as well as 60 gallons (227 liters) of fuel” (The Post Office Flies the Mail, 1918-1924). By 1918, the US postal department was able to purchase some airplanes for their own use and they have started air mail services initially on three different routes; all starting from New York. “On February 22, 1921, mail was flown both day and night for the first time over the entire distance from San Francisco to New York” (U.S. Postal System 1775-1993) The early 1920’s has witnessed revolutionary changes in the airmail delivery system. Amidst the growing concerns over the safety of operating flights in bad weather, even the night flight services were also started during this period with the help of advanced navigation equipments and lighting system. The night services have improved the postal delivery even further. “The first commercial airmail flight in the United States occurred on February 15, 1926” (U.S. Postal System 1775-1993) “By 1924, coast-to-coast airmail service had developed, using light beacons to guide open-cockpit planes at night. Correspondence from New York now arrived on the west coast in two days instead of five days by railway.” (History of flight) Immediately after the beginning of the airmails service, people began to realize the utility of it and airmail service became popular within a short time period. The immense volume of time saved has created heavy impacts in business sector also. The clearance of bank checks and other business communications has accomplished at a rapid pace which has boosted the business sector. Early pilots that flew the mail The current airmail services and the current generation should thank the earlier pilots who sacrificed their life by operating the airplanes in bad climatic conditions in order to deliver the mails in time. “Tragically, of the 40 pilots hired when the Post Office took over airmail operations, at least half had died by 1920, most from weather-related crashes. In July 1919, pilot Leon Smith refused to fly the mail from New York to Washington, D.C., because of rain, clouds, and visibility of only 200 feet (61 meters)” (The Post Office Flies the Mail, 1918-1924) Some of the pilots who refused to operate the flight on rough weather conditions were dismissed from the services earlier. “Airmail pilots were the glamour boys of the operation. A breed apart, they were the envy of every kid in the nation who could look up and see a lonely biplane with "U.S. Mail" painted on its fuselage winging its way across the sky” (Wright) The glamour and proud obtained through the operation of US airmail carriers, has resulted in many youths coming forward to undertake this profession even though it was dangerous and lot of accidents were took place. Routes that progressed through the early years of the Air Mail in US “On May 15, 1918, the first air mail route in the United States was established between New York, N. Y., and Washington, D. C., with a stop at Philadelphia, Pa., for the exchange of mails or plane. The distance of the route was approximately 218 miles and the frequency of service was one round trip daily, except Sunday” (Keogh) It was not possible for the earlier aircrafts to fly long distances at a stretch and hence the mails and planes were exchanged in between New York and Philadelphia. In July itself another route has been established from New York and Chicago and New York and San Francisco. Trains were also used in between the plane routes in order to deliver the mails as fast as possible.” On the Cleveland-Chicago route mail from the east was taken from the train at Cleveland in the morning and flown to Chicago in time for the last city delivery, saving approximately 16 hours in time. On the eastbound trips mail was flown from Chicago to overtake the mail train at Cleveland, which reached New York at 9:40 the following morning, thereby effecting a saving in time of approximately 16 hours in the delivery of mail to New York City and the New England States” (Keogh) Motivated by the huge success of ail mail services in the above mentioned routes, the US postal department has started the third leg of transcontinental route of air mail services from 1920 May 15 onwards. Chicago, Ill., to Omaha, Nebr., via Iowa City, Iowa, routes were established during this period, performing service similar to that performed on the routes between New York and Chicago. On August 16, 1920, a route was established between Chicago and St. Louis, and on December 1 of the same year a route was also established between Chicago and Minneapolis. Omaha, Nebr., to San Francisco, Calif., via North Platte, Nebr., Cheyenne, Rawlins and Rock Springs, Wyo., Salt Lake City Utah, and Elko and Reno, Nevada routes were inaugurated on September 8, 1920 (Keogh) “Regularly scheduled transcontinental service began on July 1, 1924, using pilots leaving from both the East and West coasts. The pilots also began regular night flights. They were guided by a lighted transcontinental airway with rotating beacons and brightly” (The Post Office Flies the Mail, 1918-1924) Navigation aids used for Aircrafts “The lack of ground lighting made night flying impossible, so mailbags were taken off airplanes at night and placed on mail trains, which sped them on their way” (Air Mail History Comes to Life) Navigation was the major problem faced by the airplanes carrying mails during the initial periods of air mail services. Bad climates and weather conditions often caused stiff challenges to the pilots of these planes. Night landing was the most difficult thing for the pilots and in order to help them different types of beacon lights and landing equipments were developed by different American electrical companies. “Beacon lights were installed between Chicago and Cheyenne, planes equipped with landing lights, emergency fields prepared, lighted and marked, and terminal fields lighted” (Keogh) The navigation lights of these planes were similar to the one used in ships, but of course it was smaller compared to the lights of the ships. The left wing of these airplanes was installed with a red light and a green light installed on the right wing for navigation purposes. The tail of these planes was equipped with a white light. Moreover these flights were equipped with parachutes as well for emergency landing cases. “A 36-inch-high intensity arc revolving searchlight of approximately 500,000 candlepower was installed on a 50-foot tower at the regular fields. This great beacon, set at a fraction of a degree above the horizon, revolved at the rate of three times per minute and on clear nights could be seen by the pilots for a distance of 130 to 150 miles” (Keogh) “By November 1921, 10 radio stations were installed along the New York-San Francisco routes to transmit weather forecasts” (The Post Office Flies the Mail, 1918-1924) Weather forecasting was the biggest challenge faced by the postal department for air mail delivery in its early stages. Lot of pilots were died due to poor weather conditions while they were trying to operate the plain even in bad climatic conditions in order to ensure timely delivery of mails. Weather conditions will be different in different locations and hence it was impractical to get the accurate weather information using the conventional methods. Radio stations positioned in between the routes helped the pilots in identifying the climate and taking precautionary measures. Earlier airmail services were operated with the help of private air transport companies. The heavy commission received by the private air transporters (around 80% of the face value of the mails) attracted many private business groups to this field. In fact, only a handful of contractors were awarded routes at first, though more than 5,000 companies submitted bids. Henry Ford held two of the contracts— Contract Air Mail, or CAM - 6 and 7 (Detroit—Cleveland and Detroit—Chicago). (Air Mail) Conclusions Airmail postal system has developed in the world during the second decade of the 20 th century. The requirement for fast delivery of postal goods has encouraged the postal authorities to think in terms of a airmail delivery system. Initially though the US congress has certain apprehensions with respect to the success of such a system, later they also realized the immense advantage of such a system for the global people in general and the business people in particular. US war department has encouraged such a system even from the beginning and they have contributed a lot in developing airmail system in the present forma by providing airplanes and pilots to the postal department of US. Navigation was the major problem apart from bad climatic conditions initially for the pilots to operate airplanes during the early part of the airmail delivery process. But later better navigation systems helped the pilots to operate the airplanes even during night times in 1920’s. Even though lot of pilots sacrificed their life during the initial part of the airmail delivery system, lots of youths came forward to this profession because of the glamour and proud attached to this profession. References 1. Air Mail History Comes to Life,2008, Retrieved on 16 September 2009 from http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/localnews/oh/oh_2008_0902.htm 2. Air Mail, Retrieved on 16 September 2009 from http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/coming%20of%20age/air%20mail.htm 3. History of flight, 2009, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 16, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/210191/history-of-flight 4. Keogh Edward A., 1927, A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AIR MAIL SERVICE OF THE U. S. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Retrieved on 16 September 2009 from http://www.airmailpioneers.org/history/Sagahistory.htm 5. The Post Office Flies the Mail, 1918-1924, Retrieved on 16 September 2009 from http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Government_Role/1918-1924/POL3.htm 6. U.S. Postal System 1775-1993, 2009, Retrieved on 16 September 2009 from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmailus3.htm 7. Wright Nancy Allison, Remember the Air Mail Pioneers, 2001, Retrieved on 16 September 2009 from http://www.airmailpioneers.org/history/article1.html Read More