History of Airmail in the United States: Origins to WWII

Introduction

In the Age of Information, many observers suggest that email, instant messaging, and text messaging have virtually replaced the need for a national postal service in the United States. Yet the fact remains that the U.S. Postal Service continues to deliver billions of pieces of mail each year and represents the largest service of its kind in the world. Although various classes of mail receive different levels of treatment, much of the U.S. mail continues to be delivered by air, following a long tradition established more than 90 years ago. The importance of airmail service to the development of the United States cannot be overstated, having contributed to both the development of the interior portions of the country and the promotion of interest and investment in aviation research and development that continues today.

This paper provides an examination of the history and importance of airmail, including a discussion of the Contract Airmail Act, the Air Commerce Act, airmail during World Wars I and II, and how airmail and cargo fit into today's economy. A summary of the research and important findings are provided in the conclusion.

Background and Overview

Today, the U.S. Postal Service delivers almost half of the entire world's card and letter mail using an assortment of "planes, trains, trucks, cars, boats, ferries, helicopters, bicycles, hovercrafts, subways and even mules" (Facts and figures about the Postal Service, 2008, p. 3). The history of the Postal Service's use of airplanes to deliver mail throughout the United States and abroad is certainly not new, and it is as colorful as the early pioneers who barnstormed their way across the country, introducing aviation to all comers. Nevertheless, many people today may not realize that the history of airmail in the United States is fundamentally different from that of passenger services. As one historian notes, "The Post Office Department's most extraordinary role in transportation was probably played in the sky, a role, unfortunately, little known today other than to postal employees and the pioneers of American aviation" (U.S. Postal System 1775–1993, 2008, p. 3). Likewise, in 1941, Glover and Cornell reported that "the aeronautical industry of today is in reality two industries. One is concerned with the manufacture of airplanes, engines, and such accessories as propellers, tires and instruments; the other, with the transportation of mail, passengers, and merchandise on regular schedules over established routes. The problems and history of each are quite different" (p. 707).

Although the pace of research and development in the aviation industry would gain incredible speed in later years, the United States government was initially reluctant to invest much time or resources in the newly invented airplane. For example, "In 1905, the War Department refused three separate offers by the Wright brothers to share their scientific discoveries on air flights. Even after the brothers had satisfied many European nations in 1908 that air flight was feasible, America owned only one dilapidated plane" (U.S. Postal System 1775–1993, p. 4). By sharp contrast, the U.S. Post Office Department, as it was called at the time, believed that airplanes held significant promise for their purposes and authorized the first experimental mail flight in 1911 during an aviation meet on Long Island in New York (U.S. Postal System 1775–1993).

While regular airmail service was still in the future, there were signs that things were changing in major ways both in terms of the technology involved and how people were viewing the airplane. For example, "Earle Ovington, sworn in as a mail carrier by Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock, made daily flights between Garden City and Mineola, New York, dropping his mail bags from the plane to the ground where they were picked up by the Mineola postmaster. Later, 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, p. 4).

Based on the positive results from these early experimental flights, the Post Office recognized the potential for airplanes to carry a payload of mail, and postal authorities sought approval from Congress after 1912 to appropriate money to begin regular airmail service in the United States. As a result, Congress appropriated $50,000 from the budget for steam-and-powerboat service, and additional airmail experiments were continued during 1916 (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1993). It is important to keep in mind that these early efforts by the Post Office to apply new technologies to the task at hand must have been a risky endeavor, given how recent the advent of flight was and how significant the amounts of money involved were at the time. The Post Office placed requests for proposals in both Massachusetts and Alaska; however, it failed to receive any bids that would provide the service with aircraft usable for their purpose (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1993). Despite these initial setbacks, Congress appropriated an additional $100,000 in 1918 to establish further experimental airmail routes, and the Post Office Department sought the assistance of the Army Signal Corps to provide the service with both planes and pilots for its initial airmail service. This approach was viewed as a win-win situation by both the Post Office and the military authorities involved: "Carrying the mail, the Department argued, would provide invaluable cross-country experience to student flyers. The Secretary of War agreed" (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1993, p. 5).

The evolution of the aviation industry in the U.S. largely parallels the development of airmail service. By the turn of the 20th century, people in the United States had become accustomed to traveling long distances by train, which offered a number of advantages over other forms of existing transportation, including aircraft. As Heppenheimer (2001) points out, "The railroads had a quarter million miles of right-of-way in service, and offered both comfort and speed. Airplanes were faster, but not by much, and train stations were located downtown, where they offered particular convenience" (p. 154). The introduction of airmail service and competition for government contracts was responsible in large part for changing this public perception early on. According to Malin (1930), "The first field of government activity in civil aviation was the establishment of air-mail service between Washington and New York in May, 1918. This was owned and operated by the government. In 1919 the first division of transcontinental service was opened from Chicago to Cleveland, and during the next year the Cleveland–New York division and the Chicago–San Francisco division. Until 1924, when night flying was begun, the service was by train and plane" (p. 153). The first U.S. Postal Air Mail Service pilot was Max Miller, who flew a 1916 Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny" aircraft with a maximum speed of 75 miles per hour (Boston, 2005).

During its first quarter of operations, the Post Office employed Army pilots and six JN-4H Jenny training planes (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1998). "On August 12, 1918, the Post Office took over all phases of the airmail service, using newly hired civilian pilots and mechanics and six specially built mail planes from the Standard Aircraft Corporation" (U.S. Postal System 1775–1993, p. 5). There were truly "daring young men" in some otherwise primitive flying machines: "These early mail planes had no instruments, radios, or other navigational aids. Pilots flew by dead reckoning or 'by the seat of their pants.' Forced landings occurred frequently because of bad weather, but fatalities in those early months were rare, largely because of the small size, maneuverability, and slow landing speed of the planes" (U.S. Postal System 1775–1993, pp. 5–6).

The "invisible hand" played a role in how airmail evolved as well, with the American public making clear early on what type of airmail services they were willing to support and how much they were willing to pay. Although Congress had set airmail postage rates at 24 cents (including special delivery), most people refused to pay for the more costly service, and regular mail articles accounted for fully 50% of the mail carried by airmail service airplanes during the first year of regular service (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1993).

The Post Office's long-term plans for expanding airmail service to the entire country began with an envisioned transcontinental air route stretching from New York to San Francisco, intended in large part to help overcome the American public's initial reluctance to use the more expensive airmail service. The first segment of this transcontinental route began service in 1919 and ran from Cleveland to Chicago, with a layover in Bryan, Ohio; from there, airmail planes traveled to New York and Cleveland with another layover at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1993). A third segment was established in 1920 and ran from Chicago to Omaha by way of Iowa City, with feeder lines from St. Louis and Minneapolis to Chicago (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1993). The final transcontinental segment was established on September 8, 1920, and ran from Omaha to San Francisco by way of North Platte, Cheyenne, Rawlins, Rock Springs, Salt Lake City, Elko, and Reno (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1993).

One of the more interesting aspects of this early transcontinental route was the need to remove all mail from airplanes at the end of the day and place it on trains for continuation of the service at night, since these early aircraft were unable to fly in darkness. Despite this added constraint, the transcontinental route managed to improve delivery times over train-only delivery service by almost a full day — 22 hours (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1993).

Another innovation directly tied to the introduction of airmail service was the push to establish more radio stations across the country in order to provide airmail pilots with timely weather information. In response to this need, the Post Office began installing radio stations at each of its airfields in August 1920, and by November of that year ten radio stations were in operation (including two Navy stations) (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1993). "When airmail traffic permitted, other government departments used the radios instead of the telegraph for special messages, and the Department of Agriculture transmitted weather forecasts and stock market reports over the radios" (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1993, p. 6).

From its beginnings just a year and a half before, the Post Office succeeded in transporting airmail across the country by February 22, 1921, with airplanes flying at night as well, thereby eliminating the time-consuming step of transferring mail from planes to trains each night. In response to these successes, Congress appropriated an additional $1,250,000 to further expand airmail service, with much of this allocation devoted to improved ground facilities (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1993). These early government and Post Office Department efforts were directly responsible for contributing to an aviation industry infrastructure that would continue to facilitate growth for years to come. Based on this supplemental appropriation, the Post Office built additional landing fields, towers, beacons, searchlights, and boundary markers across the nation; in addition, the department equipped its aircraft with luminescent instruments, navigational lights, and parachute flares to improve flight safety at night (U.S. Postal Systems 1775–1993). As a result of its effort to improve service and pilot safety, the Post Office was awarded the Collier Trophy for its significant contributions to the development of aeronautics, especially its safety record, and for demonstrating the feasibility of night flying in 1922 and 1923; an airmail pilot also received the first Harmon Trophy for advancing aviation in 1926 (U.S. Postal System 1775–1993).

Thereafter, Chicago was designated as the hub for the nation's midcontinental service, with lateral lines being established by 1928 to St. Paul, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Detroit, San Antonio, and Galveston by way of Kansas City and Dallas. Salt Lake City became the center of mountain service, with radiating lines through Boise to Pasco, Washington, then to Great Falls, Montana and subsequently to Los Angeles (Malin). Pacific-coast lines connected San Francisco north to Seattle and south to Los Angeles, while Atlantic-coast lines reached New Orleans and Miami (Malin). In the midst of all of this innovation and development, a series of important legislative initiatives would further fuel growth in both the aviation industry and airmail service, discussed further below.

In 1925, Congress passed the Contract Air Mail Act, which provided that the nation's airmail routes were to be assigned to commercial carriers serving particular connections under contract (Heppenheimer, 2001). It is significant to note that these early airlines were nothing like their modern-day counterparts. As Heppenheimer emphasizes, "These carriers were not major enterprises with coast-to-coast service, such as the future TWA or American Airlines. They were more like Robertson Aircraft Corporation, which carried the mail from St. Louis to Chicago, numbering Lindbergh as one of its pilots. Even so, with airmail providing a steady source of revenue, this law encouraged the growth of start-up airlines that had considerably better prospects. These start-ups carried mail, not passengers; if they indeed carried paying travelers, it was merely as a sideline. But they provided day-by-day scheduled flights along marked routes, thereby laying groundwork for the passenger lines of subsequent years" (p. 154).

In his book Eastern's Armageddon, Saunders (1992) reports that, "In the early 1920s, civil aviation consisted mainly of 'barnstorming, stunt flying, and occasional charter trips.' Everything changed in 1925 when the Contract Air Mail Act was passed. Sponsored by Pennsylvania Representative Clarence Kelly, the bill gave the job of flying the mail to private contractors. Thousands of bids began pouring in within weeks. Among the successful bidders was Pitcairn Aviation," the predecessor to Eastern Airlines (p. 24). By mid-1928, Pitcairn was responsible for carrying almost 33% of all of the nation's total airmail mileage (Saunders).

According to Duke and Torres (2005), "The air transportation industry has experienced rapid growth since its origins dating back to the Contract Air Mail Act of 1925, and this growth has been accompanied by growth in the quantity and complexity of the capital stock. A number of important technological innovations — before and during regulation — made airplanes safer, faster, and more efficient, helping to attract passengers away from other means of transportation such as railroads" (p. 33). Johnson (1938) reports that "The substitution of contract service in place of government transportation of air mail was made possible by the passage of the Air Mail Act approved February 2, 1925. Congress had regarded the performance of the service by the Government as a temporary measure to be given up when regular air-line carriers had become able to perform the service under contract" (p. 604).

The Contract Air Mail Act of 1925

Pursuant to the authority provided the postmaster general by the Act of 1925, the postal service arranged periodic contracts for service over one route after another; by the end of 1927, the Post Office Department had ceased to concern itself with the operation of airplanes and with the creation and equipping of airways (Johnson, p. 604). Likewise, Malin reports that "Air-mail postage was fixed by act of Congress (May 10, 1918) at not to exceed twenty-four cents an ounce or a fraction thereof. The service was operated by the Postmaster General until 1926" (Malin, p. 154).

The prevailing sentiment against government operation, except in the experimental stage when the government was to bear the losses, dictated a transfer to private operation. An act of February 2, 1925, was passed "to encourage commercial aviation and to authorize the Postmaster-General to contract for air-mail service" (quoted in Malin at p. 155). Postage rates at the time were to be not less than ten cents an ounce, and contracts with private operators were stipulated not to exceed four-fifths of the revenues collected for airmail and were not to exceed four-fifths of the revenues from other first-class mail (Malin). According to Malin, "The contract price was changed by an act of June 3, 1926, to a fixed rate per pound. Rates for air mail were not to exceed three dollars per pound for the first thousand miles and thirty cents per pound for each additional hundred miles. Rates on other first-class mail were not to exceed sixty cents per pound for the first thousand miles and six cents for each additional hundred" (p. 155). During Fiscal Year 1928, air mail contractors were paid $4,042,777 for transporting 1,861,800 pounds of mail; because the average piece of first-class mail weighed 0.433 ounce, the receipts from postage represented approximately $3,425,712 (Malin).

The transfer to private operation was completed rapidly, with the last contract — covering the New York to Chicago division — being announced on April 3, 1927, at $1.24 per pound to National Air Transport, Inc. This company also operated the Chicago–Dallas line. These mail contracts were in the nature of a subsidy to commercial aviation, since it was intended that private operators would develop express and passenger service alongside mail service. By the end of 1928, airmail fliers were traveling 25,385 miles daily (Malin, p. 156).

The postal rate actually charged under the act of 1925 was ten cents per half ounce. An act of May 17, 1928, reduced the minimum rate to five cents per ounce, with a new schedule announced to take effect August 1 at five cents for the first ounce and ten cents for each additional ounce. The act also provided that mail contracts on air routes might be extended for ten years after the service had been successfully handled for two years. The effect of the new rate was reported by the Post Office Department on December 5, 1928, to have about doubled the amount of mail handled. The annual deficit was estimated at between $5,000,000 and $7,000,000 (Malin).

The first step in crafting a comprehensive national policy for civil aviation was undertaken by President Woodrow Wilson in his recommendations to Congress on February 26, 1919, concerning legislation that would assign licensing and regulation of aviation responsibilities to the Department of Commerce; however, no action was taken on the proposal at the time (Malin). By November 1925, though, a report on civil aviation was provided by a committee appointed by the Department of Commerce with the American Engineering Council; J. Walker Drake, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, served as chairman of the committee (Malin). This early report indicated that in 1918 there were 24 airplane factories in the United States with a combined capital investment of $22,000,000; by 1925 these numbers had decreased to fourteen plants with a total capital investment of $4,000,000 (Malin). This decrease was attributed to the government's failure after the armistice to "formulate and put into operation a continuing aviation policy" (quoted in Malin at p. 155). The committee's additional recommendations included the following:

The government should license pilots and inspect planes. It should "develop, establish, or take over and maintain air routes and air navigation facilities," marking and lighting airways and emergency landing fields. The International Air Convention of 1919 should be ratified. The government should engage in no flying activities that could be "properly performed by private operation," and the use of aircraft should be extended in all practicable fields. Congress should authorize a reasonable use of army, navy, and airmail fields for commercial aircraft. Airmail should be transferred to private operation. Government research should be conducted in aircraft design, and special types of aircraft should be purchased by the government from private builders. Competitive bidding should be abolished and provision made for "equitable compensation to the manufacturer for design and development of aircraft." The export of aircraft should be encouraged, not restricted because of fear of military use (Malin).

Clearly, the Contract Air Mail Act of 1925 was also responsible for fueling an enormous amount of research and development that contributed to the rapid evolution of the aviation industry in the United States during this period. Following closely on the heels of the Contract Air Mail Act, and further facilitating the development of the aviation industry, was the Air Commerce Act of 1926, discussed further below.

Conclusion

The Post Office did not rest on its laurels after World War II. On June 8, 1959, in an effort to take advantage of new technologies that emerged during the war, the Post Office attempted to make airmail service even faster by using military missiles. In an initiative described by one postal official as being "of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world," a U.S. Navy submarine launched a guided missile carrying 3,000 pieces of airmail from the Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Mayport, Florida (History of the Post Office Making the Mail Faster). The postal representative was quoted as saying: "Before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles — missile mail" (History of the Post Office Making the Mail Faster, p. 2). Although this effort was not as successful as its proponents had hoped, the fact that the Post Office was willing to attempt such innovations is indicative of its commitment to promoting faster and more efficient airmail service using whatever technology was available. As the historians note, "History proved differently, but this experiment with missile mail exemplifies the pioneering spirit of the Post Office Department when it came to developing faster, better ways of moving the mail" (History of the Post Office Making the Mail Faster, p. 2).

The research showed that the history of regular airmail service in the United States dates back more than 90 years to 1918, though experimental service was operated for several years prior to that time. The research also showed that the U.S. government's efforts to promote airmail service were directly responsible in many ways for the development and evolution of the aviation industry in the United States — in ways that continue to influence the industry today — including improved flight safety features and ground-based weather and radio facilities. Outsourcing airmail service to private competitors by virtue of the Contract Air Mail Act and the Air Commerce Act of 1926 had a long-lasting impact on the aviation industry. It is reasonable to conclude that the United States would have been less well equipped to wage both world wars in the air had it not been for these early efforts to develop and improve airmail service across the country.