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From 1918-1927 the U.S. Postal Service flew it's own aircraft with hired civilian pilots. A fierce competition between the aerial mail and the railroads (who until this point in time transported most of the mail) ensued. In the beginning, Second Assistant Postmaster Otto Preager, wanting to make a name for himself, developed a "fly or be fired" policy in which the pilots would be forced to operate their rickety, war surplus planes in any type of weather. The American public called the pilots "heroes". The pilots called themselves "The Suicide Club" The transcontinental airmail route was laid out from Long Island, New York to San Francisco, California. The main route was broken into segments and worked like the pony express or a fireman’s “bucket brigade”. The route passed over every kind of terrain in the country including the snow covered Rocky Mountains. But the deadliest route was the Long Island to Cleveland flight with a refueling stopover at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. The danger was due to the unpredictable weather patterns and changing winds of the Allegheny Mountains. This mountain range contributed to the highest rate of accidents and deaths on the entire transcontinental route and became known to the pilots as “The Hell Stretch.”
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Actual scan of a cloth pilots map
showing route from Belmont Park to Bellefonte, PA
EARLY AIRCRAFT & BIPLANES
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WORLD WAR II
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KOREA &
VIETNAM ●
JETS & MODERN AIRCRAFT |
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