Major Fleet soon understood why these men were chosen. The Post Office Department made arrangements with the War Department to have Lts. The Post Office Department would choose the other two. He needed six and was told to choose four from whatever source he pleased. The problem that most troubled Major Fleet was finding capable pilots. This was done to prevent interference with training of Army pilots at nearby Mineola Field. August Belmont, President of the Belmont Park Race Track on Long Island, and asked permission to use the park as the New York terminus of the mail operation. Test flights proved that the modifications worked. When Colonel Deeds contacted the Curtiss factory, its engineers proposed doubling the fuel and oil capacity merely by hooking two nineteen-gallon gas tanks and two twelve-gallon oil tanks in tandem. “I’vet to have double the fuel and oil tank capacity, and we need those ships in eight days!” “In the front seat space, have them make a hopper or compartment up there to carry mailbags.” To the fast-moving, energetic Colonel Deeds, this didn’t sound impossible. “Tell them to leave the front seat out, and the front set of controls,” he said. He asked him to order six JN6Hs from the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co. Major Fleet departed and hurriedly called Col. He had already announced that Army Aerial Mail Service would begin May 15, he said, “and it’s going to start, even if your pilots have to land in cow pastures every few miles.” Secretary Baker listened to this unwelcome recitation and sent Major Fleet to repeat it to Postmaster General Albert S.
There was a shortage of experienced pilots, few had any cross-country experience, no maps except road maps were available, and good mechanics were extremely rare. Major Fleet explained that the “Jenny” was only a trainer, had dual controls for student and instructor, and had no baggage compartment for mail. Its maximum range is eighty-eight miles at sixty-six mph.’ The best plane we have is the Curtiss JN-6H, and it will fly only an hour and twenty minutes. Secretary, with all due respect, we don’t have any airplanes that can fly from Washington to Philadelphia to New York.
UNITED STATES AIRMAIL HOW TO
“I didn’t know how to tell this man who knew nothing about airplanes that he was giving me an almost impossible task. “I was dumbfounded,” Major Fleet confessed many years later. The first flight would leave Washington at 11 a.m. He was to pull together airplanes and pilots and begin daily operations on a Washington-Philadelphia-New York circuit. Major Fleet, the Secretary revealed, had been chosen to get the airmail started. Major Fleet was at work in his Washington office on May 6 when he was summoned by Secretary of War Newton D. Major Fleet (who one day would own his own aircraft company) had no reason to be concerned when he saw a War Department order dated May 3, 1918, that directed the young Air Service “to inaugurate an Aerial Mail Service between Washington, D. The British-designed de Havilland DH-4 trainers were flimsy and underpowered. There were not enough barracks, classrooms, instructors, or airplanes. His primary responsibility was to make combat pilots out of carpenters and college students and get them to France. “Hap” Arnold’s officer in charge of training pilots at thirty-four Army Air Service fields in the United States. A particularly nice example might sell for more than the amount listed, while a poor copy might be worth less.May 15, 1918, was a day some wanted to forget. The prices listed here are for well centered, undamaged stamps. The value of an individual stamp is dependent on its centering and condition.
Use these values as a guideline for evaluating the reasonableness of dealer prices, setting up trades with other collectors, and estimating the worth of your collection. They are derived from numerous sources such as dealer price lists, advertisements in philatelic publications, and public auction results. stamps are provided as a service to Hobbizine readers.
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