Transcontinental airmail re-enactment includes stop in Iowa City this week; US Post Office authorizes New York to San Francisco delivery

From Aero-News Network:

Historic Aircraft To Cross The Country September 10-15...Boeing and Jeppesen will sponsor the 2008 transcontinental airmail re-enactment, a five-day cross-country trip that commemorates the 90th anniversary of air mail service in the US ...Over the next four days, the planes will stop in Bryan, OH (OG6); Chicago Lansing (IGQ);

Boeing and Jeppesen will sponsor the 2008 transcontinental airmail re-enactment, a five-day cross-country trip that commemorates the 90th anniversary of air mail service in the US ...

Over the next four days, the planes will stop in Bryan, OH (OG6); Chicago Lansing (IGQ); Iowa City (IOW); Omaha, NE (OMA); North Platte (LBF); Cheyenne, WY (CYS); Rawlins (RWL); Rock Springs (RKS); Salt Lake City, UT (SLC); Elko, NV (EKO); and Reno (RNO). ...

Here's a recent Gazette article about commemorative Iowa flights between Blakesburg, Ottumwa and Iowa City: Antique airplanes deliver the mail to Iowa City

And related transcontinental airmail history from Mike Deupree in a 1976 Gazette column:

The post office department began experimenting with short airmail routes, mainly along the east coast, at the end of World War I, and gradually expanded until by 1921 the planes were flying the mail between San Francisco and New York.They flew only in daylight, putting the mail on trains at night, and by 1921 had lopped 18 hours off the time it took for mail to cross the nation by trains, alone.That was a critical year for aviation, because most members of congress had decided airmail was a failure. The Wilson administration, including aviation booster Otto Praeger, the assistant postmaster general, was going out of office and the end of the airmail seemed unavoidable.In an effort to save the service, volunteer pilots decided to fly the mail, both day and night, from San Francisco to New York. They picked Washington's birthday, despite the dangerous winter weather, for the demonstration.There were no beacons, landing lights or navigational aids, except bonfires lighted along the route by farmers.That dramatic flight, along with a great deal more early airline history, is described in Frank J. Taylor's book, "High Horizons".Four pilots had combined to carry the mailbags from San Francisco to North Platte, Neb., by way of Reno, Salt Lake City and Cheyenne.At North Platte, Jack Knight was held up for three hours by a snowstorm, then took off for Omaha, where another pilot was supposed to fly on to Chicago.The other pilot, though, had been injured and rather than let the demonstration fail, Knight decided to continue through to Chicago.He had never flown the route before, even in daylight, and it was still snowing heavily. He made it, after making an emergency stop in Iowa City for fuel, and the mail eventually got to New York only 33 hours and 20 minutes after it left the west coast.The flight caused a sensation, and it spurred congress into appropriating $1.25 million to expand the airmail service and provide a system of beacons.Flying the mail with the equipment and technique of the time was extremely dangerous - 30 of the 40 original pilots eventually lost their lives flying the air mail - but it wasn't without humor.- J. Dean Hill, without the benefit of modern navigational aids, devised his own system for flying between Bellefonte, Pa., and New Jersey in bad weather. He climbed above the clouds and lighted a long cigar. When the cigar was down to two inches, he Figured he was over New Jersey and started his descent.- Slim Lewis had mechanical trouble over Pennsylvania one day, made a forced landing on a baseball diamond and rolled into a tea house."Where am I?" he asked when he was pulled from the wreckage."Tyrone, Pennsylvania," was the reply.What will you take for this place?" he asked, surveying the tea house.- Lewis, during another emergency landing, struck a bull and broke its leg. He put it out of its misery with his revolver just as its owner appeared to angrily inform Lewis that he had just shot the prize Hereford bull in the area. So Lewis paid for it in a deal involving the equivalent of 6,500 airmail stamps. ...

They flew only in daylight, putting the mail on trains at night, and by 1921 had lopped 18 hours off the time it took for mail to cross the nation by trains, alone.

That was a critical year for aviation, because most members of congress had decided airmail was a failure. The Wilson administration, including aviation booster Otto Praeger, the assistant postmaster general, was going out of office and the end of the airmail seemed unavoidable.

In an effort to save the service, volunteer pilots decided to fly the mail, both day and night, from San Francisco to New York. They picked Washington's birthday, despite the dangerous winter weather, for the demonstration.

There were no beacons, landing lights or navigational aids, except bonfires lighted along the route by farmers.

That dramatic flight, along with a great deal more early airline history, is described in Frank J. Taylor's book, "High Horizons".

Four pilots had combined to carry the mailbags from San Francisco to North Platte, Neb., by way of Reno, Salt Lake City and Cheyenne.

At North Platte, Jack Knight was held up for three hours by a snowstorm, then took off for Omaha, where another pilot was supposed to fly on to Chicago.

The other pilot, though, had been injured and rather than let the demonstration fail, Knight decided to continue through to Chicago.

He had never flown the route before, even in daylight, and it was still snowing heavily. He made it, after making an emergency stop in Iowa City for fuel, and the mail eventually got to New York only 33 hours and 20 minutes after it left the west coast.

The flight caused a sensation, and it spurred congress into appropriating $1.25 million to expand the airmail service and provide a system of beacons.

Flying the mail with the equipment and technique of the time was extremely dangerous - 30 of the 40 original pilots eventually lost their lives flying the air mail - but it wasn't without humor.

- J. Dean Hill, without the benefit of modern navigational aids, devised his own system for flying between Bellefonte, Pa., and New Jersey in bad weather. He climbed above the clouds and lighted a long cigar. When the cigar was down to two inches, he Figured he was over New Jersey and started his descent.

- Slim Lewis had mechanical trouble over Pennsylvania one day, made a forced landing on a baseball diamond and rolled into a tea house.

"Where am I?" he asked when he was pulled from the wreckage.

"Tyrone, Pennsylvania," was the reply.

What will you take for this place?" he asked, surveying the tea house.

- Lewis, during another emergency landing, struck a bull and broke its leg. He put it out of its misery with his revolver just as its owner appeared to angrily inform Lewis that he had just shot the prize Hereford bull in the area. So Lewis paid for it in a deal involving the equivalent of 6,500 airmail stamps. ...