In 1918 the Post Office Department turned to the telegraph to monitor the progress of its newest endeavor, the airmail service. The proposed New York City-Chicago airmail route was the Department's response to business's need for swift mail communication.
Two pilots, Max Miller and Eddie Gardner, were tasked with flying between New York and Chicago in one day. If airplanes couldn’t link the two cities in less than 24 hours, it was more economical to keep moving the mail between them by train. Among the challenges they would face were the Allegheny Mountains, considered by some to be the most dangerous territory on the route.
Unfortunately, neither pilot would make the trip to Chicago in one day. They had better luck with the return trips. Although Miller was unable to complete his flight, Eddie Gardner managed to fly from Chicago to New York in just one day (although he crash landed slightly short of his goal). Click here to learn more about the trip and Eddie’s rough landing.
Postal officials used telegrams to track each pilot’s progress throughout the path-finding flights. The experiment was monitored by Otto Praeger, second assistant postmaster general in charge of the airmail service, and Benjamin K. Lipsner, superintendent of the airmail service. You can follow the pilots’ progress through the telegrams by clicking here.
The first Post Office Department pilots and their boss. L-R: Eddie Gardner, Benjamin Lipsner, Maurice Newton, Max Miller, and Robert Shank.
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