airmailpilots

From the National Postal Museum: "Max Miller was born in Norway. As a child, Max was interested in aeronautics, making kites, model airplanes, and gliders. He was in the army in the Philippines, where he probably trained to be an aviator. Miller was the first pilot hired by Benjamin Lipsner for the Postal Service-operated Air Mail Service. Max was married to Daisy Thomas, who worked in Lipsner and Otto Praeger's office. "On September 1, 1920, Miller left Hazelhurst air field for Cleveland at 5:30 am in a Junkers-Larsen aircraft with mechanic Gustav Reierson and 600 pounds of mail. Two hours later, the airplane was seen inexplicably only 20 miles away. It was flying low and the motor was cutting out and backfiring. Flames could be seen from the front of the airplane, and Reierson was tossing out mailbags. The flames engulfed the front of the airplane, and the aircraft nosed over and dove into the ground. The gas tanks exploded, blowing the wings off. Both men were killed in the explosion." (more)

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Goggles, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

From National Postal Museum: "Ira Biffle first flew as a pilot for the army air service where he gained a reputation as a demanding instructor. He found that his airmail service supervisors were just as demanding. After landing 55 minutes late because of fog, he was suspended without pay. Only the intervention of ex-pilot Chief of Flying James C. Edgerton kept Biffle on the payroll. "After he left the Air Mail Service on October 22, 1919, he flew for different organizations, including the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation in Lincoln, Nebraska. While serving as a flying instructor there in April 1922, Biffle taught flying to a lanky young man named Charles Lindbergh. In "We," written by Lindbergh in 1928, he noted that Biffle's reputation as "the most ‘hard boiled' instructor the army ever had during [World War I]" was still well known among the aviation students. "Ira Biffle returned to flying for the Air Mail Service on August 6, 1923 and stayed on as a pilot until the service was turned over to commercial companies. In 1930, he was forced to retire as a pilot due to his failing eyesight. Biffle passed away on April 7, 1934 at the age of 44 of heart disease."

nice and important moment

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A famous stamp was issued in 1918 to commemorate this event:

"1918 “Jenny” Airmail Stamp" by National Postal Museum


From Edith Dodd Culver's THE DAY THE AIRMAIL BEGAN:
"To quote from Reuben Fleet's 1966 speech before the Air Mail Pioneers: "I left Lieutenant Webb in charge at Belmont Park and the Curtiss plant, with Lieutenant Miller and Bonsal helping, and in reserve, and instructed Webb to get the other four aerial mail airplanes ready, and fly one from Belmont Park with the aerial mail at eleven the next morning to Bustleton Field, which the Philadelphia Postmaster had selected for Philadelphia. Edgerton at Bustleton Field would relieve Lieutenant Webb there and fly on to Washington, while Lieutenant Culver would relay the aerial mail at Busttleton Park in New York."

Lt. Torrey Webb flipped a Jenny airmail plane here:

"Wrecked Airmail Plane" by Smithsonian