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: " Along with Jack Knight, E. Hamilton Lee was one of the most remarkable pilots to come out of the U.S. Air Mail Service. Lee was born in Paris, Illinois on April 18, 1892. He made his first solo flight on June 16, 1916 at Ashburn Field in Chicago. "Many of the U.S. Air Mail Pilots were in love with the danger of flight, as much as the fun and excitement, and many took risks that were not part of flying the mail. Lee could certainly count himself among that crowd, until a particular incident in which he survived a crash after trying to "buzz" a group of men on a Mississippi River boat. Lee did not see wires that lined the side of one river bank, and his landing gear and one wing caught them, forcing him down. "Fortunately, he survived the crash, but determined then and there to live to the credo that there are "old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold, pilots. ..."

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