blériotxi

Earle Lewis Ovington (December 20, 1879 - 1936) was an American aeronautical engineer, aviator and inventor, and served as a lab assistant to Thomas Edison. Ovington piloted the first official airmail flight in the US in 1911, from Garden City, New York to Mineola, New York. He delivered 640 letters and 1,280 postcards, including a letter to himself from the United States Postal Service designating him as "Official Air Mail Pilot #1." Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earle_Ovington Frank Harris Hitchcock (October 5, 1867 – August 25, 1935), was chairman of Republican National Committee from 1908 to 1909. He was then Postmaster General of the United States under President William Howard Taft from 1909 to 1913. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Harris_Hitchcock The plane is instantly recognizable as a Blériot XI. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bl%c3%a9riot_XI

Other Bain/LOC photos of Earle Lewis Ovington, the first U. S. Airmail pilot:

Photo taken Nassau Boulevard Aerodrome Garden City, Long Island, New York. Notice hangars, helpful in identifying Nassau Boulevard Aerodrome

Earle Ovington, America's first airmail pilot, with his wife:

Other Bain/LOC photos of Earle Lewis Ovington, receiving the first pouch of U. S. Airmail for delivery, from U. S. Postmaster General Frank Harris Hitchcock :

This is one of the special postcards made for the first U.S. air mail and shows Earle Ovington's Bleriot monoplane with 70 H.P. rotary gnome motor. Signed by Earle Ovington and dated 11/17/35 on back.