lieutenanttorreyhwebb

This image has been used in the indicommons.org post: Just Plane Trouble

Like the image above, a very rare and famous stamp was issued in 1918 -- with the aircraft upside down -- as a result of an "accident" at the Post Office ;-) See the Inverted 1918 'Jenny' Airmail Stamp, Block of Four (National Postal Museum) here.

Lt. Torrey Webb at a happier event:

"First day of Airmail Service, May 15, 1918" by Smithsonian

According to the National Postal Museum, this is a description of this accident: "Although the JN-4 "Jenny" was most often used by the army airmail pilots, the service did experiment with another airplane. "Lieutenant Webb was asked to fly a Curtiss R-4 aircraft on June 6, 1918. Webb was to carry the mail from New York to Boston on a trial run to connect the two cities by air. Webb carried a passenger, mechanic Robert Heck, with him on the flight. "Lost because of bad weather during the trip, Lieutenant Webb landed in a pasture to get his bearings, then continued on to Franklin Park aviation field in Saugus, Massachusetts. On landing, the airplane hit a mudhole, flipping over. "Fortunately neither Webb nor his mechanic were injured. The airplane was repaired, and Webb returned to New York five days later with mail and another passenger, Boston's postmaster William Murray. Webb noted that weather wasn't much better on the way back. "Visibility was zero-zero, and I just skimmed over the telephone poles all the way." This airplane has been referred to as both a Curtiss R-4 and a Jenny JN-4 . I don't know if that is a contradiction or not.

I found this photo in a museum in Denver Colorado:


.

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."

Jean Dieuzaide – Concorde Essai de Freinge - 1968

Hi,
I'am the admin of the new group Art'flighing Machines dedicated to an artistic approach of flighing things

It would be an honour to have your picture into this group

Aviation was not very safe in 1918. I can't imagine some pilot risking his or her life to deliver a small package of mail from the NYC area to the Philly area, flying in an open cockpit with a small fuel tank. It made more sense to put it on a train in Manhattan and deliver it to Philadelphia city center in about 3 hours with a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the chance of disaster. Pilots often got lost in bad weather and ran out of fuel.

nice and important moment

Tags are not enabled for this photograph.

Thanks for catching that. We changed it so you can add tags now.

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