pathfinders

Airmail Pilot Max Miller and Benjamin Lipsner

from Smithsonian Institution

• Pixel Wrangler said:

  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)

• Scott Kraft said:

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