New Rickenbacker At The Retiring Of The Final Open-Cockpit Mailwing, 1935

U.S. of A. AIRMAIL, 1935. The lastly flying of a Pitcairn Mailwing-7, the lastly opened upwards cockpit flat to comport U.S. of A. airmail on contract schedule, xvi Oct 1935.

The Pitcairn Mailwing was specifically designed inwards 1927 to live sold to contract postal service carriers for nighttime air postal service runs. An immediate success, this arts and crafts which could comport 600 lbs. of postal service at speeds upwards to 136 mph was beingness produced at the charge per unit of measurement of 1 per calendar week past times the halt of 1928. Many an airline that is world-famous today was equipped amongst Mailwings during this era.

Many Mailwings finished out their days equally crop dusters too a handful of Mailwings are nonetheless flying today. Well preserved examples tin bathroom live seen at the Tallmantz too Smithsonian Air Museums.

The prime number mover inwards the nascence of the air postal service was NOT the airplane pilot community, nor fifty-fifty the immature aircraft industry. It was 1 Otto Praeger, Second Assistant Postmaster General, himself a non-flyer who merely sought to ameliorate the speed of intercity postal service shipments so carried only past times train.

Oblivious to the limitations of 1918 aircraft engineering too performance, he convinced his boss, Postmaster General Burleson, to propose to the President that the Secretary of War could social club the Army Air Service to assume this novel role, starting inwards exactly a thing of several days!

And so the executive orders were speedily passed to War Secretary Newton D. Baker, thence to Chief of the Army Air Service Col. “Hap” Arnold, who promptly summoned his Executive Officer to his desk, 1 Major Reuben H. Fleet. The orders were dated May 3, 1918. The orders read to initiate daily air postal service service betwixt Washington too New York on May 15, 1918. Hap Arnold too Reuben Fleet were professional person soldier-pilots who knew all also good that y'all didn’t state “no” to the President, too they had to salute too comport out the orders equally best they could, given no suitable airplanes, too no pilots amongst adequate cross-country navigational preparation inwards proficient weather condition or bad.

And it is inwards major crises that clever men rising to piece of work keen men. In this situation, Fleet needed to overcome his Air Service inadequacies inwards men too equipment inwards exactly twelve days to avoid embarrassing the President of the the States too the Air Service inwards the eyes of the tidings media too the American public.

 His starting fourth dimension activity was to asking Col. Edwin A. Deeds, Chief of Air Service Production, to house an immediate social club to the Curtiss Aeroplane too Motor Corporation, Garden City, Long Island, NY, for (6) novel peculiarly configured JN-4H “Jenny” preparation biplanes amongst doubled fuel tank capacity too without controls inwards the front end cockpit, which was to live covered over equally a postal service pit.

This would give the postal service flat Jenny twice its measure gain of only 88 miles so it could inwards fact brand the trip from DC to Philly nonstop. The “H” model Jennies were powered past times the 150 hp Hispano-Suiza (“Hisso”) liquid cooled V-8 amongst enclosed overhead cams too automatic valve lubrication, making them far to a greater extent than reliable than the before ninety hp Curtiss OX-5 V-8s amongst open, mitt lubricated valve actions.

Curtiss merely added a instant measure terneplate fuel tank inwards tandem amongst the regular tank betwixt the firewall too the postal service pit. The flat occupation was solved inwards brusk social club through this instant cooperation betwixt the engineering-educated Fleet, his bring upwards command staff, too the already humming production occupation at Curtiss.

http://www.lib.auburn.edu/archive/find-aid/101/96-066.htm
http://www.antiqueairfield.com/features/us_airmail.html
http://www.airplanesandrockets.com/airplanes/pitcairn-mailwing-aug-1968-aam.htm

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