Air Mail Service (Ca 1924)

An unusual feature length film from the 1920s about the Air Mail Service which, essentially, began civil commercial aviation in the U.S.
An air mail plane flies from New York City to San Francisco, making various stops. Consists mostly of aerial views of the plane and the terrain. Reel 1 shows the handling of a letter preparatory to the flight. The airplane leaves New York and flies over the Allegheny Mountains. Reel 2, the plane flies to Iowa City, Iowa, making stops at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania; Cleveland; and Maywood, Illinois. Reel 3 shows the flight from Omaha to Salt Lake City, with stops at North Platte, Nebraska, and Rock Springs, Wyoming. Reel 4, from Reno to San Francisco. Reel 5, Army planes are reconditioned for air mail service and night landings are made at the Air Mail Service Depot at Chicago. Shows Harry S. New and an aerial panorama of Washington, D.C.

In 1925, the Congress passed HR 7064 entitled "An Act to encourage commercial aviation and to authorize the Postmaster General to contract for Air Mail Service" (The Kelly Act) which directed the U.S. Post Office Department to contract with private airlines to carry the mail over designated routes many of which connected with the Government operated Transcontinental Air Mail route between New York and San Francisco.

Pilots connected with the early air mail service:
Bill Boeing
Eddie Hubbard
Leon Smith
E. Hamilton "Ham" Lee
James H. "Jack" Knight
J.D. Webster
William E. Lewis
J.L. Eaton
James P. "Jim" Murray
Frank Yager
George L Boyle
James C Edgerton
Torrey Webb
Dave Behncke
Ernest M. Allison
Elmer G. Leonhardt

The transcontinental airmail route ran from New York to San Francisco opened August 20, 1920. Intermediate stops were at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; Bryan, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Iowa City, Iowa' Omaha, Nebraska' North Platte, Nebraska; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Rawlins, Wyoming; Rock Springs, Wyoming; Salt Lake City, Utah; Elko, Nevada; and Reno, Nevada.

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