First Contract Airmail Flight
On February 15, 1926, the first contract airmail flight was made between Michigan and Ohio. Three stamps were issued for this service during its first two years.
On February 15, 1926, the first contract airmail flight was made between Michigan and Ohio. Three stamps were issued for this service during its first two years.
The first person to break the sound barrier, Chuck Yeager was born on February 13, 1923, in Myra, West Virginia. He was also a WWII dogfighter and commanded fighter squadrons in Vietnam.
Aviation pioneer Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born on February 4, 1902, in Detroit, Michigan. He was the first person to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean and helped to promote and expand aviation and airmail.
The first US Airmail coil stamp was issued on January 15, 1948, in Washington, DC. Only a few more coil stamps would be issued over the next 30 years, but the DC-4 SkyMaster would appear on more than a dozen postal items.
William Thomas Piper was born on January 8, 1881, in Knapp Creek, New York. He developed the popular and inexpensive Piper Cub and became known as the “Henry Ford of Aviation.”
On November 22, 1935, the China Clipper made its first airmail voyage across the Pacific Ocean. The first-ever transpacific airmail journey, it carried over 110,000 pieces of mail.
Richard Evelyn Byrd was born on October 25, 1888, in Winchester, Virginia. Byrd led three Antarctic expeditions and was the US Navy’s youngest admiral at the time.
On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier. He reached a speed of 700 miles per hour and accelerated past Mach 1 – the speed of sound.
Eddie Vernon Rickenbacker was born on October 8, 1890, in Columbus, Ohio. He was America’s leading ace during World War I, with 26 enemy planes shot down.