![]() 06/01/2015 at 10:05 • Filed to: planelopnik, planelopnik history, wingspan | ![]() | ![]() |
On June 1, 1925, a car dealer covered himself with $718 worth of postage stamps in an attempt to airmail himself from San Francisco to New York City. Not surprisingly, the Post Office refused to accept the package. When you consider that $718 in 1925 would adjust to $9,745.38 in today’s dollars, he might have been able to hire an entire plane to carry him for that kind of money, and with a much more comfortable ride. But he couldn’t take an airliner. Delta Airlines, the oldest operating airline in the US, started out as a crop dusting outfit in 1924, but didn’t become Delta Air Service until 1928. Still, had he been accepted as freight, he would have gotten to NYC in pretty good time. By 1925, eastbound Air Mail routes were being flown in about 35 hours, while a transcontinental train ride would have taken 3-and-a-half days.
![]() 06/01/2015 at 10:26 |
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I just had to look up the
Boeing Model 40
to resolve a point of curiosity, and it turns out he missed the first flight of the first mail plane for *also* carrying passengers by just a little over a month... though it wouldn’t be in proper service that way for another two years. In the meantime, I’m sure there *were* intrepid private pilots that would have taken the offer.