President Woodrow Wilson watched the first northbound departure from the Polo Grounds in Washington's Potomac Park. The pilot, Lieutenant George Boyle, got lost, landed in a Maryland field about 20 miles away and broke his propeller. The other legs succeeded, and the service soon proved itself. Army pilots flew the route for three months before the Post Office took it over with its own planes and pilots. The airmail network laid the foundations of America's commercial airlines.
The Post Office had long been interested in carrying mail by air, and in 1918 Congress provided $100,000 for an experiment. The Army Air Service supplied six Curtiss JN-4H "Jenny" biplanes and pilots under Major Reuben Fleet. The route ran from Washington to New York, with a change of planes in Philadelphia, and a letter cost 24 cents, the price of a special new stamp.
On May 15, 1918, a crowd including President Wilson gathered in Potomac Park. Lieutenant Boyle's plane at first refused to start, because no one had filled its fuel tank. When it finally took off, Boyle followed the wrong railway line and headed southeast rather than north. He landed in a field near Waldorf, Maryland, and his mail was taken back to Washington by truck.
The southbound flights did better: Lieutenant Torrey Webb flew the mail from New York to Philadelphia, and Lieutenant James Edgerton carried it on to Washington. The 24-cent stamp issued for the service later became famous for a printing error, the "Inverted Jenny", which showed the plane upside down.
Key people: Woodrow Wilson, George Leroy Boyle, James Clark Edgerton, Reuben H. Fleet