U.S. Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock Poses with Earle Ovington and the Bag Used to Carry the First U.S. Air Mail, September 1911
THF256668 / U.S. Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock Poses with Earle Ovington and the Bag Used to Carry the First U.S. Air Mail, September 1911
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Artifact Overview
When the Post Office Department sponsored the first official air mail flight on September 23, 1911, it wasn't much more than a publicity stunt. Pilot Earle Ovington carried a sack of mail from Garden City, New York, to nearby Mineola, where he dropped it into a field behind the local post office. Serious air mail operations started in 1918.
Artifact Details
Artifact
Photographic print
Subject Date
23 September 1911
Collection Title
Location
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Object ID
84.1.1629.191
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Material
Paper (Fiber product)
Technique
Gelatin silver process
Color
Black-and-white (Colors)
Dimensions
Height: 4 in
Width: 5.688 in
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Related Content
SetEarle Ovington: “Air Mail Pilot No. 1”
- 13 Artifacts
In 1910, while attending the first international aviation meet held in the United States, Earle Ovington (1879-1936) decided to become a pilot. During his short but successful career as an exhibition flyer, Ovington achieved an impressive string of aviation firsts – most notably, piloting the first U.S. Air Mail flight operated by the Post Office Department.