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"Major Smith was on crutches with a broken ankle caused by his
crash of a Nleuport (imported) airplane, and so I desle;!l.!ilted
Fleet to
complete the test of the second Liberty engine 1n another DR,
inasmuch
as every delay counted, and the President had announced 'America
will
win the war with aviation', and that 'this is a war to end all wars
and make the world sate for democracy'.
"Fleet ins1.sted that the DB airplane be trucked
to ',Wilber Wright
Field to afford more runway and airfield. There he tookott. flew tne
ship beyomd the field's length, took it to 6,000 feet, b~ed it with
gentle and then steeper banks, looped it tour successive loops with
power on, then stalled it deli1Jerately and kicked it into a sptn
which
he came out of 800 feet from
the ground.. Upon
landing we
gave him hell
for spinning down so low, until he pee!.ed
off his shirt and wrung
out
the pe'~~plratlon, remarking that he'd pass up lunch." (unquote) |
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AIR MAIL PIONEERS SPEECH BY Major Reuben H.Fleet On May 3, 1918 the Washington Department issued an order to its Air Service Aeronautics to inaugurate an Aerial Mail Service between Washington and New York each way every day except Sunday, to depart both terminals at 11 a.m., beginning Wednesday 15 May 1918, with intermediate landing and mail service at Philadelphia by both north-and-south-bound airplanes. Airline distance between north and south terminals of 218 miles. The order was issued by Newton D. Baker, the Secretary of War, at the request of the Post Office Department, under direction of Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States. A. S. Burleson was the Postmaster General; Otto Praeger, Second Assistant Postmaster General was in charge of transportation of all mail. Never before had mail been carried in the world by air at an announced time to and from designated places on a schedule operation irrespective of weather. The order came as a complete surprise, although I learned on inauguration day from President Wilson that the Cabinet had been discussing establishment of an Aerial Mail Service for several months, and had called for bids therefore; had received no bids; that the training would be valuable to Army pilots, had decided to order the Army to fly it. Agreement to operate the Aerial Mail Service jointly by the War and the Post Office Departments was date 1 March 1918, and Congress had appropriated $100.000 therefore - we in the Air Service knew nothing of this until the order of 3 May 1918.
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