![air mail pilot pay 1920s air mail pilot pay 1920s](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PXrwq3R88n4/WTPd4U9IqAI/AAAAAAACstE/eE0mRlpjRFMB3nbvs3mS1w6eYgwyy1GgACLcB/s1600/Early%2BU.S%2BAirmail%2BService%2B%252818%2529.jpg)
The public was reluctant to pay the premium rate. At that rate airmail was eight times the fee for first class postage. In 2018 an Inverted Jenny stamp sold for $1,593,000.Īs shown on the Inverted Jenny stamp the initial 1918 airmail postage was $0.24 (about $3.60 in 2021 dollars). Only one pane of the inverted image stamps was ever found making the stamps a highly prized collector’s item. A production error caused the image of the plane to be printed upside-down. The Jenny was made famous by a stamp issued to commemorate the inauguration of airmail. In the first months of airmail service the Post Office Department used six Jenny’s with their pilots borrowed from the Army. Flying was limited to day time hours as there were no navigation aids and courses were plotted by using recognition of landmarks and the pilot’s skill at dead reckoning.Īn example of such an early craft was the Curtiss JN-4, known as the “Jenny”. Pilots flew in open cockpits in all kinds of weather. The aircraft were typically constructed of linen stretched over wooden ribs and equipped with balky water-cooled engines.
![air mail pilot pay 1920s air mail pilot pay 1920s](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dFJJUBlfsrA/WTPd2F9UZOI/AAAAAAACsso/kOvWbNkJASQPrmk4tfbHYubp3nYuq53oACLcB/s1600/Early%2BU.S%2BAirmail%2BService%2B%25281%2529.jpg)
The airplanes initially utilized by the service were a modest advancement over those designed by the Wright brothers, but still quite primitive. Logo representing the United States Post Office Department’s delivery of mail by air.