FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- A restored airmail passenger biplane will reenact the first transcontinental airmail flight from Long Island to San Francisco.
The biplane, which crashed in 1928, will depart from the American Airpower Museum at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y., on September 10 at 9 a.m. Mail on the six-day, 15-stop flight will fly on the nation's oldest operating passenger airliner -- a restored open cockpit Boeing 40C biplane that has interior seating for four passengers.
Stops on the transcontinental Air Mail route include Bellefonte, Pa.; Cleveland; Bryan, Ohio; Chicago; Iowa City, Iowa; Omaha, Neb.; North Platte, Neb.; Cheyenne, Wyo.; Rawlins, Wyo.; Rock Springs, Wyo.; Salt Lake City; Elko, Nev.; Reno, Nev.; Hayward, Calif.; and San Francisco.
First-class letters traveling coast to coast today are transported by air and take three days to deliver. In 1928, depending on the weather, delivery could take five to 10 days. Airmail delivery started in 1918 at a cost of
For more information, send email to Tom Gaynor at [email protected].
