The Airway To Everywhere 

CHAPTER TWO

This is an excerpt from the declaration of policy of the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938:

“In the exercise and performance of its powers and duties under this Act, the Author-ity (Board) shall consider the following, among other things, as being in the public interest and in accordance with the public convenience and necessity – The encouragement and development of an air transportation system properly adapted to the present and future needs of the foreign and domestic commerce of the United States, of the Postal Service and of the national defense.”

All American Aviation was the only and therefore successful bidder on two Pick-Up routes posted by the Post Office Department over and through a treacherous area known to the early air mail pilots as “Hell’s Stretch”. It extended 1,140 miles crisscrossing the mountains of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. This was an area where even driving a car was slow and sometimes dangerous.  The Pick-Up was sure to be tested over this most difficult terrain for safety, efficiency and for its value as a postal utility.  The experimental route was awarded for a period of one year.

During this first year of operation which had its maiden flight on May 12, 1939, All American flew 438,145 miles and made over 23,000 pick-ups.  Triple A hauled 75,000 pounds of mail while completing 91.6- of its schedules.  This was a remarkable feat even by the standards of the seventies.  AAA even demonstrated night pick-ups on a regular schedule successfully for several weeks during this historic first year.

Postmaster General Farley announced to Congress that the All American experiment “demonstrated conclusively that the pick-up can provide improved air mail service”.

All American’s organization of 1940 included 29 employees with all the Executive, Operations and Flying personnel thrown in the count.  They also provided part-time employment for 48 others, who were station messengers at the towns served by this unique service. Triple A had a constant aim of efficiency and safety in the organization. My friend Vic Yesulaites carried this dedication with him to the bitter end.

All the Triple A pilots were veterans boasting thousands of hours in the air. They all had “blind flying” ratings and the sky clerks or Pick-Up operators were licensed airplane and engine mechanics.

The company had five airplanes at this time.  All were standard Stinson Reliants (SR-10C’s) powered by the 260 horsepower Lycoming radial engine.  Each airplane had two-way radio communication through regular CAA (Civil Aeronautics Authority) communications stations and through American Air Lines and TWA over which position reports of the Air Pick-Up planes were constantly reported.  Triple A charted the courses of their aircraft constantly through their own radio facilities at the operations office.  Major overhauls of the Stinsons were accomplished between every 350 and 400 hours of operation.  The Pick-Up equipment at air stations were periodically inspected and serviced as well.

The following excerpt from the “Air Feeder Program” was submitted by President Richard C. DuPont to both the Post Office Department and the CAA:

“Commercial aviation will never fully perform its function as a ‘public convenience and necessity’ until the benefits it provides in the swift transportation of mail, express, and passengers, are extended directly to every section of the country. Everyone is paying for this service, and it is manifestly unfair to deprive them of it when a practical means of providing it is available”.

“Beyond the orbit of the airways in what might be called the twilight zone of our air transportation system, are thousands of small but nevertheless important and progressive cities that are anxiously seeking direct air service. Proportionately, their need is greater than that of larger cities because local transportation facilities are usually inferior, and they are further removed from sources of supply. The next great expansion of commercial aviation lies beyond this frontier”.

Dick DuPont went on to propose twin-engine aircraft on the Pick-Up routes which in addition to mail and express would also carry passengers to certain of these small communities.

On the 22^nd of December, 1939 as Triple A’s part in this proposed new program, an application was filed with the CAA for a permanent certificate including the carriage of passengers on six air Pick-Up routes throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and even Ohio. The certificate would cover 125 communities in six states. Most of the original 58 cities were included in the application as well as 99 other communities which would benefit from nearby pick-up service.

Hearings on the application for permanent routes began before the Civil Aeronautics Authority in February of 1940. Many favorable comments were made by wit-nesses before the CAA. Postmaster Farley transmitted a report to Congress urging continuation of the service on a permanent basis. All American’s experimental contract ran out on May 13, 1940 or the same day that Postmaster Farley sent this message. Last ditch efforts made to save the Pick-Up failed and sadly the Pick-Up was grounded.

Failure of the CAA to act on the request for a permanent certificate tied with the Post Office Department rescinding its call for bids on new contracts caused the grounding. The bureaucratic red tape that still winds itself through air transportation in the ‘70’s was in action. The Post Office Department opted out by saying that under the law authorizing a test of the system, they had no jurisdiction over it once it had passed the experimental stage and the CAA in all its wisdom denied its jurisdiction over the new service so long as the Experimental Airmail Act remained in force. One newspaper headline read: “Success Kills U. S. Airmail Pick-Up Service”.

As soon as the CAA published its report of adversity, Congressmen from the various states served by the Pick-Up immediately organized at a group meeting for restoration of the service. On the 21^st of June, the House passed a bill repealing the Experi-mental Airmail Act and tha Senate passed it the next day. The bill also specifically invested the Civil Aeronautics Authority with jurisdiction over the newly-developed form of air transportation. The bill was signed by President Roosevelt on July 5 removing any doubt about the CAA’s power to act.

On the 22^nd of July All American was granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity for five Pick-Up lines for the transportation of mail and property. The CAA rejected without prejudice Triple A’s application to carry passengers on Pick-Up planes until the system had been thoroughly tested.

The CAA’s rejection of Triple A’s passenger carrying application didn’t hinder developmental work in this direction. Company officials intended to acquire a twin-engine passenger plane with which to conduct experiments. The Lockheed Saturn was being specifically developed and designed to provide both Pick Up and passenger service. During those bleak days of the grounding, All American held its organization together and would be ready to go whenever the CAA made its decision. They were right. The new certificate became effective August 12, 1940.

All American’s new permanent Pick-Up routes were inaugurated on August 12, 1940 with even more gusto than the experimental start up on May 23, 1939. There were more cities being served under the new certificate and the celebration was justified.

Service was begun only on three of the five new routes. The three routes chosen to be served were the ones to the cities and towns served on the experimental routes. These were where ground stations were already installed and any new stations on these routes could be quickly erected. There were no missed Pick-Ups on this day for all the pilots and mechanics had a full year of experience behind them. They were true professionals when those first trips departed Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

The new service was finally started up on the remaining two routes on November 12 and December 12. Part of the delay had been because of slow delivery of new equipment due to the National Defense Program. The Pick-Up system had been refined to a much better level by this time.

The hooks trailing wildly behind the Stinsons on a 55 foot cable had been replaced by a 15 foot arm which retracted into the fuselage. Accuracy of the Pick-Up was greatly improved while the height of the ground station had been lowered to 20 feet from the original 40 feet. In 1941, these now portable stations would be lowered even more to 14 feet following experiments at the Buckhannon, West Virginia station. The mechanic no longer had to reel in the load because it was operated electrically. Tripping an electrical switch in the cockpit also a delivery method.

Representative Jennings Randolph (now deceased) from Elkins, West Virginia (this writer’s hometown) was the supporting voice in Washington of the Pick-Up. On the first anniversary of the Pick-Up he had this to say:

“In this first year of service on a permanent basis, remarkable results have been achieved in performance and in developing the air mail patronage in the communities served”.

“The system has completed over 92 per cent of its daily schedules, flying approximately 693,727 miles and making over 32,000 pick-ups and deliveries without losing a single piece of mail or express and without a serious flying mishap. Of importance and significance is the surprisingly large increase in air mail volume in the communities on the routes which can be attributed directly to the establishment of the service. Since permanent establishment, the volume has increased over 47 per cent at the 54 points which were on the experimental system, and 93 per cent at the 53 additional points on the present Pick-Up lines. Individual increases have ranged from two to over 1,000 per cent”.

“It was further disclosed that, excluding the three terminal points of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Harrisburg, the 106 cities on the Air Pick-Up lines which, incidentally, serve more points than any other airline in the country, are dispatching an average of 254,223 pieces of mail a month. The three terminal points are dispatching an average of 161,021 pieces of air mail a month via pick-up, making a grand total of 415,244 pieces”.

On this Happy Birthday in 1941, All American Airways boasted 61 full-time employees as well as 73 mail messengers in the field.

Copyright 2004-2006  M C Pyles