"All American Aviation"

"All American Aviation"
by (unknown)

This painting, from a 1984 Allegheny Airlines calendar, showins an All American Airmail Pickup at Irwin, PA in the 1940s. The plane carries the later pickup gear and wire cutters in lieu of wheel pants. The plane, a Stinson Reliant [NX2311], flown by Norman Rintoul, was used in experimental mail, human, and glider pickup flights only, not in regularly scheduled air mail pickups.

According to a knowledgeable informatn, the plane used during the trial flights was never painted maroon in silver, but actually was Rintoul's "Black Bess," the black Stinson, which now hangs in the Smithsonian.

On April 12, 1939, a bright red Stinson Reliant plane swooped down out of the sky in Latrobe, Pennsylvania snatching a container of mail suspended on a rope between two poles. This event kicked off a unique chapter in airmail history. At that time, airmail service was restricted almost exclusively to metropolitan centers, out of reach of the majority of the country's population.

But Dr. Lytle Adams, a dentist and part-time inventor, believed that airmail service could be expanded to rural areas. Adams had became intrigued with the potential of the burgeoning field of aviation. Adams, with the assistance of Boeing engineers, developed a pick-up apparatus in 1928. Dr. Adams quit his dentistry practice to travel the country promoting this innovative new system. Because he envisioned bringing the pick-up system to all of North and South America, he named one of his speculative companies All American Aviation (AAA), and the system was to be known as Air Pick Up (click link to see diagram)

By 1938, Adams had depleted his own fortune promoting his scheme. Fortunately, he met Richard du Pont, a wealthy young aviation enthusiast, who purchased a controlling interest in AAA. Excited about future prospects, the men began purchasing planes and hiring pilots and staff to make the company operational.

Although the Post Office Department was indifferent to Adams & du Pont's plans, Congress, led by Jennings Randolph of West Virginia, was supportive of the plan. Randolph's constituents were among the first to be served by Air Pick Up. As a result of his support the service was authorized by Congress as an experiment. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill into law on April 30, 1938 and the first scheduled Air Pick Up service began on May 12, 1939 flying two experimental routes. The first route went from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. The other went from Pittsburgh to Huntington, West Virginia.

Stinson Reliant and Airmail Pick-Up display at National Postal Museum

The planes chosen for the service were rugged Stinson Reliants, a tight-turning airplane superbly adapted to flying around hills and through valleys. For the next ten years a fleet of these planes provided Air Pick Up to locations in the northeast United States that could not be served by regular airmail service. Adams and du Pont modeled the pick-up technique on the Railway Mail Service's Mail-on-the-Fly service. The Stinson, painted bright red for easy identification, had a long take up boom with a hook and a winch that operated through an opening in the fuselage. Traveling between towns at 110 miles per hour, the Stinsons collected and delivered mail and express packages at each community without landing.

Airmail Container used in Pick-Up System

A pick-up flight started in the morning at the main airport where mail and express accumulated from all over the country were loaded for route stations. These stations received their airmail and express by Air Pick Up the same day it reached the terminal city. At each route point, a messenger collected cargo at the local express agency, mail from the Post Office and drove to the station site where he rigged a portable station for the pick-up. The station consisted of two poles some fourteen feet high and twenty feet apart a container of mail was attached to a rope stretched between the poles. An experienced messenger could set up the station in about two minutes. The messenger monitored flight status on a company radio.

The Stinson flew in and swooped down over the station, first dropping the incoming mail in a cargo container, then flying twenty feet off the ground and lowering its boom between the poles so that the hook engaged the rope. This was connected with the winch, which paid out rope to absorb the shock and then reeled it into the plane. In a few seconds, the plane was out of sight headed for another pick-up. Inside the plane the flight mechanic opened the container and took out several labeled mailbags which he transferred to the appropriate bins.

Since many of these communities did not have airports, the pick-up station was set up on golf courses, pastures or even cemeteries on the edge of town. Most stations were located in the Allegheny mountains, which had gained a reputation as the graveyard of aviation during the early days of airmail service thanks to inhospitable terrain and weather.

In the first year of service, All American Aviation flew over 438,000 miles, making over 23,000 pickups and handling 75,000 pounds of mail and 6,500 pounds of freight without a single casualty. With the reliability of the system proved, AAA received a certificate of convenience and necessity to engage in air transportation with respect to property and mail. It was called Air Mail 49.

As the second year of operation began, the AAA Stinsons flew four flights daily on five different routes radiating from Pittsburgh to towns and villages in six states—Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Delaware.

Promotional Materials from 1939

The text on this page was extracted from "Air Pick-Up." by James O'Donnell. EnRoute, the National Postal Museum's Membership Magazine (vol 9, No.1, January–March 2000). To read the entire article click HERE.

Stinson Reliant SR-10

The Stinson SR-10F Reliant was part of a series of powerful cabin airplanes outfitted as well-appointed executive and business aircraft or as sturdy utility craft and airliners. The Reliant was a ruggedly built airplane made mostly of welded chrome-moly steel tubing structures covered with fabric. The fuselage framework was faired to shape with wood formers and fairing strips. The fuselage forward of the doors was covered and faired with a duralumin sheet that included removable engine accessory panels. The single strut-braced, double-tapered wing was built with a girder-type spar with riveted square aluminum tubing ribs attached to the spars with riveted gussets. The leading edge was wrapped with duralumin sheet and the ailerons and slotted vacuum-operated wing flaps were of similar construction. The fabric-covered tail assembly was built of welded steel tubing with aerodynamically-balanced control surfaces and an adjustable horizontal stabilizer.

The Reliant was powered by a nine-cylinder Pratt and Whitney Wasp Junior radial that developed 450 hp for take-off and it was usually equipped with an aluminum two-blade Hamilton Standard constant speed propeller. The wide-tread cantilever landing gear was equipped with low-pressure tires and hydraulically-operated disc brakes. The SR-10F Reliant came equipped with a full complement of options including: instruments for poor weather flight, 12-volt battery system, electric starter, cabin heater and ventilation system, ash trays, cabin assist straps, shatter-proof glass, roll-down windows, navigation lights, landing lights, and leather upholstery. This final version of the Reliant was re-engineered by famed racing plane designer Gordon Israel with many refinements, such as retractable cabin entry steps.

2002 Wings Publishing