List of the first airmail mechanics and pilots
Object Details
- Description
- As Superintendent of the Post Office Department’s airmail service, Benjamin Lipsner created this list of hires, which includes his handwritten notations in several areas. He organized his list of hires by mechanics, pilots, and riggers, and listed the hires name and location, names of recommendations and starting salaries.
- Lipsner’s selection included:
- Edward C. Radel, mechanic, from Buffalo, New York, recommended by W.D. Judkins. Radel reported to service on August 1, 1918. Radel’s starting annual salary is noted as $2,000. Radel accompanied Eddie Gardner on the pilot’s September 5-9, 1918, path finding flights between New York City and Chicago, Illinois.
- William H. Read, rigger, from Brooklyn, New York, recommended by Maurice Newton in a letter from July 12, 1918. Read’s starting annual salary is noted as $2,000.
- Charles C. King, mechanic from Newark, New Jersey, recommended by Edward A. Johnson. King reported to service on August 1, 1918. His starting annual salary is noted as $2,000.
- Beatty (no first name indicated), mechanic from Brooklyn, New York, recommended by U.S. Army flyer, Lieutenant Wood. Beatty reported to service on August 1, 1918. His starting annual salary was $1,800.
- Darniell (no first name), mechanic from Washington, D.C., recommended by Lipsner himself. Darnielle reported to duty on August 1, 1918, at a starting salary of $2,000.
- Maurice A. Newton, pilot, who was recommended by W. D. Judkins, at a starting salary of $3,600.
- Ross L. Smith, pilot, who was recommended by Edward A. Johnson. Smith’s name is crossed out. He was never actually hired by the Department.
- Max Miller, pilot, from San Diego, California, was recommended by Smith and Edward A. Johnson. He accepted the position at an annual salary of $4,800.
- Miles Irmis, pilot. Irmis’s name is crossed out. He was never actually hired by the Department. He was replaced by Robert Shank, as indicated. Shank’s starting salary was $5,000 per year.
- Ed Gardner, pilot, of Dallas, Texas, does not have a recommendation after his name. Gardner was well known to most army pilots, having served as an army aviation instructor in Texas. His starting salary was $5,000 per year.
- Leroy E. Langley’s name is written in by hand, followed by the word (out). Langley stayed only a few days in the service.
- Wacker and Cryder, both listed only by their last names, were hired as mechanics and riggers. Their starting annual salary was $2,000.
- And E. L. Angle, rigger, of Jamaica, New York, recommended by Maurice Newton was hired for $2,000 per year.
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- 1918
- Object number
- 1982.0157.705
- Type
- Archival Material
- Medium
- paper; ink; pencil
- Dimensions
- Height x Width: 10 1/2 × 8 in. (26.67 × 20.32 cm)
- Place
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Topic
- Benjamin B. Lipsner Airmail Collection
- The Gilded Age (1877-1920)
- Postal Administration
- Record ID
- npm_1982.0157.705
