- Home
- Collections
- Search the Collection
- Photograph of airmail pilot Lt. Torrey Webb and NYC Postmaster Thomas G. Patten
Photograph of airmail pilot Lt. Torrey Webb and NYC Postmaster Thomas G. Patten
Object Details
- Description
- New York City Postmaster Thomas Patten is photographed handing Lt. Torrey Webb equipment to make ready for one of the first regularly scheduled airmail flights in the United States. On May 15, 1918, the United States officially established airmail service between New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, under the direction of the Post Office Department, using army aircraft and pilots. The Army Air Corps pilots chosen to fly that day were Lieutenants Howard Culver, Torrey Webb, Walter Miller and Stephen Bonsal. Lt. Webb carried the first day’s mail in this Curtiss "Jenny" aircraft numbered 38278 from a temporary airmail field at Belmont Park, Long Island, New York to Bustleton Field, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- Photographer: Unknown
- Credit line
- National Postal Museum, Curatorial Photographic Collection Photographer: Unknown
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- May 15, 1918
- Object number
- A.2008-15
- Depicts
- Lt. Torrey Webb
- Type
- Photographs
- Medium
- paper; photo-emulsion
- Place
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Record ID
- npm_A.2008-15
- Usage
- Not determined
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.