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A Liberty-engine de Havilland DH-4B, successor to the Curtiss JN-4H as the standard mail carrier for the U.S. Post Office Department, is loaded in the 1920's. (United States Postal Service Photo)

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Maj. Reuben H. Fleet

Fleet Overcame Rain, Snow And Other Obstacles To Pioneer U.S. Airmail Service

By Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Military.com Columnist

When Maj. Reuben H. Fleet was told he had 15 days to prepare a cadre to begin New York-to-Washington, D.C., airmail service, he was flabbergasted. We take it for granted today that correspondence will reach us quickly and efficiently by air -- but Fleet and his men could take nothing for granted in 1918. From weather conditions to equipment status, each variable affected the short-lived Army Airmail Service’s ability to deliver.

Fleet had entered the Army after early career success as a businessman and congressman. Assigned pilot wings number 74 on Nov. 22, 1917, the 30-year-old flier made the most of his World War I combat duty, earning promotion to major and a coveted slot in Washington, D.C., as executive officer for the U.S. Air Service, Signal Corps Aviation Section. There, he supervised the pilot training program for all Army aviators. Fleet was a busy man. Under his supervision of 34 fields, "with students crashing every hour of the day," nearly 11,000 pilots were trained.

Thus when Secretary of War Newton D. Baker informed Fleet that he had 15 days to recruit, train, and launch an airmail service, Fleet had reservations. "But we don’t have any planes that can fly from Washington to Philadelphia to New York," he said. Fleet nevertheless rose to the occasion, quickly designing an altered JN-4H single-engine biplane from Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation. These "Jennies" had front seats and controls removed to accommodate a mail hopper and double an ordinary biplane’s capacity for gas and oil.

Once Belmont Park Race Track on Long Island and Washington’s Potomac Park Polo field had been designated for take-off and landing, Fleet selected four of the six pilots needed (the postal service chose the other two). On May 15, 1918, U.S. Airmail Service was inaugurated.

Fleet left the Army not long after and distinguished himself in aviation, founding the Consolidated Aircraft Co., which became Convair Corp. Convair built more than 11,000 aircraft used in World War II. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Fleet’s firm was where the term "Rosie the Riveter" was coined. After an active retirement commencing in 1949, Fleet died in 1975 at the age of 88.