Air Mail Scandal
Encyclopedia
The Air Mail scandal, also known as the Air Mail fiasco, is the name that the American
press gave to the political scandal resulting from a congressional investigation of a 1930 meeting (the so-called Spoils Conference), between Postmaster General
Walter Folger Brown
and the executives of the top airlines, and to the disastrous results of the steps taken by the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
to use the U.S. Army Air Corps to fly the mail in 1934. The parties of the conference effectively divided among them the air mail routes, resulting in a Senate investigation.
Although a public relations nightmare for both the administrations of President Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt, the scandal resulted in the growth of the airline industry and the modernization of the Air Corps.
U.S. air mail
operations began in August 1918, after starting in the United States Army Air Service in May of the same year, with pilots and airplanes belonging to the United States Post Office
. For nine years, using mostly war-surplus de Havilland DH.4 biplanes, the Post Office built and flew a nationwide network. In the beginning the work was extremely dangerous; of the initial 40 pilots, three died in crashes in 1919 and nine more in 1920. It was 1922 before an entire year ensued without a fatal crash.
As safety and capability grew, daytime-only operations gave way to flying at night, assisted by ground beacons and lighted emergency landing fields. Regular transcontinental air mail delivery began in 1924. In 1925, to encourage commercial aviation, the Kelly Act (also known as the Contract Air Mail Act of 1925) authorized the Post Office Department to contract with private airlines for feeder routes into the main transcontinental system. The first commercial air mail flight was on the 487 miles (783.7 km) CAM (Contract Air Mail) Route #5 from Pasco, Washington
, to Elko, Nevada
, on April 6, 1926. By 1927 the transition had been completed to entirely commercial transport of mail, and by 1929 45 airlines were involved in mail delivery at a cost per mile of $1.10. Most were small, under-capitalized companies flying short routes and old equipment.
Subsidies for carrying mail exceeded the cost of the mail itself, and some carriers abused their contracts by flooding the system with junk mail at 100% profit or hauling heavy freight as air mail. Historian Oliver E. Allen, in his book The Airline Builders, estimated that airlines would have had to charge a 150-pound passenger $450 per ticket in lieu of carrying an equivalent amount of mail.
named him the first Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics in 1926. During World War I he had served as a flight instructor, had served on the Chicago Aeronautical Commission, and was a member of the board of governors of the National Aeronautical Association when selected by Hoover.
After helping to draft key safety standards and regulations that became part of the 1930 Air Mail Act, MacCracken returned to his private law practice, where he continued to be involved in the growth of commercial aviation by representing many major airlines. For that reason Postmaster General Walter F. Brown asked him to preside over what was later scandalized as the Spoils Conference, to work out an agreement between the carriers and the Post office to consolidate air mail routes into transcontinental networks operated by the best-equipped and financially stable companies. This relationship left both exposed to charges of favoritism. When MacCracken refused later to testify before Congress, he was declared a lobbyist and found in contempt of Congress
.
Hoover appointed Brown as postmaster general
in 1929. In 1930, Brown, citing inefficient and expensive air mail delivery, requested legislation from Congress
granting him authority to change postal policy. The Air Mail Act of 1930, passed on April 29 and known as the McNary-Watres Act after its chief sponsors, Sen. Charles L. McNary
of Oregon
and Rep. Laurence H. Watres of Pennsylvania
, authorized the postmaster general to enter into longer-term airmail contracts with rates based on space or volume, rather than weight. The Act gave Brown strong authority (some argued almost dictatorial powers) over the nationwide air transportation system.
The main provision of the Air Mail Act changed the manner in which payments were calculated. Air mail carriers would be paid for having sufficient cargo capacity on their planes, whether the planes carried mail or flew empty, a disincentive to carry mail since the carrier received a set fee for a plane of a certain size whether or not it carried mail. The purpose of the provision was to discourage the carrying of bulk junk mail to boost profits, particularly by the smaller and inefficient carriers, and to encourage the carrying of passengers. Airlines using larger planes designed to carry passengers would increase their revenues by carrying more passengers and less mail. Awards would be made to the “lowest responsible bidder” that had owned an airline operated on a daily schedule of at least 250 miles (402 kilometers) for at least six months.
A second provision allowed any airmail carrier with an existing contract of at least two years standing to exchange its contract for a “route certificate” giving it the right to haul mail for 10 additional years. The third and most controversial provision gave Brown authority to "extend or consolidate" routes in effect according to his own judgment.
Less than two weeks after its passage, at the Spoils Conference, Brown invoked his authority under the third provision to consolidate the air mail routes to only three companies, forcing out their competitors. These three carriers later evolved into United Airlines
(the northern airmail route), TWA
(Transcontinental and Western Air, which had the mid-United States route) and American Airlines
(American Airways, the southern route). Brown also extended the southern route to the West Coast
. He awarded bonuses for carrying more passengers and purchasing multi-engined aircraft equipped with radios and navigation aids.
In September 1933, after a complaint was made to the Senate Committee on Ocean Mail and Air Mail, its chairman, Alabama
Senator and later U.S. Supreme Court justice, Hugo Black
, agreed to establish a special Senate committee to investigate alleged improprieties and gaming of the rate structure, such as carriers padlocking individual pieces of mail to increase weight. Despite showings that Brown's administration of the air mail had increased the efficiency of the service and lowered its costs from $1.10 to $0.54 per mile, and the obvious partisan politics involved in investigating what appeared to be a Republican scandal by a Democratic-controlled committee, the hearings raised serious questions regarding its legality and ethics.
Black announced that he had found evidence of "fraud and collusion" between the Hoover Administration and the airlines and held public hearings in January 1934. When MacCracken was called to testify, he refused to appear and allowed his clients to recover documents from his firm's files. The Senate judged him a lobbyist and voted to convict him for contempt.
On February 7, 1934, Roosevelt's postmaster general, James A. Farley, announced that he and President Roosevelt were committed to protecting the public interest and that as a result of the investigation, President Roosevelt had ordered the cancellation of all domestic air mail contracts. However not stated to the public was that the decision had overridden Farley's recommendation that it be delayed until June 1, by which time new bids could have been received and processed for continued civilian mail transport.
At the time of the scandal, the Air Corps was in the midst of lobbying for a more centralized control of air operations in the form of an establishment of a General Headquarters (GHQ) Air Force. Without consulting either Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur
or Chief of the Air Corps Major General
Benjamin Delahauf Foulois, Secretary of War
George H. Dern at a cabinet meeting on the morning of February 9, 1934, assured President Roosevelt that the Air Corps could deliver the mail. That same morning, shortly after conclusion of the cabinet meeting, second assistant postmaster general
Harllee Branch called Foulois to his office. A conference between members of the Air Corps, the Post Office, and the Aeronautics Branch of the Commerce Department ensued in which Foulois, asked if the Air Corps could deliver the mail in winter, casually assured Branch that the Air Corps could be ready in a week or ten days.
At 4 o'clock that afternoon President Roosevelt suspended the airmail contracts effective at midnight February 19. He issued Executive Order 6591 ordering the War Department
to place at the disposal of the Postmaster General "such air airplanes, landing fields, pilots and other employees and equipment of the Army of the United States needed or required for the transportation of mail during the present emergency, by air over routes and schedules prescribed by the Postmaster General."
On February 14, five days before the Air Corps was to begin, General Foulois
appeared before the House of Representatives
Post Office Committee outlining the steps taken by the Air Corps in preparation. In his testimony he assured the committee that the Air Corps had selected its most experienced pilots and that it had the requisite experience at flying at night and in bad weather.
In actuality, of the 262 pilots selected, 140 were Reserve junior officers with less than two years flying experience. The Air Corps had made a decision not to draw from its training schools, where most of its experienced pilots were assigned. Only 48 of those selected had logged at least 25 hours of flight time in bad weather, only 31 had 50 hours or more of night flying, and only 2 had 50 hours of instrument time.
The Air Corps during the Great Depression, hampered by pay cuts and a reduction of flight time, operated almost entirely in daylight and good weather. Duty hours were limited and relaxed, usually with four hours or less of flight operations a day, and none on weekends. Experience levels were also limited by obsolete aircraft, most of them single-engine and open cockpit planes. Because of a high turnover-rate policy in the War Department, most pilots were Reserve officers unfamiliar with the civilian airmail routes.
Regarding equipment, the Air Corps had in its inventory only 274 Directional gyros and 460 Artificial horizons, and very few of these were mounted in aircraft. It possessed 172 radio transceivers, almost all with a range of 30 miles (48.3 km) or less. Foulois ordered the available equipment to be installed in the 122 aircraft assigned to the task, but the instruments were not readily available and Air Corps mechanics unfamiliar with the equipment sometimes installed them incorrectly.
The project, termed AACMO (Army Air Corps Mail Operation), was placed under the supervision of Brig.Gen. Oscar Westover
, assistant chief of the Air Corps. He created three geographic zones and appointed Lieutenant Colonel
Henry H. Arnold
to command the Western Zone, Lieutenant Colonel
Horace Meek Hickam
the Central Zone, and Major Byron Quinby Jones the Eastern Zone. Personnel and planes were immediately deployed, but problems began immediately with a lack of proper facilities (and in some instances, no facilities at all) for maintenance of aircraft and quartering of enlisted men, and a failure of tools to arrive where needed.
Sixty Air Corps pilots took oaths as postal employees in preparation for the service and began training. On February 16, three pilots on familiarization flights — Lieutenant
Jean D. Grenier, Edwin D. White and James Eastman — were killed in crashes attributed to bad weather. This presaged some of the worst and most persistent late winter weather in history.
disrupted the initial day's operations east of the Rocky Mountains
, where the first flight from Newark, New Jersey
, was cancelled. The first flight of the operation left from Kansas City, Missouri
, carrying 39 pounds of mail to St. Louis
. Snow, rain, fog, and turbulent winds hampered flying operations for the remainder of the month over much of the United States.
In the Western Zone, Arnold established his headquarters in Salt Lake City. In the winter of 1932-1933, he and many of his pilots had gained winter flying experience flying food-drop missions to aid Indian reservation
settlements throughout the American Southwest isolated by blizzards. As a result of this experience and direct supervision, Arnold's zone was the only one in which a pilot was not killed.
The Western Zone's first flights were made using 18 Boeing P-12
fighters, but these could carry a maximum of only 50 pounds of mail each, and even that amount made them tail-heavy. After one week they were replaced by Douglas O-38
and Douglas O-25C
observation biplanes borrowed from the National Guard. In both the Western and Eastern zones, these became the aircraft of choice, modified to carry 160 pounds of mail in their rear cockpits. Better-suited planes such as the new Martin YB-10
bomber and Curtiss A-12 Shrike
attack aircraft were in insufficient numbers to be of practical use. Two YB-10s crashlanded when pilots unfamiliar with retractable landing gear forgot to lower it, and there were only enough A-12s for a partial squadron in the Central Zone.
On February 22, 1934, two fatal crashes occurred in Texas and Ohio, and a near-fatal crash in Virginia. The next day, a forced landing in the Atlantic Ocean resulted in a drowning. President Roosevelt, publicly embarrassed, ordered a meeting with Foulois that resulted in a reduction of routes and schedules (which were already only 60% of that flown by the airlines), and strict flight safety rules.
On March 8 and 9, 1934, four more pilots died in crashes, totaling ten fatalities in less than one million miles of flying the mail. (Ironically, the crash of an American Airlines airliner on March 9, killing four, went virtually unnoticed in the press.) World War I Air Service legend Eddie Rickenbacker
was quoted as calling the program "legalized murder", which became a catchphrase for criticism of the Roosevelt administration's handling of the crisis. Aviation icon Charles A. Lindbergh, a former air mail pilot himself, stated that using the Air Corps to carry mail was "unwarranted and contrary to American principles." Even though both had close ties to the airline industry, their criticisms seriously stung the Roosevelt Administration.
On March 10, President Roosevelt called Foulois and Army Chief of Staff
General Douglas MacArthur
to the White House
, asking them to fly only in completely safe conditions. Foulois replied that to ensure complete safety the Air Corps would have to end the flights, and Roosevelt suspended airmail service on March 11, 1934.
Foulois wrote in his autobiography that he and MacArthur incurred "the worst tongue-lashing I ever received in all my military service". Norman E. Borden, in Air Mail Emergency of 1934, wrote: "To lessen the attacks on Roosevelt and Farley, Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress and Post Office officials placed the blame for all that had gone wrong on the shoulders of Foulois."
The Army resumed the program again on March 19, 1934, with limited schedules, in better weather, and after putting its pilots through a hastily-created course in instrument flying. It continued the service through May 8, 1934, when temporary contracts with private carriers were put into effect. Two additional Army pilots were killed before AACMO's last flight on June 6, 1934.
In 78 days of operations and over 13,000 hours of logged flight time, completing 65.8 percent of their scheduled flights, the Army Air Corps had moved 777,389 pounds of mail over 1590155 miles (2,559,100 km). Aircraft employed in carrying the mail were the Curtiss B-2 Condor, Keystone B-4
, Keystone B-6
, Douglas Y1B-7
and YB-10 bombers; the Boeing P-12 fighter; the Curtiss A-12 Shrike; Bellanca Aircruiser
(C-27) transport; and the Thomas-Morse O-19
, Douglas O-25C, Curtiss Falcon
(O-39), and two models of Douglas O-38 observation aircraft.
Among the 262 Army pilots flying the mail were Ira C. Eaker, Frank A. Armstrong
, Elwood R. Quesada, Robert L. Scott, Robert F. Travis
, Harold H. George, and Beirne Lay, Jr.
, all of whom would play important roles in air operations during the Second World War.
.) With bidding for contracts more competitive and air mail revenue less attractive than before, the airlines placed a new emphasis on passenger transportation and development of modern airliners.
The most punitive measure was to ban all former airline executives from further contracts. United Airlines
' president, Philip G. Johnson
, for instance, chose to leave the United States and helped to form Trans-Canada Airlines. The effect of the entire scandal was to guarantee that mail-carrying contracts remained unprofitable, and pushed the entire industry towards carrying passengers.
Several airlines sued the government for revenues missed while the Air Corps flew the mail. The last claim was settled in 1942. In 1941 the United States Court of Claims
found that there had not been any fraud or collusion in the awarding of contracts pursuant to the Air Mail Act of 1930.
, echoing comments made by Gen. Billy Mitchell, criticized: “If we are unfortunate enough to be drawn into another war, the Air Corps wouldn’t amount to much. If it is not equal to carrying the mail, I would like to know what it would do in carrying bombs.” (Congressional Record
, 73rd Congress, 2nd Session, Vol. 78, Pt. 3, 3144-3145.)
For the Air Corps, despite its public humiliation, the Air Mail Fiasco resulted in a number of improvements, bringing about changes that its previous publicity campaigns were unable to obtain.
On April 17, 1934, well before AACMO ended, Secretary Dern convened a special committee chaired by former Secretary of War Newton D. Baker
, to closely examine the program and the overall condition of the Air Corps. Known as the Baker Board, it included all five military members of an earlier board chaired by General Hugh A. Drum
, four of them senior Army ground force officers, who tightly controlled the agenda and scope of the board's investigation to prevent it from becoming a platform for advocating an independent air arm. Of the 11 members, only three were Air Corps advocates.
The Baker Board endorsed earlier findings of the Drum Board, supporting the status quo that the Air Corps was an auxiliary force of the Army and opposed to the Air Corps being a separate service equal to the Army and Navy. It rejected the threat of air attack as a major threat to the national defense or the need of a large air force to defend against it. It opposed any expansion of the Air Corps until the needs of the Army as a whole had been addressed.
It did repeat the Drum Board's recommendation for the immediate establishment of a GHQ Air Force, placing under it all air combat units within the continental United States. This provided another, limited step toward an autonomous air force, but also kept authority divided by maintaining control of supply, doctrine, training and recruitment under the Chief of the Air Corps, and airfields in the control of corps area
commanders.
Within the Air Corps itself, instrument training was upgraded, radio communications were greatly improved into a nationwide system that included navigation aids, and budget appropriation
s were increased. The Air Corps acquired the first six Link Trainer
flight simulators of a fleet that would ultimately number more than 10,000.
Finally, the president appointed Clark Howell
, newspaper editor of the Atlanta Constitution, to chair a five-person committee to investigate all aspects of U.S. aviation, resulting in the creation of the Federal Aviation Commission
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
press gave to the political scandal resulting from a congressional investigation of a 1930 meeting (the so-called Spoils Conference), between Postmaster General
United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...
Walter Folger Brown
Walter Folger Brown
Walter Folger Brown was Postmaster General of the United States from 1929 through 1933 under Herbert Hoover. He was best known for his involvement in the Air Mail scandal...
and the executives of the top airlines, and to the disastrous results of the steps taken by the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
to use the U.S. Army Air Corps to fly the mail in 1934. The parties of the conference effectively divided among them the air mail routes, resulting in a Senate investigation.
Although a public relations nightmare for both the administrations of President Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt, the scandal resulted in the growth of the airline industry and the modernization of the Air Corps.
Background
Airmail
Airmail is mail that is transported by aircraft. It typically arrives more quickly than surface mail, and usually costs more to send...
operations began in August 1918, after starting in the United States Army Air Service in May of the same year, with pilots and airplanes belonging to the United States Post Office
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
. For nine years, using mostly war-surplus de Havilland DH.4 biplanes, the Post Office built and flew a nationwide network. In the beginning the work was extremely dangerous; of the initial 40 pilots, three died in crashes in 1919 and nine more in 1920. It was 1922 before an entire year ensued without a fatal crash.
As safety and capability grew, daytime-only operations gave way to flying at night, assisted by ground beacons and lighted emergency landing fields. Regular transcontinental air mail delivery began in 1924. In 1925, to encourage commercial aviation, the Kelly Act (also known as the Contract Air Mail Act of 1925) authorized the Post Office Department to contract with private airlines for feeder routes into the main transcontinental system. The first commercial air mail flight was on the 487 miles (783.7 km) CAM (Contract Air Mail) Route #5 from Pasco, Washington
Pasco, Washington
Pasco is a city in and the county seat of Franklin County, Washington, United States.Pasco is one of three cities that make up the Tri-Cities region of the state of Washington...
, to Elko, Nevada
Elko, Nevada
Elko is a city in Elko County, Nevada, United States. The population was 18,297 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Elko County. The city straddles the Humboldt River....
, on April 6, 1926. By 1927 the transition had been completed to entirely commercial transport of mail, and by 1929 45 airlines were involved in mail delivery at a cost per mile of $1.10. Most were small, under-capitalized companies flying short routes and old equipment.
Subsidies for carrying mail exceeded the cost of the mail itself, and some carriers abused their contracts by flooding the system with junk mail at 100% profit or hauling heavy freight as air mail. Historian Oliver E. Allen, in his book The Airline Builders, estimated that airlines would have had to charge a 150-pound passenger $450 per ticket in lieu of carrying an equivalent amount of mail.
William P. MacCracken, Jr.
William Petterson MacCracken, Jr. became the first federal regulator of commercial aviation when then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert HooverHerbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
named him the first Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics in 1926. During World War I he had served as a flight instructor, had served on the Chicago Aeronautical Commission, and was a member of the board of governors of the National Aeronautical Association when selected by Hoover.
After helping to draft key safety standards and regulations that became part of the 1930 Air Mail Act, MacCracken returned to his private law practice, where he continued to be involved in the growth of commercial aviation by representing many major airlines. For that reason Postmaster General Walter F. Brown asked him to preside over what was later scandalized as the Spoils Conference, to work out an agreement between the carriers and the Post office to consolidate air mail routes into transcontinental networks operated by the best-equipped and financially stable companies. This relationship left both exposed to charges of favoritism. When MacCracken refused later to testify before Congress, he was declared a lobbyist and found in contempt of Congress
Contempt of Congress
Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically the bribery of a senator or representative was considered contempt of Congress...
.
Air Mail Act of 1930
United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...
in 1929. In 1930, Brown, citing inefficient and expensive air mail delivery, requested legislation from Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
granting him authority to change postal policy. The Air Mail Act of 1930, passed on April 29 and known as the McNary-Watres Act after its chief sponsors, Sen. Charles L. McNary
Charles L. McNary
Charles Linza McNary was a United States Republican politician from Oregon. He served in the Senate from 1917 to 1944, and was Senate Minority Leader from 1933 to 1944. In the Senate, McNary helped to pass legislation that led to the construction of Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, and worked...
of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and Rep. Laurence H. Watres of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, authorized the postmaster general to enter into longer-term airmail contracts with rates based on space or volume, rather than weight. The Act gave Brown strong authority (some argued almost dictatorial powers) over the nationwide air transportation system.
The main provision of the Air Mail Act changed the manner in which payments were calculated. Air mail carriers would be paid for having sufficient cargo capacity on their planes, whether the planes carried mail or flew empty, a disincentive to carry mail since the carrier received a set fee for a plane of a certain size whether or not it carried mail. The purpose of the provision was to discourage the carrying of bulk junk mail to boost profits, particularly by the smaller and inefficient carriers, and to encourage the carrying of passengers. Airlines using larger planes designed to carry passengers would increase their revenues by carrying more passengers and less mail. Awards would be made to the “lowest responsible bidder” that had owned an airline operated on a daily schedule of at least 250 miles (402 kilometers) for at least six months.
A second provision allowed any airmail carrier with an existing contract of at least two years standing to exchange its contract for a “route certificate” giving it the right to haul mail for 10 additional years. The third and most controversial provision gave Brown authority to "extend or consolidate" routes in effect according to his own judgment.
Less than two weeks after its passage, at the Spoils Conference, Brown invoked his authority under the third provision to consolidate the air mail routes to only three companies, forcing out their competitors. These three carriers later evolved into United Airlines
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
(the northern airmail route), TWA
Twa
The Twa are any of several hunting peoples of Africa who live interdependently with agricultural Bantu populations, and generally hold a socially subordinate position: They provide the farming population with game in exchange for agricultural products....
(Transcontinental and Western Air, which had the mid-United States route) and American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
(American Airways, the southern route). Brown also extended the southern route to the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
. He awarded bonuses for carrying more passengers and purchasing multi-engined aircraft equipped with radios and navigation aids.
Congressional investigation
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
Senator and later U.S. Supreme Court justice, Hugo Black
Hugo Black
Hugo Lafayette Black was an American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, Black represented Alabama in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1937, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971. Black was nominated to the Supreme...
, agreed to establish a special Senate committee to investigate alleged improprieties and gaming of the rate structure, such as carriers padlocking individual pieces of mail to increase weight. Despite showings that Brown's administration of the air mail had increased the efficiency of the service and lowered its costs from $1.10 to $0.54 per mile, and the obvious partisan politics involved in investigating what appeared to be a Republican scandal by a Democratic-controlled committee, the hearings raised serious questions regarding its legality and ethics.
Black announced that he had found evidence of "fraud and collusion" between the Hoover Administration and the airlines and held public hearings in January 1934. When MacCracken was called to testify, he refused to appear and allowed his clients to recover documents from his firm's files. The Senate judged him a lobbyist and voted to convict him for contempt.
On February 7, 1934, Roosevelt's postmaster general, James A. Farley, announced that he and President Roosevelt were committed to protecting the public interest and that as a result of the investigation, President Roosevelt had ordered the cancellation of all domestic air mail contracts. However not stated to the public was that the decision had overridden Farley's recommendation that it be delayed until June 1, by which time new bids could have been received and processed for continued civilian mail transport.
Executive Order 6591
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
or Chief of the Air Corps Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Benjamin Delahauf Foulois, Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
George H. Dern at a cabinet meeting on the morning of February 9, 1934, assured President Roosevelt that the Air Corps could deliver the mail. That same morning, shortly after conclusion of the cabinet meeting, second assistant postmaster general
Postmaster General
A Postmaster General is a postmaster responsible for an entire mail distribution organization . The term may refer to:* Postmaster General of the United Kingdom* The head of the Hongkong Post...
Harllee Branch called Foulois to his office. A conference between members of the Air Corps, the Post Office, and the Aeronautics Branch of the Commerce Department ensued in which Foulois, asked if the Air Corps could deliver the mail in winter, casually assured Branch that the Air Corps could be ready in a week or ten days.
At 4 o'clock that afternoon President Roosevelt suspended the airmail contracts effective at midnight February 19. He issued Executive Order 6591 ordering the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
to place at the disposal of the Postmaster General "such air airplanes, landing fields, pilots and other employees and equipment of the Army of the United States needed or required for the transportation of mail during the present emergency, by air over routes and schedules prescribed by the Postmaster General."
Preparation and plans
In 1933 the airlines had carried several million pounds of mail on 26 routes covering almost 25000 miles (40,233.5 km) of airways. Transported mostly by night, the mail had been carried in modern passenger planes equipped with modern flight instruments and radios, using ground-based beam transmitters as navigation aids. The airlines also had a well-established system of maintenance facilities along their routes. Initial plans were made for coverage of 18 mail routes totalling nearly 12000 miles (19,312.1 km); and 62 flights daily, 38 by night.On February 14, five days before the Air Corps was to begin, General Foulois
Benjamin Foulois
Benjamin Delahauf Foulois , was a United States Army general who learned to fly the first military planes purchased from the Wright Brothers. He became the first military aviator as an airship pilot, and achieved numerous other military aviation "firsts"...
appeared before the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Post Office Committee outlining the steps taken by the Air Corps in preparation. In his testimony he assured the committee that the Air Corps had selected its most experienced pilots and that it had the requisite experience at flying at night and in bad weather.
In actuality, of the 262 pilots selected, 140 were Reserve junior officers with less than two years flying experience. The Air Corps had made a decision not to draw from its training schools, where most of its experienced pilots were assigned. Only 48 of those selected had logged at least 25 hours of flight time in bad weather, only 31 had 50 hours or more of night flying, and only 2 had 50 hours of instrument time.
Regarding equipment, the Air Corps had in its inventory only 274 Directional gyros and 460 Artificial horizons, and very few of these were mounted in aircraft. It possessed 172 radio transceivers, almost all with a range of 30 miles (48.3 km) or less. Foulois ordered the available equipment to be installed in the 122 aircraft assigned to the task, but the instruments were not readily available and Air Corps mechanics unfamiliar with the equipment sometimes installed them incorrectly.
The project, termed AACMO (Army Air Corps Mail Operation), was placed under the supervision of Brig.Gen. Oscar Westover
Oscar Westover
Oscar M. Westover was a major general and fourth chief of the United States Army Air Corps.-Biography:He was born in Bay City, Michigan and enlisted in the Army when he was 18. He began his service as a private in 1901 before being appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point...
, assistant chief of the Air Corps. He created three geographic zones and appointed Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Henry H. Arnold
Henry H. Arnold
Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold was an American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army and later General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps , Commanding General of the U.S...
to command the Western Zone, Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Horace Meek Hickam
Horace Meek Hickam
Horace Meek Hickam was a pioneer airpower advocate and an officer in the United States Army Air Corps. Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, is named in his honor.-Background:...
the Central Zone, and Major Byron Quinby Jones the Eastern Zone. Personnel and planes were immediately deployed, but problems began immediately with a lack of proper facilities (and in some instances, no facilities at all) for maintenance of aircraft and quartering of enlisted men, and a failure of tools to arrive where needed.
Sixty Air Corps pilots took oaths as postal employees in preparation for the service and began training. On February 16, three pilots on familiarization flights — Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Jean D. Grenier, Edwin D. White and James Eastman — were killed in crashes attributed to bad weather. This presaged some of the worst and most persistent late winter weather in history.
First flight cover
Blizzard conditions
A blizzardBlizzard
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...
disrupted the initial day's operations east of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, where the first flight from Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, was cancelled. The first flight of the operation left from Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, carrying 39 pounds of mail to St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. Snow, rain, fog, and turbulent winds hampered flying operations for the remainder of the month over much of the United States.
In the Western Zone, Arnold established his headquarters in Salt Lake City. In the winter of 1932-1933, he and many of his pilots had gained winter flying experience flying food-drop missions to aid Indian reservation
Indian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
settlements throughout the American Southwest isolated by blizzards. As a result of this experience and direct supervision, Arnold's zone was the only one in which a pilot was not killed.
Boeing P-12
The Boeing P-12 or F4B was an American pursuit aircraft that was operated by the United States Army Air Corps and United States Navy.-Design and development:...
fighters, but these could carry a maximum of only 50 pounds of mail each, and even that amount made them tail-heavy. After one week they were replaced by Douglas O-38
Douglas O-38
-References:*The complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft Editors: Paul Eden & Soph Moeng, , 1152 pp.-External links:...
and Douglas O-25C
Douglas O-2
The Douglas O-2 is a 1920s American observation aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company.-Development:The important family of Douglas observation aircraft sprang from two XO-2 prototypes, the first of which was powered by the 420 hp Liberty V-1650-1 V-engine and test-flown in the autumn...
observation biplanes borrowed from the National Guard. In both the Western and Eastern zones, these became the aircraft of choice, modified to carry 160 pounds of mail in their rear cockpits. Better-suited planes such as the new Martin YB-10
Martin B-10
The Martin B-10 was the first all-metal monoplane bomber to go into regular use by the United States Army Air Corps, entering service in June 1934...
bomber and Curtiss A-12 Shrike
A-12 Shrike
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Eden, Paul and Soph Moeng, eds. The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. London: Amber Books Ltd., 2002, ISBN 0-7607-3432-1....
attack aircraft were in insufficient numbers to be of practical use. Two YB-10s crashlanded when pilots unfamiliar with retractable landing gear forgot to lower it, and there were only enough A-12s for a partial squadron in the Central Zone.
On February 22, 1934, two fatal crashes occurred in Texas and Ohio, and a near-fatal crash in Virginia. The next day, a forced landing in the Atlantic Ocean resulted in a drowning. President Roosevelt, publicly embarrassed, ordered a meeting with Foulois that resulted in a reduction of routes and schedules (which were already only 60% of that flown by the airlines), and strict flight safety rules.
On March 8 and 9, 1934, four more pilots died in crashes, totaling ten fatalities in less than one million miles of flying the mail. (Ironically, the crash of an American Airlines airliner on March 9, killing four, went virtually unnoticed in the press.) World War I Air Service legend Eddie Rickenbacker
Eddie Rickenbacker
Edward Vernon Rickenbacker was an American fighter ace in World War I and Medal of Honor recipient. He was also a race car driver and automotive designer, a government consultant in military matters and a pioneer in air transportation, particularly as the longtime head of Eastern Air Lines.-Early...
was quoted as calling the program "legalized murder", which became a catchphrase for criticism of the Roosevelt administration's handling of the crisis. Aviation icon Charles A. Lindbergh, a former air mail pilot himself, stated that using the Air Corps to carry mail was "unwarranted and contrary to American principles." Even though both had close ties to the airline industry, their criticisms seriously stung the Roosevelt Administration.
On March 10, President Roosevelt called Foulois and Army Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
The Chief of Staff of the Army is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Army, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the Army; and is in...
General Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, asking them to fly only in completely safe conditions. Foulois replied that to ensure complete safety the Air Corps would have to end the flights, and Roosevelt suspended airmail service on March 11, 1934.
Foulois wrote in his autobiography that he and MacArthur incurred "the worst tongue-lashing I ever received in all my military service". Norman E. Borden, in Air Mail Emergency of 1934, wrote: "To lessen the attacks on Roosevelt and Farley, Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress and Post Office officials placed the blame for all that had gone wrong on the shoulders of Foulois."
The Army resumed the program again on March 19, 1934, with limited schedules, in better weather, and after putting its pilots through a hastily-created course in instrument flying. It continued the service through May 8, 1934, when temporary contracts with private carriers were put into effect. Two additional Army pilots were killed before AACMO's last flight on June 6, 1934.
Results
In all, 66 accidents resulted in 12 crew deaths, creating an intense public furor. Because of the air mail operation, accidental crash deaths suffered by the Air Corps in 1934 rose by 15% to 54, compared to 46 in 1933 and 47 in 1935.In 78 days of operations and over 13,000 hours of logged flight time, completing 65.8 percent of their scheduled flights, the Army Air Corps had moved 777,389 pounds of mail over 1590155 miles (2,559,100 km). Aircraft employed in carrying the mail were the Curtiss B-2 Condor, Keystone B-4
Keystone B-4
|-See also:-References and external links:****...
, Keystone B-6
Keystone B-6
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Wagner, Ray. American Combat Planes. New York: Doubleday, 1982. ISBN 0-930083-17-2.-External links:**...
, Douglas Y1B-7
Douglas Y1B-7
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Francillon, René J. McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920. London: Putnam, 1979. ISBN 0-370-00050-1....
and YB-10 bombers; the Boeing P-12 fighter; the Curtiss A-12 Shrike; Bellanca Aircruiser
Bellanca Aircruiser
The Bellanca Aircruiser and Airbus were high-wing, single engine aircraft built by Bellanca Aircraft Corporation of New Castle, Delaware. The aircraft was built as a "workhorse" intended for use as a passenger or cargo aircraft. It was available as land, sea or ski plane. The aircraft was powered...
(C-27) transport; and the Thomas-Morse O-19
Thomas-Morse O-19
|-See also:-References:* John Andrade, U.S.Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909, Midland Counties Publications, 1979, ISBN 0-904597-22-9...
, Douglas O-25C, Curtiss Falcon
Curtiss Falcon
The Curtiss Falcon is a family of military biplane aircraft built by the United States aircraft manufacturer Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company during the 1920s. Most saw service as part of the United States Army Air Corps as observation aircraft with the designations O-1 and O-11, or as the...
(O-39), and two models of Douglas O-38 observation aircraft.
Among the 262 Army pilots flying the mail were Ira C. Eaker, Frank A. Armstrong
Frank A. Armstrong
Frank Alton Armstrong, Jr. was a brigadier general in the United States Army Air Forces and the inspiration for the main character in the novel and subsequent film, Twelve O'Clock High. After the war he became a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force.Armstrong was born in Hamilton,...
, Elwood R. Quesada, Robert L. Scott, Robert F. Travis
Robert F. Travis
Brigadier General Robert F. Travis was an U.S. Air Force officer who served during World War II....
, Harold H. George, and Beirne Lay, Jr.
Beirne Lay, Jr.
Beirne Lay, Jr., was an author, aviation writer, Hollywood screenwriter, and combat veteran of World War II with the U.S. Army Air Forces...
, all of whom would play important roles in air operations during the Second World War.
Effects on the airline industry
The government had little choice but to return service to the commercial airlines, but did so with several punitive conditions. The Air Mail Act of June 12, 1934, drafted by Senator Black, closely regulated the air mail business, dissolved the holding companies that brought together airlines and aircraft manufacturers, and prevented companies that held the old contracts from getting new ones. (The industry's response to the last item was simply to change names; for instance Northwest Airways became Northwest AirlinesNorthwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines, Inc. was a major United States airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines by a merger approved on October 29, 2008, making Delta the largest airline in the world...
.) With bidding for contracts more competitive and air mail revenue less attractive than before, the airlines placed a new emphasis on passenger transportation and development of modern airliners.
The most punitive measure was to ban all former airline executives from further contracts. United Airlines
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
' president, Philip G. Johnson
Philip G. Johnson
Philip Gustav Johnson was a pioneer in the manufacturing of airplanes and in the organization of commercial airlines in the United States and Canada. Johnson served as president of Boeing, United Airlines and Kenworth....
, for instance, chose to leave the United States and helped to form Trans-Canada Airlines. The effect of the entire scandal was to guarantee that mail-carrying contracts remained unprofitable, and pushed the entire industry towards carrying passengers.
Several airlines sued the government for revenues missed while the Air Corps flew the mail. The last claim was settled in 1942. In 1941 the United States Court of Claims
United States Court of Claims
The Court of Claims was a federal court that heard claims against the United States government. It was established in 1855 as the Court of Claims, renamed in 1948 to the United States Court of Claims , and abolished in 1982....
found that there had not been any fraud or collusion in the awarding of contracts pursuant to the Air Mail Act of 1930.
Changes in the Air Corps
The immediate results of the operation were disastrous for the image of the Air Corps. Speaker of the House Henry T. RaineyHenry T. Rainey
Henry Thomas Rainey was a prominent U.S. politician during the first third of the 20th century. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1921 and from 1923 to his death as a Democrat from Illinois, and was its Speaker during the famous Hundred days of Franklin D...
, echoing comments made by Gen. Billy Mitchell, criticized: “If we are unfortunate enough to be drawn into another war, the Air Corps wouldn’t amount to much. If it is not equal to carrying the mail, I would like to know what it would do in carrying bombs.” (Congressional Record
Congressional Record
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when the United States Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks...
, 73rd Congress, 2nd Session, Vol. 78, Pt. 3, 3144-3145.)
For the Air Corps, despite its public humiliation, the Air Mail Fiasco resulted in a number of improvements, bringing about changes that its previous publicity campaigns were unable to obtain.
Newton D. Baker
Newton Diehl Baker, Jr. was an American politician who belonged to the Democratic Party. He served as the 37th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1912 to 1915 and as U.S. Secretary of War from 1916 to 1921.-Early years:...
, to closely examine the program and the overall condition of the Air Corps. Known as the Baker Board, it included all five military members of an earlier board chaired by General Hugh A. Drum
Hugh A. Drum
Hugh Aloysius Drum September 19, 1879 – October 3, 1951 was a U.S. general.Born in Fort Brady, Chippewa County, Michigan, he graduated from Boston College in 1898.Joining the United States Army, he was made a second lieutenant in the 12th Infantry Regiment...
, four of them senior Army ground force officers, who tightly controlled the agenda and scope of the board's investigation to prevent it from becoming a platform for advocating an independent air arm. Of the 11 members, only three were Air Corps advocates.
The Baker Board endorsed earlier findings of the Drum Board, supporting the status quo that the Air Corps was an auxiliary force of the Army and opposed to the Air Corps being a separate service equal to the Army and Navy. It rejected the threat of air attack as a major threat to the national defense or the need of a large air force to defend against it. It opposed any expansion of the Air Corps until the needs of the Army as a whole had been addressed.
It did repeat the Drum Board's recommendation for the immediate establishment of a GHQ Air Force, placing under it all air combat units within the continental United States. This provided another, limited step toward an autonomous air force, but also kept authority divided by maintaining control of supply, doctrine, training and recruitment under the Chief of the Air Corps, and airfields in the control of corps area
Corps area
A Corps area was a geographically-based organizational structure of the United States Army used to accomplish domestic administrative, training and tactical tasks from 1920 to 1942. Each corps area included divisions of the Regular Army, Organized Reserve and National Guard of the United States...
commanders.
Within the Air Corps itself, instrument training was upgraded, radio communications were greatly improved into a nationwide system that included navigation aids, and budget appropriation
Appropriation (law)
In law and government, appropriation is the act of setting apart something for its application to a particular usage, to the exclusion of all other uses....
s were increased. The Air Corps acquired the first six Link Trainer
Link Trainer
The term Link Trainer, also known as the "Blue box" and "Pilot Trainer" is commonly used to refer to a series of flight simulators produced between the early 1930s and early 1950s by Ed Link, based on technology he pioneered in 1929 at his family's business in Binghamton, New York...
flight simulators of a fleet that would ultimately number more than 10,000.
Finally, the president appointed Clark Howell
Clark Howell
Clark Howell was a Pulitzer Prize winning American newspaper man and politician from the state of Georgia.-Biography:Howell was born on September 21, 1863 in Atlanta, Georgia...
, newspaper editor of the Atlanta Constitution, to chair a five-person committee to investigate all aspects of U.S. aviation, resulting in the creation of the Federal Aviation Commission
Federal Aviation Commission
The Federal Aviation Commission was set up in 1935 by order of the Air Mail Act of 1934 to make a survey of aeronautical conditions in the United States. The commission recommended an increase of the army and navy air forces to a total of 4,000 planes....
.