Bellefonte to be stopover for Air Mail flight reenactment

Bellefonte Post Office Commemorates 90th Anniversary of Transcontinental Air Mail flight with special pictorial cancellation

BELLEFONTE — To commemorate the 90th anniversary of the invention of airmail, three antique aircraft will reenact the first transcontinental Postal Service Air Mail flight next week with a stopover at the Bellefonte Airport on Wednesday, September 10 for a special ceremony at 12:30 p.m.

The trio will start their trip from New York Republic field on September 9, landing at Bellefonte Airport at approximately 12:00 p.m. The vintage planes will appear at a total of 14 historic Air Mail stops along the way picking up each stop’s postmark until finally landing in San Francisco on September 14. The trip will cover approximately 29 flying hours.

The Bellefonte Post Office will offer a special pictorial cancellation free-of-charge to commemorate the historic air route that changed mail service forever. The special postmark will be offered beginning Sept. 10 at the Bellefonte Post Office and will be available for 30 days afterwards.

Bellefonte Postmaster Gregory Miller will greet the pilots and present the trio with a framed photo enlargement of the Air Mail granite monument located at the American Philatelic Society in Bellefonte and erected this year to honor pioneers of Air Mail flights.

Who:
Bellefonte Postmaster Gregory Miller; Pilot Larry Tobin (1927 Stearman C3B); Pilot Addison Pemberton (1928 Boeing 40); Pilot Ben Scott (1930 Stearman Speedmail); Pilot Mechanic Al Holloway and representatives from the Smithsonian Air and Space museum.

What:
90th Anniversary reenactment of transcontinental Air Mail flight landing at Bellefonte Airport with presentations and pilot remarks.

When:
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
12:30 p.m.

Where:
Bellefonte Airport
225 Snowbird Lane
Bellefonte, PA 16823

Why:
The Postal Service was contacted by the pilots who expressed interest in flying the original mail route which embarked in 1918. The pilots will be carrying official U.S. Mail from each stopover in vintage restored aircraft. The Post Office Department took control of all aspects of Air Mail Service in August of 1918, and set out to ensure the service would become a fundamental part of American life. Due to increased speed of travel, banks and businesses were the first to recognize the potential for Air Mail Service.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation — 146 million homes and businesses. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.