Adams Airmail Pick-Up System

One of the most interesting ways of early airmail delivery was the airmail pick-up system devised by Dr. Lytle S. Adams, a dentist from PA. To quote a web article:


Dr. Adams went on to found All American Aviation which is today known as US Airways.

Here's a fascinating video which shows how the mail pick-up worked.



I'm lucky to own several covers from different pick-up points, but this is my favorite because it's signed by Dr. Adams himself

What does the red winged stamp at the lower right of the cover signify?

It does make me wonder if it was post flight, if it had beed applied by the postmen preparing the pick-up bag, why didn't they hit the stamps with that great looking Inaugural Mail Service winged cancel. Can that be called a cancel, since it didn't cancel anything?

Well, I carefully called it a "stamp" not a "cancellation." It looks to me like a rubber stamp "cachet" that was applied to the cover. Such rubber stamped cachets were often applied on early flight covers by the local PO. But it would be applied to a blank part of the cover, not over the stamps. I think maybe I'm answering my own question. Since the cover already had a cachet as part of the envelope, the PO clerk used the least intrusive part of the cover to apply the rubber stamp cachet.

This cover is cataloged in the American Air Mail Catalog as U.S. Souvenir Historical Flight number 705. It was flown on a demonstration flight to show that the concept of flying just above the ground with a long rope with a hook on the end trailing behind could snag a line held up on two 34 foot poles and with a small bag of mail so the aircraft would not have to actually land to get the mail. The mail on this souvenir demonstration flight was picked up by this method in Lexington, KY and unloaded when the aircraft landed in Louisville, KY where it was canceled. the winged rubber stamp is called a rubber stamp cachet which are commonly applied to flight covers. The cachet on the left of the shown envelope is a pre-printed cachet.

The guy who invented and was trying to promote this method of picking up the mail without landing was a dentist by the name of Lytle S. Adams. He tried for a decade to get the Post Office to buy into his invention and tried all kinds of promotions such as this demonstration flight. Ultimately he was unsuccessful and for good reason. Would you want to be the pilot of a very small aircraft and fly it 50 feet above the ground in all kinds of bad weather and with a long rope with a big hook on the end of it trailing behind trying to snag a line held up only 34 feet in the air without first snagging your propeller in that line or without the hook on the rope snagging on the ground - either of which would be a sure way to crash?

Thanks for the info, Kimo. The AAMS catalog describes the cachet (but doesn't have a picture of it).

I suppose it depends on which edition of the AAMC you are looking in. Souvenir Historical Flights have not yet been released in the 7th edition - only the first volume of that is out now and it has CAMs 1 through 34, Philippine Flights 1911 through 1946, and Foreign Flag Flights. The plan is for Volume 2 and possibly also Volume 3 to be issued this year, but of course the American Air Mail Catalog is a work of love and mostly volunteer hours and so the exact time of issueing the next two volumes are up in the air, so to speak.

I do not have the 6th edition of the full set of the 6th edition of the catalog so I do not know how or if it may be listed there, but I do have the full 5 volume set of the 5th edition. It is listed in the 5th edition, Volume 5, page 2629 and it is also illustrated there with a photo of one of these that does have both the pre-printed cachet at the left and the rubber stamped winged cachet to the right of it. The one illustrated is also signed by the pilot also.

Thanks for added info. I'm hoping that the American Air Mail Catalogs will be available as PDF files so I can pick up all volumes.

I don't think that they are avaiable as PDFs, but here's the web site.

http://www.americanairmailsociety.o...__books.html

My volumes are old, possibly 1st edition. (I will check when I get home.) I have been reluctant to spend money on a newer edition, as what I have seems to satisfy my needs.

The American Air Mail Society created and updates the American Air Mail Catalogs. They are works of love by the most knowledgable volunteers around and each new edition builds on the knowledge of the ones that came before and which first began in 1935. You can find used copies of earlier editions on ebay and elsewhere for a fraction of the cost of the newest editions, but then you be getting old prices. This is fine for many people and if you go this route my suggestion is to pick up the five volumes of the Fifth Edition or at least the volumes of that edition that contain the specific flight collecting areas that interest you. If you want the newest edition and want to save money, you should join the American Air Mail Society and you will get a discount off the regular price that is charged to non-members. The newest edition is being sold by the American Philatelic Society on their website under a contract that the AAMS has with them to sell their books for them. There is no electronic version of the catalogs now and none is planned. If you think about the money you will save in knowing what to pay for things, plus the incredible depth of knowledge that is in the catalogs I think that you will come to the conclusion that the price is worth it.

Thanks for the info, Kimo. My "set" looks like the original edition, with Vol 1 published in 1947, Vol 2 published in 1950, and Vol 3 ("Supplement") published in 1959. I got these off ebay over a decade ago, when I first started collecting early flight covers. They have proven adequate for my needs. I don't really depend on catalogs for pricing information. I can generally get a good idea from ebay or other sources (Mccuskers, Brookman) as to values for the material that I'm interested in (so far, mostly Lindbergh). But I appreciate good reference works, and the work that goes into their preparation. I might keep my eye open for a 5th edition, as you suggest.

Basil

Great looking cover and very cool subject matter. Plus the signatures. Looks like the 'Mayor" signed over top of the cachet...?