Harry M. Jones, 22 Year Old Pilot Carried Parcel Post Matter On First Uspod Sanctioned Flight.

In this thread: https://goscf.com/t/25269 I wrote to clarify/correct a misleading book quotation regarding the design of the 1913, 20 cent, Q-8 Parcel Post Stamp shown carrying mail, "Prior to regular government airmail routes which began as noted in 1918 there were mail carrying flights know as pioneer airmail. One such pioneer flight beginning 1-13-1913 2:12 P.M. carried the first parcel post packages (beans) by air from Boston en route to New York City. The pilot was 22 year old Harry M. Jones flying an airplane he built. This trip with carriage of parcel post matter was commissioned by the USPOD.

Official Air Parcel Post did not begin until 35 years later, first international then domestic."

The first pioneer flight, of 97, (means USPOD associated with carriage of the airmail) was set in 1910. So by 1912 when the 20 cent Parcel Post was designed, airplanes had carried mail. Otherwise if you had a plane and wanted to for fun, carry mail to the post office, nothing stopped you if there were trusting souls who though they would not mind if you crashed and burned their mail.

It was an older thread which I bumped but at which time I did not have the photos posted below to add. The "edit time" had timed out to edit that post with these photos. So here they are in a new thread with now appropriate title.

Whew! Great Photo. I would have loved to have been in what appears to be the passenger seat when he took off.

That is a great photo indeed. In an age where flying is pedestrian and taken for granted the photo is a reminder of the courage it took to fly those early planes. I love the facial expression.

My first thought was that this man is much braver and/or crazier than I. I don't know what the cruising speed of the plane would have been at the time. But I imagine it was a long cold flight for the fully exposed pilot. Do you have any further info about him, or has he disappeared from history? I admire the daring of the early aviation pioneers and am amazed at how quickly the technology of flying advanced in a very short time.

Thanks for sharing the photo.

His flight took weeks and he lived to tell about it. It is on the web in various detail. What I show is the front and back of an actual newspaper photo. On the web is a slightly differently cropping of the same photo. I have that image lurking in my computer but see no need to post it here.

You can read beginning on page 154 of the 1949, February, American Airmail Society journal, an article about his Pioneer Flight No. 62 here:
https://www.americanairmailsociety....ary_1949.pdf

That fine article did not include one detail that I enjoyed reading elsewhere. One of his forced landings was on an open grounds. From there he walked to the nearest building with the lights on. Can you imagine for a moment the conversation he starts by saying I just landed my airplane here to the institutional staff of the insane asylum upon its grounds he landed?

Parcelpostguy: Terrific article. Very enjoyable read. Thanks for posting.

Great story and picture parcelpostguy

Thank you for sharing it with us.

Dianne