1928 Air Mail Cover With Cachet Of Fairfield Fc-2 Picking Up Mail At Po?

On August 1, 1928, air mail rates were reduced from 10-cents per half ounce to 5-cents for one ounce. That was a huge reduction and was heavily promoted. This cover is an example of those promotional efforts.

I'm curious about the cachet. I've searched online and can find plenty of information about the Fairchild FC-2 as a mail plane. I can't find any news stories, however, about the Fairchild FC-2, which had foldable wings, directly picking up mail from a post office.

Suppose that never happened and this was just one more gimmick to promote air mail in the 1920s?

Fairchild constructed and sold 56 Fairchild FC-2 monoplanes. There were all specifically designed and built to allow their wings to be folded back for the purpose of making them easier to store in less space than non-folding wing aircraft. It appears that some clever person thought of a publicity stunt to fold its wings as designed, and then taxi it off of a local airport and down a road to a nearby Post Office to pick up some mail. I am sure the local constabulary was not amused, though back then I guess people could get away with doing more silly things than they can today.

It is interesting to note that it was an FC-2 that had been outfitted with floats to enable it to land and take off on water that on October 19, 1927 flew the very first flight that created Pan Am. The just forming Pan Am company had won a mail contract to fly mail from Key West, Florida to Havana Cuba which would give them the money to establish themselves, but the contract required the flight to be made by that date. Pan Am was unable to do so because there was a delay in the delivery of their first aircraft so Pan Am paid another airline, the West Indian Aerial Express, who owned that FC-2 on floats along with a WIAE pilot, a Canadian named Cy Caldwell, to fly the mail for them. It saved Pan Am from going under before they even started. It was a bit of a shady way to get credit for having met their contract but again, back then things were not as they are today. And Pan Am went on to become one of the world's major airlines and completing so many first international flights on their own over the decades to follow.

@Capthickey: Interesting and "fun" cover - thanks for sharing it!

@Kimo: Thanks for the info on the Fairchild FC-2 monoplane!

I researched this cover and discovered that a Fairchild monoplane did in fact pick-up mail at a Milwaukee post office on August 1, 1928. You can read my findings on my blog. Go to https://www.mypostalhistory.com and go to the first article under the "Airmail" category.

cool story and history!