Charles Knotek: First Coast to Coast Airmail Service

Artist: Charles Knotek
1933 -
Nationality: American
Artwork Year: 1984
Image Size: 16.25 by 12.75 inches
Overall Size: 20.25 by 15.28 inches
Medium: Mixed Media on Cold Press Illustration Board

The years 1919 to 1921 saw much pioneering toward establishing a coast-to-coast airmail service in the U.S. From 1920 on, transcontinental mail routes were attempted -- some successfully and some not. But there was talk that the Service had exppanded too fast -- people were horrified at the number of accidents and deaths -- and many felt the idea should be abandoned. But, on the morning of February 22, 1921, a flight began which was to finally prove the validity of airmail service. At 6:00 a.m., two planes took off from Long Island, New York. An hour and a half later, two more left from San Francisco, California. The plan was to show the advantage of continuous day-and-night flights across the country. The timing was not good, however, and pilots found themselves contending with short days, bad weather, mechanical problems and virtually unlit airways -- townspeople along the route lit bonfires to show the way. By 2:00 a.m. on February 23rd, the fleet was reduced to one plane and the crew to one tired pilot named Jack Knight. When his relief pilot was downed by weather, Kinight agreed to go on. Following an ordinary road map and a compass course, he made his way from Omaha to Chicago in blinding snow. From there, the plane was piloted on to New York, arriving 33 hours and 20 minutes after it had left San Francisco -- 65 hours faster than the best train time on record. The next day, Congress awarded a $1.25 million appropriation for further development of the Air Mail Service.

This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood® Commemorative Cover for the Man's Conquest of the Heavens series issued in 1983.

Artwork Copyright © 1984 Unicover Corporation. All Rights Reserved under United States and international copyright laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, transmit, or otherwise exploit the Artwork in any way. Images of the Artwork may be watermarked and/or digitally watermarked. Any sale of the physical original does not include or convey the Copyright or any right comprised in the copyright.

Our Stock Number (SKU): XB08583

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