The "Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor dark of night shall ... " Story

It was an ordinary day.  Thought I'd mail a check to Magali who works at Sprimbarth Cap Caraibes in St. Martin.  She has become a good friend over the years and has helped us with renting properties for our annual vacation on the island.  This past May, after a couple of weeks on St. Martin, we stooped to visit with her at her office and made a decision to rent the same property for 2014.  Picked our dates and put a deposit on the villa at the time by using my credit card.  Well, today I thought I would make another deposit so when the time came for the final deposit, it wouldn't break the bank.  Then I got to thinking about two years ago when I mailed a check to her and it never arrived.  Never figured what happened to it, but put a "stop payment" on the check and paid with my credit card instead.  She told me that at times the air mail from the USA doesn't reach them.  No explanation, but it just doesn't reach them.  So instead of writing a check, I 

John Wise leaving on his airmail run.

just called and made another contribution with my credit card towards our next vacation on the island.  A few days later I got an email from a neighbor across the street from me with a story about the beginnings of air mail in the USA.  Just a coincidence?  On January 9, 1793 Jean-Pierre Blanchard carried a personal letter written by George Washington from Philadelphia to Deptford, NJ.  First flight that carried airmail in the USA.  Then in 1859 John Wise piloted a balloon that left St. Louis on July 17 with a bag of mail entrusted to him by American Express.  A month later on August 17 he arrived in Henderson, NY.  

Plane used for airmail deliveries.

In 1957 the United States Postal Service issued a 7 cent stamp commem- orating Wise's first airmail flight.  Airmail, as we know it, began on August 20, 1920 when the United States opened its first coast-to-coast airmail delivery route, 60 years after the Pony Express stopped making deliveries.  

Large concrete arrow used to direct pilots with airmail

Aviation charts at the time were almost nonexistent so pilots had to eyeball their way across the country.  Landmarks were a big help, but needless to say night flying and bad weather made it just about impossible.  The problem was solved by the postal service when a ground-based civilian navigation system  was developed.  Lit beacons extended from San Francisco to New York spaced approximately every 10 miles apart. Each beacon light was accompanied by a bright, huge yellow concrete arrow on the ground.  

Mail routes using the beacon and yellow arrow.

Now mail could cross the country in about 30 hours instead of weeks.  New advances in radio and radar made the beacons and big arrows obsolete, but certainly not as cool as the bright yellow arrows.  In the 1940s the government decommissioned the beacons and arrows and many of the beacon towers were torn down.  But to this day, many of the arrows are still visible from the air.  The yellow paint has faded, but the concrete arrows will forever remain.   My friend Tom included a few photos with his story that I am sharing with you.  Pretty neat!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.