This cover was posted in Boston on May 10 1926, 1230 am, the day the Liberty Bell stamp was issued,
so the first part one of Gorham's schemewent according to plan;
the Liberty Bell stamps were canceled FDOI.
But the endorsement:
'Contract Air Mail / Via New York to Chicago for First Flight Chicago to Dallas'
may have left something to be desired.
What was Boston expected to do with the cover?
The 15¢ franking paid for one zone, NY-Chicago and one route, CAM-3 to Dallas.
Was the cover supposed to take a free train ride, Boston-NY, before air mail service started?
Since there usually were big piles of FDCs to be canceled, and no big rush returning them to dispatchers,
this cover may have sat around for a while before it was started moving.
The Chicago air mail transit postmark shows that it got to Chicago by air on May 12 at 830 pm,
much too late for the CAM-3 first flight to Dallas, scheduled to leave Chicago May 12 at 530 am.
There's no further evidence of what happened.
When a Chicago air mail position examined the cover it may have been detrmined
that the 15¢ postage had been used up, CAM- 1 to New York, and one zone New York to Chicago.
The cover likely was sent to Spencer, Iowa by train.
