Metropolitan
Air Post Society
Metropolitan
|
|
Contract Air Mail Route No. 5Inaugural Service — Elko, Nevada - Pasco, Washington Walter T. Varney, a flight school and air taxi operator, realized the submitted the only bid for Contract Air Mail Route 5 linking Pasco, Washington, (a station on the Northern Pacific Railroad system) through Boise, Idaho to Elko, Nevada (a stop on the Government’s Transcontinental air mail route) – the first contract air mail service in the Northwest. Varney purchased six Swallow biplanes that could carry a pilot and 600 pounds of mail. On the first westbound flight out of Elko to Boise, Pilot Franklin Rose met with severe storms and made a forced landing in Jordan Valley, about sixty miles off his course. His landing was made without damage to the plane or himself, and borrowing a horse at a farm about ten miles away, he took the mail and rode to the nearest phone, thirty miles away. This delayed the mail and it did not reach Boise until April 8 and Pasco until April 9. Failure of the plane to arrive at Boise caused the mail to be held over until April 7, when Arthur Walters flew the mail into Pasco. Upon request by the airline, the operations on this 435-mile long route were immediately suspended in order to upgrade their equipment. |
|
|
CAM-5W1f – Elko, Nevada Airport Mail Facility dispatchFlown by pilot Franklin Rose out of Elko on April 6, 1926 until his airplane made a forced landing. Then flown by Captain Arthur Walters from Boise to Pasco, where it arrived on April 9, 1926.
|
|
June 1, 1926 — Resumption of Service During the period when Contract Air Mail Route 5 service was suspended, Varney replaced the 150 horsepower Curtiss K6 engines in the Swallow biplane with more powerful Wright J-4 engines, facilitating the service resumption.
|
June 1, 1926 – Service ResumptionFlown on the Walter T. Varney service resumption from Pasco, Washington to Boise, Idaho |
|
October 1-2, 1926 — Salt Lake City, Utah Added In order to establish a safer route for the winter months, Salt Lake City replaced Elko as the eastern route terminal. The change was found so satisfactory that it was maintained. There was very little publicity and no official cachets were furnished. The plane out of Boise into Salt Lake City made a forced landing at Lucin, Utah, and the mail was trained into Salt Lake City arriving on October 2.
|
5W4f – Elko, Nevada Airport Mail Facility dispatchAutographed and flown by Leon Cuddeback, the Chief Pilot of Varney Airlines, on the inaugural flight from Salt Lake City, Utah to Pasco, Washington. |
|
|
CAM-5E5 – Boise, Idaho dispatchThe plane out of Boise into Salt Lake City made a forced landing at Lucin, Utah, |
|
March 1, 1930 — Air Express Service Air Express was an adjunct to the carriage of mail and provided airlines extra revenue from business customers who regularly shipped large parcels of heavy or time-sensitive goods. On March 1, 1930, the Railway express Agency established its air express service over Varney’s route system, which in early 1930 had been extended to Portland, Oregon and several cities in Washington: Spokane, Tacoma, and Seattle.
|
Air Express – 19nInaugural Air Express dispatch from Portland, Oregon to Pasco, Washington. |
|
June 16, 1930 — Pasco, Air Mail Field Unofficial information reports that the Pasco, Washington Air Mail Field Post Office was established on December 15, 1929 – and that office received its first postmark on June 16, 1930.
|
Air Mail Field Cancellation – PSC 1Flown by Varney Airlines from Pasco, Washington to Salt Lake City, Utah. |
Airline Merger and Route ConsolidationUnited Aircraft and Transport Corporation acquired Varney Air Lines during June 1930. On July 7, 1930, Contract Air Mail Route 32 between Pasco and Seattle, Washington was consolidated with this route and the combined routes thereafter were known as Contract Air Mail Route 5. On July 1, 1931, Boeing formally consolidated its own system with Varney Air Lines, Stout, Pacific Air Transport, and National Air Transport to create United Air Lines. On December 17, 1933 Contract Air Mail Route 5 service was discontinued at Tacoma and Seattle, making Portland, Oregon the route terminus. |
Updated 18 July 2007
Copyright © Metropolitan Air Post Society
