Designed Emergence: U.S. Postal Air Mail Spreads its Wings - Book Two (Airline Regulatory Economics)

The intent of the Airline Regulatory Economics Series is to compile a history of U.S. Federal Government activities in owning, operating, developing, promoting and economically-regulating U.S. air carriers.

Whereas the origination of the U.S. Aerial Mail Service came about through a series of seemingly random events driven by many that coalesced to produce the inauguration of air mail on May 15, 1918, ─ and described in Volume I, Random Convergence , the episodes occurring between July 1918 through June 1921 surrounding U.S. air mail were very much the product of a different milieu: one of intent, driven primarily by two committed public servants.

Postmaster General Albert Burleson and Second Assistant Otto Praeger were writing the world’s first manual on how to run an airline in real time, on a daily basis. Every measure they employed to overcome problems had never been tested before; it was all new. There were no benchmarks. To quote John Jordan of the Post Office: “I don’t know very much about this game – nobody does.”

Volume II, Designed Emergence , narrates the initial years of U.S. air mail between 1918 and 1921 – three bracing years that featured actual heroes and those who thought they were. The U.S. Postal Service inaugurated a pioneering transcontinental air route in 1920, but at a cost that many believed was not worth the sacrifice – much like the Great War that produced the Aerial Mail Service.

The three exhilarating years surveyed in Volume II, Designed Emergence – July 1918 to June 1921 – embody the peak of the development of the Aerial Mail Service. Find out for yourself – this is Book Two of Three.