Commemorating the Bicentennial of America's Postal Service

Front:
US1OC200 Years of Postal Service 1775 1975 114 200 9278 SEP 1975 1910 FIRST DAY OF ISSUE 38 Commemorating The Bicentennial of America's Postal Service Fleetwood Yficial Frst Day Cover Bhiladelphia 76 PHIA.PA

Back:
JENNYS TO JETS America's first official air mail was one bag of letters flown by an Army pilot from New York via Philadelphia to Washington on May 15, 1918. The flight took three hours and twenty minutes. Daily flights between New York and Washington continued with the Post Office operating its own air mail service after the Army was forced to withdraw due to the pressures of World War I. Both aviation and air mail expanded phenomenally until the Post Office could no longer cope with the increasing complex- ities, and private contractors were invited to fly the mail. By 1920 air mail spanned the continent in fifty-four hours. Because of the hazards of night flying, the mail was transferred to trains each evening and returned to the air in the morning! Today's domestic air mail numbers one and one-half billion pieces yearly, much of it being whisked to its destination on sleek, jumbo jets.