Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
December 5, 1919 The airline popularly known today as Avianca was established as Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transporte Aéro (the Colombian-German Air Transport Society), or SCADTA, in the city of Barranquilla, Colombia. The founders of SCADTA were -- on behalf of business interests in Colombia -- Ernesto Cortissoz (who served as its first president), Rafael Palacio, Cristóbal... Continue Reading →
September 27, 1899 Aviation pioneer Dean Cullen Smith was born at his grandparents’ home in the city of Cove, Oregon. After graduating from high school in the Beaver State, he attended Principia College in St. Louis, Missouri, for two years. The origins of Smith’s strong interest and involvement in flight activities can be traced to... Continue Reading →
September 9, 1911 The world’s first scheduled mail delivery via plane took place in England when pioneer aviator Gustav Hamel flew a Blériot XI aircraft between the Hendon airfield in north London and the Great Park (located just south of the royal residence of Windsor Castle). King George V had given permission for Hamel’s plane and... Continue Reading →
June 24, 1918 Canada joined a small but ever-growing number of nations in a new method of postal delivery when that nation’s first official airmail service took place. At 10:12 a.m., Captain Brian Peck of the Royal Flying Corps departed for Toronto from the Bois Franc Polo Grounds near Montreal in a JN-Curtiss two-seater biplane... Continue Reading →
Varney Air Lines officially began service with a history-making U.S. airmail flight that originated in the city of Pasco, Washington. “America’s most modern and rapid transportation of mail was brought to the northwest today,” reported that day’s edition of the Salt Lake Tribune. Walter T. Varney, a pilot in the aviation section of the U.S.... Continue Reading →
In New Zealand, aviation pioneer George B. Bolt inaugurated the first regular airmail service between the cities of Auckland and Whangarei. This venture marked only the latest of his major contributions to airborne transportation in his homeland. Bolt, who had been born in the city of Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island in 1893, developed... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 