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94-522: The Air Mail scandal of the early 1930s resulted in a rebuilt air mail system, under the Air Mail Act of 1934 , in which carriers and their equipment manufacturers (e.g., of airframes and engines) could no longer be owned by the same company. The United Aircraft and Transport Corporation was broken up on September 26, 1934, as a result of this new law. The corporation's airline interests went on to become United Airlines . Its manufacturing interests east of

188-457: A Douglas C-29 Dolphin took off from Floyd Bennett Field , New York on a flight to Langley Field to ferry a mail aircraft and ditched when both engines failed a mile off of Rockaway Beach . Waiting for a rescue attempt in heavy seas, the passenger on the amphibian drowned. President Roosevelt, publicly embarrassed, ordered a meeting with Foulois that resulted in a reduction of routes and schedules (which were already only 60% of that flown by

282-477: A Senate investigation. The investigation resulted in a citation of contempt of Congress on February 5, 1934, against attorney William P. MacCracken Jr. , who helped draft the law while working for the government and brokered the meeting of the airlines. It was the only action taken against any former Hoover Administration official for the scandal. Two days later, Hoover's successor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt , cancelled all existing air mail contracts with

376-410: A 150-pound passenger $ 450 per ticket (equal to $ 7985 in 2024 dollars) in lieu of carrying an equivalent amount of mail. William P. MacCracken Jr. became the first federal regulator of commercial aviation when then- Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover named him the first Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics in 1926. During World War I he had served as a flight instructor, had served on

470-656: A cabinet meeting on the morning of February 9, 1934, assured President Roosevelt that the Air Corps could deliver the mail. That same morning, shortly after conclusion of the cabinet meeting, second assistant postmaster general Harllee Branch called Foulois to his office. A conference between members of the Air Corps, the Post Office, and the Aeronautics Branch of the Commerce Department ensued in which Foulois, asked if

564-559: A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on March 4, 1939, when United Aircraft and AT&T were added to replace Nash Motors and International Business Machines . United Aircraft, subsequently known as United Technologies, has remained a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since that time. For the subsidiaries of United Aircraft, and for countless other manufacturing firms, World War II

658-422: A cost per mile of $ 1.10. Most were small, under-capitalized companies flying short routes and old equipment. Subsidies for carrying mail exceeded the cost of the mail itself, and some carriers abused their contracts by flooding the system with junk mail at 100% profit or hauling heavy freight as air mail. Historian Oliver E. Allen, in his book The Airline Builders , estimated that airlines would have had to charge

752-694: A daily run between Washington, D.C. , and New York City with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . The operation was put together in ten days by Major Reuben H. Fleet , the executive officer for flying training of the Division of Military Aeronautics , and managed by Captain Benjamin B. Lipsner , a non-flyer. Starting with six converted Curtiss JN-4HM "Jennies" , two of which were destroyed in crashes, and later using Curtiss R-4LMs , in 76 days of operations Air Service pilots moved 20 tons of mail without

846-883: A frivolous luxury for the few remaining affluent, had doubled following restructuring. Much of this if not all was the result of the postal subsidies, funded by taxpayers. The air mail scandal began when an officer of the New York Philadelphia and Washington Airway Corporation, known as the Ludington Airline , was having a drink with friend and Hearst newspaper reporter Fulton Lewis Jr. Ludington Airline, established and owned by brothers Townsend and Nicholas Ludington , began offering an hourly daytime passenger shuttle on September 1, 1930, just two weeks after Eastern Air Transport (EAT) began its first passenger operations between New York City and Richmond, Virginia . Using seven Stinson SM-6000B tri-motors , Ludington Airline became

940-513: A greater number of miles and making three extra stops in just an hour's more time. Only two additional Army pilots were killed flying the mail after the resumption of operations, on March 30 and April 5. By May 17 all but one mail route, CAM 9 (Chicago to Fargo, North Dakota ), had been restored to civil carriers. AACMO relinquished this last route on June 1, 1934. In all, 66 major accidents, ten of them with fatalities, resulted in 13 crew deaths, creating an intense public furor. Only five of

1034-711: A light attack aircraft to replace the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk . The A-7A used a non-afterburning variant of the TF30, which would also power the improved A-7B and A-7C. In 1965, the USAF selected the A-7D as a replacement for its fast-jet F-100 and F-105 supersonic fighter-bombers in the close air support role. Though the USAF had wanted the TF30, Pratt & Whitney was unable to meet the production timetable, because its facilities were already committed to producing other engines. Instead of producing

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1128-539: A low bid of 25 cents a mile. Ludington's general manager, former Air Service aviator Eugene L. Vidal , eager to curtail Ludington's growing losses with a lucrative mail subsidy, had offered the extremely low bid to Brown in order to demonstrate Ludington's commitment to the route extension plan "at or below cost." Lewis did not think much about the conversation until he later read the Post Office Department's announcement that had awarded Ludington's arch-rival

1222-453: A memo that Brittin claimed was personal and unrelated to the investigation. Brittin later tore up the memo and discarded it. Black charged MacCracken with Contempt of Congress on February 5 and ordered him arrested. During a five-day trial the Senate deemed him a lobbyist not protected by lawyer-client privilege and voted to convict him. Disregarding as Black did the fact that all but two of

1316-570: A partial squadron in the Central Zone. On February 22 a young pilot departing Chicago in an O-39 flew into a snow storm over Deshler, Ohio , and became lost after his navigational radio failed. Fifty miles off course, he bailed out but his parachute caught on the tail section of his airplane and he was killed. That same day in Denison, Texas , another pilot attempting a forced landing was killed when his P-26A flipped over on soft turf. The next day,

1410-405: A passenger list of airlines officials and news reporters, they flew from Douglas Aviation's plant at Burbank, California , to Newark, New Jersey. Bypassing several regular stops to stay ahead of a blizzard , the stunt established a new cross-country time record of just over 13 hours, breaking the old record by more than five hours. The DC-1 arrived on the morning of February 19 only two hours before

1504-624: A single fatality or serious injury, achieving a 74% completion rate of flights during the summer thunderstorm season. Air mail operations by the U.S. Post Office began in August 1918 under Lipsner, who resigned from the Army on July 13 to take the post. Lipsner procured Standard JR-1B biplanes specially modified to carry the mail with twice the range of the military mailplanes, the first civil aircraft built to U.S. government specifications. For nine years, using mostly war-surplus de Havilland DH.4 biplanes,

1598-414: A vice president of North American Aviation (Eastern Air Transport's parent holding company ) and Jack Frye of Transcontinental and Western Air, both of which had lost their mail contracts, flew T&WA's prototype Douglas DC-1 airliner "City of Los Angeles," which was still in flight test , across the country on the last evening before the Air Corps operation began. Carrying a partial load of mail and

1692-497: A well-established system of maintenance facilities along their routes. Initial plans were made for coverage of 18 mail routes totalling nearly 12,000 miles (19,000 km); and 62 flights daily, 38 by night. On February 14, five days before the Air Corps was to begin, General Foulois appeared before the House of Representatives Post Office Committee outlining the steps taken by the Air Corps in preparation. In his testimony he assured

1786-528: A “route certificate” giving it the right to haul mail for 10 additional years. The third and most controversial provision gave Brown authority to "extend or consolidate" routes in effect according to his own judgment. Within days of its passage, United Aircraft and Transport Company (UATC) acquired the controlling interest of National Air Transport after a brisk but brief struggle between UATC and Clement M. Keys of NAT. The merger, begun in February 1930 to plug

1880-522: The Air Mail fiasco , is the name that the American press gave to the political scandal resulting from a 1934 congressional investigation into the awarding of contracts to certain airlines to carry airmail and the subsequent disastrous use of the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) to fly the mail after the contracts were revoked. During the administration of U.S. President Herbert Hoover , Congress passed

1974-550: The Kelly Act (also known as the Air Mail Act of 1925 ) authorized the Post Office Department to contract with private airlines for feeder routes into the main transcontinental system. The first commercial air mail flight was on the 487-mile (784 km) route CAM (Contract Air Mail) No. 5 from Pasco, Washington , to Elko, Nevada , on April 6, 1926. By 1927 the transition had been completed to entirely commercial transport of mail, and by 1929 45 airlines were involved in mail delivery at

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2068-477: The McNary-Watres Act after its chief sponsors, Sen. Charles L. McNary of Oregon and Rep. Laurence H. Watres of Pennsylvania , authorized the postmaster general to enter into longer-term airmail contracts with rates based on space or volume, rather than weight. The Act gave Brown strong authority (some argued almost dictatorial powers) over the nationwide air transportation system. The main provision of

2162-570: The Mississippi River — Pratt & Whitney , Chance Vought , and Sikorsky —remained together as the new United Aircraft Corporation, headquartered in Hartford with Frederick Rentschler , founder of Pratt & Whitney, as president. All manufacturing interests west of the Mississippi became part of a revived Boeing Aircraft . The latter half of the 1930s saw military procurement buildups around

2256-518: The Model 2067 . Intended to be marketed as DC-9, it was not directly related to the later twin-engined Douglas DC-9 . Pratt & Whitney (P&W) had offered its JT8A turbojet for the airliner, but Douglas preferred to go with a turbofan engine, which would have a greater fuel efficiency than a turbojet. P&W then proposed the JT10A, a half-scale version of its newly developed JT8D turbofan. Development of

2350-666: The National Guard . In both the Western and Eastern zones, these became the aircraft of choice, modified to carry 160 pounds of mail in their rear cockpits, and in their nose (bombardier/navigator) compartments where those existed. Better-suited planes such as the new Martin YB-10 bomber and Curtiss A-12 Shrike ground attack aircraft were in insufficient numbers to be of practical use. Two YB-10s crashlanded when pilots forgot to lower its retractable landing gear, and there were only enough A-12s for

2444-543: The White House , asking them to fly only in completely safe conditions. Foulois replied that to ensure complete safety the Air Corps would have to end the flights, and Roosevelt suspended airmail service on March 11, 1934. Foulois wrote in his autobiography that he and MacArthur incurred "the worst tongue-lashing I ever received in all my military service". Norman E. Borden, in Air Mail Emergency of 1934 , wrote: "To lessen

2538-502: The 122 aircraft assigned to the task, but the instruments were not readily available and Air Corps mechanics unfamiliar with the equipment sometimes installed them incorrectly or without regard for standardization of cockpit layout. The project, termed AACMO (Army Air Corps Mail Operation), was placed under the supervision of Brigadier General Oscar Westover , assistant chief of the Air Corps. He created three geographic zones and appointed Lieutenant Colonel Henry H. Arnold to command

2632-531: The 13 deaths actually occurred on flights carrying mail, but directly and indirectly the air mail operation caused accidental crash deaths in the Air Corps to rise by 15% to 54 in 1934, compared to 46 in 1933 and 47 in 1935. In 78 days of operations and over 13,000 hours of logged flight time, completing 65.8 percent of their scheduled flights, the Army Air Corps moved 777,389 pounds of mail over 1,590,155 miles (2,559,106 km). Aircraft employed in carrying

2726-520: The 1970s the jet engine manufacturers found that their products for the commercial (airline) market had been commoditized to a greater extent than in previous decades. Leaving behind a tradition of mating airframes to particular engines (which linked the profitability of an airframe model to that of its exclusive engine supplier), the airframe builders began offering multiple brands of engines. Producers had to compete on service, warranties, and eventually even by buying entire aircraft and then leasing them to

2820-762: The 747 redeemed itself. On the military side of the business, the TFX joint-procurement program led to the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark powered by the Pratt & Whitney TF30 . UAC acquired Chesapeake and Ohio Railway designed UAC TurboTrain to compete in the DOT's Northeast Corridor Demonstration Project. Two trainsets were built in 1967-1968 by Pullman for use by Penn Central Transportation Company and later Amtrak for service from 1968 to 1980. Five seven car sets were built by MLW for Canadian National Railway In

2914-559: The Air Corps could deliver the mail in winter, casually assured Branch that the Air Corps could be ready in a week or ten days. At 4 o'clock that afternoon President Roosevelt suspended the airmail contracts effective at midnight February 19. He issued Executive Order 6591 ordering the War Department to place at the disposal of the Postmaster General "such air airplanes, landing fields, pilots and other employees and equipment of

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3008-495: The Air Corps was forced by the winter weather to cancel the startup of AACMO. On February 19, the blizzard disrupted the initial day's operations east of the Rocky Mountains , where the scheduled first flight of the operation from Newark was cancelled. AACMO's actual first effort left from Kansas City, Missouri , carrying 39 pounds of mail to St. Louis . Kenneth Werrell noted of the first flight out of Cleveland: "The pilot on

3102-500: The Air Mail Act changed the manner in which payments were calculated. Air mail carriers would be paid for having sufficient cargo capacity on their planes, whether the planes carried mail or flew empty, a disincentive to carry mail since the carrier received a set fee for a plane of a certain size whether or not it carried mail. The purpose of the provision was to discourage the carrying of bulk junk mail to boost profits, particularly by

3196-428: The Air Mail Act of 1930. Using its provisions, Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown held a meeting with the executives of the top airlines, later dubbed the "Spoils Conference", in which the airlines effectively divided among themselves the air mail routes. Acting on those agreements, Brown awarded contracts to the participants through a process that effectively prevented smaller carriers from bidding, resulting in

3290-406: The American aircraft manufacturing industry. Pratt %26 Whitney TF30 The Pratt & Whitney TF30 (company designation JTF10A ) is a military low-bypass turbofan engine originally designed by Pratt & Whitney for the subsonic F6D Missileer fleet defense fighter, but this project was cancelled. It was later adapted with an afterburner for supersonic designs, and in this form it

3384-574: The Army of the United States needed or required for the transportation of mail during the present emergency, by air over routes and schedules prescribed by the Postmaster General." In 1933 the airlines carried several million pounds of mail on 26 routes covering almost 25,000 miles (40,000 km) of airways. Transported mostly by night, the mail was carried in modern passenger planes equipped with modern flight instruments and radios, using ground-based beam transmitters as navigation aids. The airlines had

3478-452: The CAM 25 air mail route contract at 89 cents a mile as measured against Ludington's extremely low bid. By February 1933 Ludington was virtually bankrupt and sold out to EAT for a "bottom basement price of $ 260,000." Lewis sensed there was a story to be written. He brought the story to the attention of William Randolph Hearst and, although Hearst would not print it, was given approval to investigate

3572-620: The Chicago Aeronautical Commission, and was a member of the board of governors of the National Aeronautical Association when selected by Hoover. MacCracken left the Commerce Department in 1929 and returned to his private law practice, where he continued to be involved in the growth of commercial aviation by representing many major airlines . Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown sought to improve

3666-704: The F-111 is a larger and less-maneuverable aircraft. Though the F-14A entered service with the Navy powered by the Pratt & Whitney TF30, by the end of the decade, following numerous problems with the original engine, the Department of Defense began procuring General Electric F110-GE-400 engines and installed them in the F-14A Plus (later redesignated to F-14B in 1991), which entered service with

3760-459: The Great Depression, hampered by pay cuts and a reduction of flight time, operated almost entirely in daylight and good weather. Duty hours were limited and relaxed, usually with four hours or less of flight operations a day, and none on weekends. Experience levels were also limited by obsolete aircraft, most of them single-engine and open cockpit planes. Because of a high turnover-rate policy in

3854-501: The Post Office built and flew a nationwide network. In the beginning the work was extremely dangerous; of the initial 40 pilots, three died in crashes in 1919 and nine more in 1920. It was 1922 before an entire year ensued without a fatal crash. As safety and capability grew, daytime-only operations gave way to flying at night, assisted by airway beacons and lighted emergency landing fields. Regular transcontinental air mail delivery began in 1924. In 1925, to encourage commercial aviation,

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3948-605: The Roosevelt administration's handling of the crisis. Aviation icon and former air mail pilot Charles A. Lindbergh stated in a telegram to Secretary of War Dern that using the Air Corps to carry mail was "unwarranted and contrary to American principles." Even though both had close ties to the airline industry, their criticisms seriously stung the Roosevelt Administration. On March 10, President Roosevelt called Foulois and Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur to

4042-529: The Second World War. The government had little choice but to return service to the commercial airlines, but did so with several new conditions. The Air Mail Act of June 12, 1934, drafted at the height of the crisis by Black (and known as the "Black- McKellar bill"), restored competitive bidding, closely regulated airmail labor operations, dissolved the holding companies that brought together airlines and aircraft manufacturers, and prevented companies that held

4136-448: The Senate, he was found in contempt of Congress . Hoover appointed Brown as postmaster general in 1929. In 1930, with the nation's airlines apparently headed for extinction in the face of a severe economic downturn and citing inefficient, expensive subsidized air mail delivery, Brown requested supplementary legislation to the 1925 act granting him authority to change postal policy. The Air Mail Act of 1930, passed on April 29 and known as

4230-769: The TF30 engine. The F-111E was updated to use TF30-P-103 engines, the F-111D included the TF30-P-9/109, the FB-111A used the TF-30-P-7/107, and the F-111F had the TF30-P-100. RAAF F-111Cs were upgraded with the unique P-108 version, using a P-109 engine mated to a P-107 afterburner. The F-111 Engine Business Unit (later taken over by TAE) at RAAF Base Amberley became the world experts on the TF-30 in

4324-835: The TF30 under license for P&W, the Allison Engine Company offered to the Air Force its TF41 turbofan, a license-built version of the RB.168-25R Spey . The USAF selected the more powerful TF41 for the A-7D, as did the USN, for its similar A-7E. The Grumman F-14 Tomcat with the TF30-P-414A was underpowered, because it was the Navy's intent to procure a jet fighter with a thrust-to-weight ratio (in clean configuration) of 1 or better (the US Air Force had

4418-650: The TFX competition for the United States Air Force and USN, which was selected for production as the F-111 . The version of the TF30 for the F-111 included an afterburner. The F-111A, EF-111A and F-111E used the TF30-P-3 turbofan. The F-111 had problems with inlet compatibility, and many faulted the placement of the intakes behind the disturbed air of the wing. Newer F-111 variants incorporated improved intake designs and most variants featured more powerful versions of

4512-764: The Tomcat into an upright or inverted spin, from which recovery was very difficult. The F-14's problems did not afflict TF30 engines in the USAF and RAAF F-111s to nearly the same extent. The F-111, while technically designated as a "fighter," was actually used as a ground attack aircraft and tactical bomber. A typical ground strike mission is characterized by less abrupt changes in throttle, angle of attack and altitude than an air-to-air combat mission. While it can still involve hard and violent maneuvers to avoid enemy missiles and aircraft, these maneuvers are generally still not nearly as hard and violent as those required in air-to-air combat, and

4606-491: The War Department, most pilots were Reserve officers who were unfamiliar with the civilian airmail routes. Regarding equipment, the Air Corps had in its inventory 274 Directional gyros and 460 Artificial horizons , but very few of these were mounted in aircraft. It possessed 172 radio transceivers, almost all with a range of 30 miles (48 km) or less. Foulois eventually ordered the available equipment to be installed in

4700-570: The Western Zone, Lieutenant Colonel Horace M. Hickam the Central Zone, and Major Byron Q. Jones the Eastern Zone. Personnel and planes were immediately deployed, but problems began immediately with a lack of proper facilities (and in some instances, no facilities at all) for maintenance of aircraft and quartering of enlisted men, and a failure of tools to arrive where needed. Sixty Air Corps pilots took oaths as postal employees in preparation for

4794-564: The administrations of both presidents, the scandal resulted in the restructuring of the airline industry, leading to technological improvements and a new emphasis on passenger operations, and the modernization of the USAAC. The first scheduled airmail service in the United States was conducted during World War I by the Air Service of the United States Army between May 15 and August 10, 1918,

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4888-515: The airlines and ordered the USAAC to deliver the mail until new contracts could be awarded. The USAAC was ill prepared to conduct a mail operation, particularly at night, and from its outset on February 19 encountered severe winter weather. The operation suffered numerous plane crashes, resulting in the deaths of thirteen airmen and severe public criticism of the Roosevelt Administration . Temporary contracts were put into effect on May 8 by

4982-411: The airlines), and strict flight safety rules. Among the new rules were restrictions on night flying: forbidding pilots with less than two years' experience from being scheduled except under clear conditions, prohibiting takeoffs in inclement weather, and requiring fully functional instruments and radio to continue on in poor conditions. Control officers on the ground were made responsible for enforcement of

5076-450: The airlines. In 1974, Harry Jack Gray left Litton Industries to become the CEO of United Aircraft. He pursued a strategy of growth and diversification, changing the parent corporation's name to United Technologies Corporation (UTC) in 1975 to reflect the intent to diversify into numerous high tech fields beyond aerospace. Air Mail scandal The Air Mail scandal , also known as

5170-476: The attacks on Roosevelt and Farley, Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress and Post Office officials placed the blame for all that had gone wrong on the shoulders of Foulois." Other supporters of the president outside of the government muted criticism of the administration by focusing on and excoriating Lindbergh, who had also made headlines by publicly protesting the cancellation of the contracts two days after they were announced, "as if his telegram had caused

5264-535: The cancellation of all domestic air mail contracts. However, not stated to the public was that the decision had overridden Farley's recommendation that it be delayed until June 1, by which time new bids could have been received and processed for continued civilian mail transport. Without consulting either Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur or Chief of the Air Corps Major General Benjamin Foulois , Secretary of War George H. Dern at

5358-697: The committee that the Air Corps had selected its most experienced pilots and that it had the requisite experience at flying at night and in bad weather. In actuality, of the 262 pilots eventually used, 140 were Reserve junior officers with less than two years flying experience. Most were second lieutenants and only one held a rank higher than first lieutenant . The Air Corps had made a decision not to draw from its training schools, where most of its experienced pilots were assigned. Only 48 of those selected had logged at least 25 hours of flight time in bad weather, only 31 had 50 hours or more of night flying, and only 2 had 50 hours of instrument time . The Air Corps during

5452-519: The deaths." Despite an 11th fatality from a training crash in Wyoming on March 17, the Army resumed the program again on March 19, 1934, in better weather, using only nine routes, limited schedules, and hurried improvements in instrument flying. The O-38E, which had been involved in two fatal accidents at Cheyenne, Wyoming , was withdrawn completely from the operation despite its enclosed cockpit because of its propensity to go into an unrecoverable spin in

5546-582: The efficiency of the air mail carriers in furtherance of a national transportation plan. Requiring an informed intermediary, Brown asked MacCracken to preside over what was later scandalized as the Spoils Conferences , to work out an agreement between the carriers and the Post Office to consolidate air mail routes into transcontinental networks operated by the best-equipped and financially stable companies. This relationship left both exposed to charges of favoritism. When MacCracken later refused to testify before

5640-437: The end of the hearings on the last day of January, MacCracken was subpoenaed to testify duces tecum "instanter" and appeared, but refused to produce files, citing attorney-client privilege unless the clients waived the privilege (which all did within a week of his appearance). However, the next day MacCracken's law partner gave Northwest Airways vice president Lewis H. Brittin permission to go into MacCracken's files to remove

5734-502: The existing contracts (the controversial transcontinental mail routes CAM 33 and CAM 34) had been awarded to the low bidder by Postmaster General Harry S. New during the Coolidge Administration , on February 7, 1934, Roosevelt's postmaster general, James A. Farley , announced that he and President Roosevelt were committed to protecting the public interest and that as a result of the investigation, President Roosevelt had ordered

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5828-476: The first U. S. airline in history to make a profit carrying nothing but passengers. However it began operating in the red when the novelty of cheap air travel wore off as the Great Depression deepened and competition with arch-rival EAT intensified. The Ludington officer mentioned to Lewis that in 1931 the carrier could not get a proposed "express service" air mail contract to extend CAM 25 (Miami to Washington via Atlanta) to Newark, New Jersey , not even by submitting

5922-462: The first air mail flight needed three tries and three aircraft to get aloft. Ten minutes later, he returned with a failed gyro compass and cockpit lights, and obtained a flashlight to read the instruments." Snow, rain, fog, and turbulent winds hampered flying operations for the remainder of the month over much of the United States. The route from Cleveland to Newark over the Allegheny Mountains

6016-518: The mail carriers on September 28, 1933, and brought about public awareness of what became known as "the Black Committee". The special Senate committee investigated alleged improprieties and gaming of the rate structure, such as carriers padlocking individual pieces of mail to increase weight. Despite showing that Brown's administration of the air mail had increased the efficiency of the service and lowered its costs from $ 1.10 to $ 0.54 per mile, and

6110-824: The mail were the Curtiss B-2 Condor , Keystone B-4 , Keystone B-6 , Douglas Y1B-7 and YB-10 bombers; the Boeing P-12 and P-6E fighters; the Curtiss A-12 Shrike; Bellanca C-27C transport; and the Thomas-Morse O-19 , Douglas O-25 C, O-39, and two models of Douglas O-38 observation aircraft. Among the 262 Army pilots flying the mail were Ira C. Eaker , Frank A. Armstrong , Elwood R. Quesada , Robert L. Scott , Robert F. Travis , Harold H. George , Beirne Lay Jr. , Curtis E. LeMay , and John Waldron Egan, all of whom would play important roles in air operations during

6204-399: The major carriers present at the "Spoils Conference", all received new contracts for their old routes with the exception of United, "the one airline completely innocent of any possible charge of collusion." United's routes were awarded instead to regional independents Braniff Airways and Bowen Air Lines , which managed its routes so badly it soon sold out to Braniff. The biggest winner of

6298-450: The mountainous terrain. In early April the Air Corps removed all pilots with less than two years' experience from the operation. The Air Corps began drawing down AACMO on May 8, 1934, when temporary contracts with private carriers were put into effect. On AACMO's last night of coast-to-coast service on May 7–8, YB-10s were used on four of the six legs from Oakland, California , to Newark to match Rickenbacker and Frye's DC-1 stunt, flying

6392-580: The new design began in April 1959, using the core of the JT8. Douglas shelved the model 2067 design in 1960, as the targeted US airlines preferred the newly offered Boeing 727 . In 1960, the United States Navy selected the JT10A, designated TF30-P-1, to power the proposed Douglas F6D Missileer , but the project was canceled in April 1961. Meanwhile, the TF30 had been chosen by General Dynamics for its entrant in

6486-430: The new postmaster general, James A. Farley , in a manner nearly identical to that of the "Spoils Conference" that started the scandal. Service was completely restored to the airlines by June 1, 1934. On June 12, Congress passed the Air Mail Act of 1934 cancelling the provisions of the 1930 law and enacting punitive measures against executives who were a part of the Spoils Conference. Although a public relations nightmare for

6580-696: The newly merged Transcontinental and Western Air over the central transcontinental route. After initial rejection of the Postmaster General's decision, final approval of the contract award to T&WA was approved by Comptroller General of the United States John R. McCarl on January 10, 1931, on the basis that United's puppet concern was not a "responsible bidder" by the definition of McNary-Watres, in effect validating Brown's restructuring. These three carriers later evolved into United Airlines (the northern airmail route, CAMs 17 and 18), Trans World Airlines (the mid-United States route, CAM 34) and American Airlines (the southern route, CAM 33). Brown also extended

6674-473: The obvious partisan politics involved in investigating what appeared to be a Republican scandal involving Herbert Hoover by a Democratic -controlled committee, the hearings raised serious questions regarding its legality and ethics. Black announced that he had found evidence of "fraud and collusion" between the Hoover Administration and the airlines and held public hearings in January 1934, although these allegations were later found to be without basis. Near

6768-789: The old contracts from obtaining new ones. The new rules were put into effect in March before formal passage of the bill with the announcement that temporary contracts for up to a year would be awarded by Farley. The industry's response, with the tacit consent of the government, was simply to reorganize and change names; for example, Northwest Airways became Northwest Airlines and Eastern Air Transport became Eastern Air Lines. The vertically integrated United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (UATC) appeared to be its particular target and broke up on September 26, 1934, into three companies: United Air Lines Transportation Company , United Aircraft Manufacturing Company , and Boeing Aircraft Company . Ironically, of

6862-457: The only gap in UATC's cross-country network of airlines, had been amicable until three weeks before its finalization, when Keys reversed his initial approval. Ironically Brown was angered by the negotiations, worried that the specter of a potential monopoly would endanger the imminent passage of the Air Mail Act. The merger swiftly created the first transcontinental airline. On May 19, three weeks after

6956-613: The passage of McNary-Watres, at the first of the "Spoils Conferences", Brown invoked his authority under the third provision to consolidate the air mail routes to only three major companies independently competing with each other, with the goal of forcing the plethora of small, inefficient carriers to merge with the larger. Further meetings between the larger carriers, presided over by Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics William P. MacCracken Jr., continued into June that often developed into harsh wrangling over route distribution proposals and consequent animosity towards Brown. After what

7050-543: The requested aircraft that would become the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy and the Boeing 747 were some of the financially riskier episodes. Pratt & Whitney ended up building the engines for the 747, producing the Pratt & Whitney JT9D , but the program was rocky. For several years Boeing and Pratt & Whitney struggled with an aircraft that was too heavy and underpowered. Eventually, after a lot of continued development work,

7144-410: The restrictions in their areas. On March 8 and 9, 1934, four more pilots died in crashes, totaling ten fatalities in less than one million miles of flying the mail. (Meanwhile, the crash of an American Airlines airliner on March 9, also killing four, went virtually unnoticed in the press.) Rickenbacker was quoted as calling the program "legalized murder", which became a catchphrase for criticism of

7238-552: The same goals for the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon ). However, due to reliability issues with the intended Pratt & Whitney F401 engines and the intent to incorporate as many of the systems of the failed Navy version of the F-111, the F-111B , into the project, it was deemed that the initial production run of F-14s utilize the F-111B's powerplant. The F-14A's thrust-to-weight ratio

7332-619: The scandal was American, owned by Roosevelt campaign contributor "E. L." Cord , who before he acquired American was owner of a small independent carrier and had not attended the spoils conference. American was United's competitor in Dallas, trying to obtain its Chicago-to-Dallas CAM 3 route, and not only retained its contracts but gained a parallel Chicago-to-New York route, a second route from Chicago-to-Dallas with different intermediate stops, and had its southern transcontinental route shortened to reduce its operating costs. The most punitive measure

7426-443: The service and began training. On February 16, three pilots on familiarization flights were killed in crashes attributed to bad weather. This presaged some of the worst and most persistent late winter weather in history. Further attention was drawn to the startup when the airlines delivered a "parting shot" in the form of a publicity stunt to remind the public of its efficiency in mail service. World War I legend Eddie Rickenbacker ,

7520-524: The smaller and inefficient carriers, and to encourage the carrying of passengers. Airlines using larger planes designed to carry passengers would increase their revenues by carrying more passengers and less mail. Awards would be made to the “lowest responsible bidder” that had owned an airline operated on a daily schedule of at least 250 miles (402 kilometers) for at least six months. A second provision allowed any airmail carrier with an existing contract of at least two years standing to exchange its contract for

7614-543: The southern route to the West Coast . He awarded bonuses for carrying more passengers and purchasing multi-engined aircraft equipped with radios and navigation aids. By the end of 1932, the airline industry was the one sector of the economy experiencing steady growth and profitability, described by one historian as "Depression-proof." Passenger miles, the numbers of passengers, and new airline employees had all tripled over 1929. Airmail itself, despite its image to many Americans as

7708-445: The story full-time. Lewis' investigation began to develop into an air mail contract scandal. Lewis was having difficulty impressing his findings on government officials until he approached Alabama Senator Hugo Black . Black was the chairman of a special committee established to investigate ocean mail contracts awarded by the federal government to the merchant marine. Interstate Commerce Commission investigators seized records from all

7802-409: The value of wartime production contracts. At the close of the war, jet engines and helicopters were both big new things whose coming growth many companies hoped to get in on. United Aircraft entered both industries, via Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky, respectively. Pratt & Whitney feared the head start that Rolls-Royce and General Electric would have in jets, based on their jet programs during

7896-557: The war and the late 1940s. But its jet team, led by Leonard S. Hobbs , successfully developed the Pratt & Whitney J57 , which, being the most powerful jet engine on the market for some years, brought Pratt & Whitney profitability in the jet field. Vought was spun off as an independent business in 1954. Rentschler died two years later. The 1960s brought new challenges, from more complex technology and bigger, more expensive aircraft to more mature markets with stiffer competition from GE, Rolls-Royce, and SNECMA . The competitions for

7990-430: The world as governments foresaw possible war on the horizon. United Aircraft sold to both the United States Army and the United States Navy , but the Navy's requirements for carrier-based aircraft , with maximized power-to-weight ratios for minimized takeoff runway length, were always more in tune with the specialties of United's subsidiaries (Pratt & Whitney, Chance Vought, and Sikorsky). United Aircraft became

8084-470: The years after the USAF retired their fleet and achieved extraordinary increases reliability of the TF-30. The TF30 proved itself to be well-suited to the requirements of a high-speed low-altitude strike aircraft with a relatively long operational range, and F-111s in all guises would continue to use TF30s until their retirement. In 1964, the subsonic LTV A-7A Corsair II won the US Navy's VAL competition for

8178-501: Was an exercise in how to attempt to meet limitless demand for production (as well as for R&D ). The U.S. government encouraged corporations to build up their physical plant, but the corporations knew that there would be a postwar glut of overcapacity if they did so. In many cases a compromise was reached in which the government paid partially or fully for the expansions in the form of tax breaks and accelerated depreciation. United Aircraft ranked sixth among United States corporations in

8272-486: Was compelled to leave his position as National Air Transport's general manager because he had attended the "spoils conferences," this despite offering damaging testimony against Brown to the Black Committee. The effect of the entire scandal was to guarantee that mail-carrying contracts remained unprofitable, and pushed the entire industry towards carrying passengers, which had been Brown's original goal as incentive for developing new technologies, increasing safety, and growth of

8366-456: Was described as a " shotgun marriage " between Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express in July to achieve the second of the three companies (UATC was the first), competitive bids were solicited by the Post Office on August 2, 1930, and opened August 25. A surprise competitive bidding struggle ensued between UATC, through a quickly formed skeleton company it called "United Aviation," and

8460-526: Was dubbed "Hell's Stretch" by airmail pilots. In the Western Zone, Arnold established his headquarters in Salt Lake City . In the winter of 1932–1933, he and many of his pilots had gained winter flying experience flying food-drop missions to aid Indian reservation settlements throughout the American Southwest isolated by blizzards. As a result of this experience and direct supervision, Arnold's zone

8554-602: Was similar to the F-4 Phantom II ; however, the new fuselage and wing design provided greater lift and a better climb profile than the F-4. The TF30 was found to be ill-adapted to the demands of air combat and was prone to compressor stalls at high angle of attack (AOA), if the pilot moved the throttles aggressively. Because of the Tomcat's widely spaced engine nacelles, compressor stalls at high AOA were especially dangerous because they tended to produce asymmetric thrust that could send

8648-512: Was the only one in which a pilot was not killed. The Western Zone's first flights were made using 18 Boeing P-12 fighters, but these could carry a maximum of only 50 pounds of mail each, and even that amount made them tail-heavy. After one week they were replaced by Douglas O-38 variants including the Douglas O-35 and its bomber version, the B-7, and Douglas O-25C observation biplanes borrowed from

8742-612: Was the world's first production afterburning turbofan, going on to power the F-111 and the F-14A Tomcat , as well as being used in early versions of the A-7 Corsair II without an afterburner. First flight of the TF30 was in 1964 and production continued until 1986. In 1958, the Douglas Aircraft Company proposed a short-range, four-engined jet airliner to fill the gap below its new DC-8 intercontinental, known internally as

8836-445: Was to ban all former airline executives alleged to have colluded from further contracts or working for airlines that obtained one. United Airlines ' president, Philip G. Johnson , chose to leave the United States and helped to form Trans-Canada Airlines . At the age of 52 William Boeing took early retirement as UATC's chairman of the board on September 18 rather than ever deal again with the federal government. Colonel Paul Henderson

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