‘Wyoming Airmail Pioneers’ Flies into Modern History
Is if the Pony Express wasn't daring enough, next came the brave and slightly fool hearty men who first took the mail to the sky.
Using old and not so reliable World War I surplus planes, the United States Postal Service was determined to figure out how to fly mail from coast to coast saving up to a month of travel time if they were successful.
The only way to navigate was to fly low and follow the Union Pacific railroad tracks across the country and across Wyoming.
Cheyenne, Medicine Bow, Rock Springs, and other towns along the route were refueling and repair points on the map.
Pilots flew breathing exhaust from their engines and oil speckling their goggles.
Many planes crashed for a long list of reason. Some men died.
The book "Wyoming Air Mail Pioneers" chronicles the men who were legends, heroes and celebrities of their time. They had several stories written about them in newspapers across America.
"Wyoming Air Mail Pioneers" was co-written by Starley Talbott and Michael E. Kassel with a forward by local Cheyenne flight school owner Doniv Feltner of Wings Of Wyoming.
Ask for it at your local Wyoming bookstore or order it online.