The Air Mail Act of 1925, also known as the Kelly Act, was a key piece of legislation that intended to free the

airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be t ...

from total control by the

Post Office Department The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, in the form of a Cabinet department, officially from 1872 to 1971. It was headed by the postmas ...

. In short, it allowed the

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...

to contract private companies to carry mail. The Act was sponsored by Clyde Kelly, and became legislation in February that year. The act created a bidding period for small airmail routes, setting rates and subsidies contractors would receive for flying mail. The first contracts were awarded to

Colonial Air Transport Colonial Air Transport was an early airline that flew between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts. History It was established as Bee Line on 16 March 1923 and operated out Naugatuck, Connecticut; in 1926 was reorganised in New York City by ...

National Air Transport National Air Transport was a large United States airline; in 1930 it was bought by Boeing. The Air Mail Act of 1934 prohibited airlines and manufacturers from being under the same corporate umbrella, so Boeing split into three smaller companies, ...

Robertson Aircraft Corporation Robertson Aircraft Corporation was a post-World War I American aviation service company based at the Lambert-St. Louis Flying Field near St. Louis, Missouri, that flew passengers and U.S. Air Mail, gave flying lessons, and performed exhibition ...

Western Air Express Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and ...

and

Varney Air Lines Varney Air Lines was an airline company that started service on April 6, 1926, as an air-mail carrier. Formed by Walter Varney, the airline was based in Boise, Idaho, United States. The airline is one of the predecessors of United Airlines. H ...

. Contractors were paid $3.00 per pound of mail for the first 1,000 miles traveled. Due to the surplus aircraft available after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, particularly De Haviland DH-4s, the act bolstered a nascent aviation industry in the United States. By 1927, over 2.5 million miles were traveled by US Airmail Service planes, carrying over 22 million letters. Further regulation ensued quite rapidly, such as those issued by second assistant postmaster general Col. Paul Henderson, which required pilots and their aircraft to receive a

certificate of airworthiness A standard certificate of airworthiness is a permit for commercial passenger or cargo operation, issued for an aircraft by the civil aviation authority in the state/nation in which the aircraft is registered. For other aircraft such as crop-spraye ...

from the Post Office, and that each company needed to post at least ten thousand dollars in good faith bonds.

Associated United States Federal Statutes

United States

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

authorizing aerial navigation and contract services for the transportation of United States air mail.

References

External links

* * * * {{Postage stamps of the United States Postal system of the United States Airmail United States federal postal legislation 1925 in American law

Associated United States Federal Statutes

See also

References

External links