Keystone_B-6_twin-engine_airmail_plane_in_snow_storm,_1920

A mail plane is an

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines. ...

used for carrying

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

. Aircraft that were purely mail planes existed almost exclusively prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Because early aircraft were too underpowered to carry cargoes, and too costly to run any "economy class" passenger-carrying service, the main civilian role for aircraft was to carry letters faster than previously possible. In 1934, some mail services in the USA were operated by the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

, soon ending in the Air Mail scandal. In the past, mail-carrying aircraft had to carry a special official emblem on the fuselages; in case of British-registered aircraft, a special ''Royal Air Mail pennant'' (a blue triangular flag with a crowned bugle emblem in yellow and the letters "ROYAL AIR MAIL" in white) would sometimes be flown as well. From the late 1940s, mail planes became increasingly rare, as the increasing size of aircraft and economics dictated a move towards bulk carriage of mail onboard

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...

flights, and this remains the primary method today. Parcel mail, overnight mail and priority mail, however, are still carried aboard what may be considered the spiritual successors of classic, pre-war mail planes; small,

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation service ...

aircraft that have been adapted to the role, with the

Cessna 208 The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargo ...

and Piper PA-31 Navajo being among the most popular. Cargo airline operators, such as UPS and FedEx, also carry mail along with bulk cargo, aboard converted airliners.

References

{{airmail-nav Plane

See also

References