Post route map of New Jersey

The Post Office Department, under the direction of Postmaster General Albert Burleson, published this 1917 post route map of the state of New Jersey. This type of map was the only kind available for airmail pilots to use when the Department and the U.S. Army began flying mail between Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York, on May 15, 1918.

The darkened section of the map shows where it was folded for easy attachment to a pilot’s leg. While seated in his aircraft, the pilot found his way by looking down at the map on his leg and then to the ground below. This map helped direct pilots between the airmail fields at Bustleton, near Philadelphia, and New York’s Belmont raceway, which was used as the city’s first airmail field.

Where this page came from

This page was imported from Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Released by the Smithsonian Institution under CC0 through Smithsonian Open Access.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.