August 30, 2020–
Geauga County Airport, Middlefield, Ohio–Where else can one go to watch airplanes take off and land, while listening to the clip-clop, clip-clop of passing horses and buggies…and spot an Amish family off at a distant picnic table watching it all?
The windsock was blowing, the sun was out and so were air enthusiasts of all ages who had come out for an event commemorating the inauguration of the United States Postal Service transcontinental air mail flights. The original attempt at this took place in 1918 but an inexperienced pilot took off in the wrong direction and crashed the plane. Other, more localized, routes had begun but the really long-distance services were yet to come. In 1920, things finally came together and a whole squad of “puddle-jumper” dare-devil pilots took off, heading off into the wild blue yonder in a sort of relay style, eventually reducing the cross-country mail delivery time to some thirty hours–down from what had been possible when the mail was carried by train. The mailbags weighed about 300lb. And there were no radios, no runway lights for night flying. Biplanes all the way. Seats of pants figured prominently in navigation. Adventure!
The event at the Middlefield location was part of the U.S. Airmail Reenactment Flight, which will be observed here again with the arrival of the celebration plane around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. That plane will pick up the mailbag filled with the postcards filled out on August 30 and will take its cargo to the next centennial stop (probably not 300 lb.-worth) and the next one and so on; planes will change from stop to stop, as they did back in the day and some of them may actually be restored or replica models of what was used to make the original flights.
The Sunday event was held at Middlefield to explain the Reenactment project and to allow visitors to fill out addresses on complimentary postcards, which will go all the way to California, get commemorative postmarks, then go to their addressees–a surprise in the mail!
The airport–elevation 1,175 ft.–is an interesting spot in itself. There were three hangars open for this event. The UH Medivac unit helicopter was in one; numerous other aircraft in various stages of construction, repair or rest were also in evidence. At least one was labeled “experimental”, then one had the logo “Builder/pilot–George Gyllstrom”, so it might have been an experiment too. One was owned by George Stage of Kirtland, Ohio; it had a nameplate of sorts that said, “Stage’s Coach”. Some of the planes had brand names–Piper Mirago, Piper Cherokee, Coyote II, Taylorcraft, Comanche–one had a screen of some sort that said Eddie Bauer. Does Eddie Bauer make planes too? There was also a mini-airplane pedal car for a kid that would have been the envy of any neighborhood youth.
At least three aircraft took off during the event–cool to watch–and two came in for a landing. A little Kubota lawn-tractor pulled somebody out from refueling to prep for take-off. There was an informational video showing (after being resurrected from technical difficulties). New postcards were being printed so more people than had been expected could send more postcards to more people (I sent them off to relatives and friends; took my address book on purpose, I would never remember them all). It was a good day.
Everyone is invited to return on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. The plane is expected to arrive at about 12:30, p.m. to pick up the transcontinental mail; the info sheet says to come early to see the plane land.
And, if all else fails, more information is available on facebook.com/USPS
