NE W Y ORK
-----------~ AIR PICKUP ROUTES
AM - 49
PENNSYLVANIA
(1 946- 4 9)
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A LL AMERI CAN AVIATION , INC.
Served 121 commun i t i es i n
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6 states from 88 pi ckup
stat i ons
OHIO CINCINNATI
KENTUCKY
subjected the plane to five-to-ten times as many air gusts with two-to three times the severity of roughness encountered by average air trans ports. Beech NC 80011 had flown a total of only 2,324 hours. Just weeks before the end of pickup service, Captain Bill Burkhart had to land at the Clarksburg, West Virginia, Airport to unload cargo that was too large to drop. Upon de parting, the Stinson was observed to travel further along the runway, and then climb more slowly than ex pected . Nearing a hill, the ship turned away with the angle of bank becomingincreasingly steep. Upon stalling, it plunged vertically to earth where it burned. Along with the pi lot , flight mechanic William Steinbrenner perished. Inexplicably, the takeoff had been made with the propeller set at high pitch. PICKUP AIRMAil SCRUTINIZED
As the nation moved forward in peace, more normal functions of government were being restored. The CAB undertook a critical examina tion to consider the future of pickup mail. Among the issues raised were: existing and projected volumes of
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TER MINAL
•
PICKUP
mail; value of such service to the public; current and future costs to the government. Particular attention was focused on the Post Office De partment's dwindling support because they had successfully intro duced mobile highway units that moved mail at optimum times , for well under 50 percent of air pickup costs. NEW GOALS FOR AAA
A devastating blow to All Ameri can came in August 1947 when the CAB finally rejected the long-stand ing application for combined pickup and revenue passenger carrying flights. Confronted by these realities, AAA's top management moved for authority to convert to a conven tional, short-haul passenger airline. In early 1948 All American was granted approval to provide such ser vice in the Middle Atlantic Region. With that good news they moved quickly to acquire a fleet of war-sur plus C-47s converted to the DC-3C configuration by Douglas Aircraft Company. Under a new name, All American Airways, their first flight occurred on March 7, 1949, Wash ington, DC to Pittsburgh, with six
stops for passengers enroute. Pickup service would wind down over the next three months. With a familiar, reliable, tough but tired Stinson SR-10C, the final flight was made on June 30, 1949 . Most fit tingly (and poignantly) Chief Pilot Norman Rintoul, and flight me chanic, Victor Yesu laites, who had made the first run ten years earlier, brought the activity to close . Mail had been transported over 11.5 mil lion miles, with almost 630,000 delivery/pickups enroute. During the period about 30 pilots carried out the spectacular activity. Seven lives were lost, all in the latter years after routes were familiar and procedures rou tine. Successfully carrying mail and ex press is not the only legacy . All American 's personnel also developed and refined the apparatus and proce dures to enable, in war-time, the pickup of humans from remote and secret sites as well as the snatching from earth and towing of troop and cargo-carrying gliders. It should fur ther be noted that All American Airways was the root airline of what, over 50-plus years, grew to become a major airline, US Airways. .... VINTAGE AIRPLANE 9