|
< Browse to Previous Essay | Browse to Next Essay >
William Boeing and Eddie Hubbard deliver the first shipment of international airmail on March 3, 1919.
HistoryLink.org Essay 373
: Printer-Friendly Format
On March 3, 1919, Willam E. Boeing (1881-1956) and Eddie Hubbard (1889-1928) deliver the first bag of international U.S. Air Mail. The men flew a Boeing-built C-700 seaplane for the demonstration trip from Vancouver, B.C., to Seattle's Lake Union, and Hubbard later won the contract for regular service.
Like Boeing, Eddie Hubbard had taken his first flight with daredevil Terah Maroney and earned his license from Boeing's Pacific Aero Club. William Boeing was not initially interested in air mail, but he changed his mind as his company's military orders dwindled after the end of World War I.
Following this first successful flight, Hubbard purchased a Boeing-built B-I seaplane for routine air mail service between Victoria, B.C., and Seattle. He later prevailed on Boeing to compete for the Chicago-San Francisco route, and thereby planted the seed for Boeing's future dominance in air transport.
Sources:
Peter M. Bowers, Boeing Aircraft Since 1916 (London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1993), 44-51; Jim Brown, Hubbard, The Forgotten Boeing Aviator (Seattle: Peanut Butter Publishing, 1996), 1-39; Boeing Historical Archives, Year By Year, 75 Years of Boeing History, 1916-1991 (Seattle: Boeing Co., 1991), 3.
Note: This essay was revised and corrected on August 13, 2002. An earlier version misstated that Hubbard's airmail service linked Seattle and Vancouver, rather than Seattle and Victoria.
By Walt Crowley, November 23, 1998
Travel through time (chronological order):
< Browse to Previous Essay
|
Browse to Next Essay >
Related Topics:
Aviation |
Infrastructure |
Business |
Government & Politics |
Firsts |
|
Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that
encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both
HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any
reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this
Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For
more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact
the source noted in the image credit. |
 |
Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided
By: The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins
| Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry
| 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle
| City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach
Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private
Sponsors and Visitors Like You
|