The first commercial airmail flight began in Pasco today 1926 (Pasco Aviation Museum Facebook)
Pasco Aviation Museum prepares to emerge from ‘COVID’ on April 23 when it reopens to the public. But today, April 6, marks a huge day in the history of mail delivery and it started in Pasco.
The very first commercial airmail flight in the United States left Pasco Today in 1926
You may not know the great history of aviation in our region. Hundreds of WWII carrier pilots learned their skills at Naval Air Station Pasco. That’s why farmers continue to dig up “bombs” and other munitions even today in remote fields in Mid-Columbia.
Pasco Aviation Museum (Facebook)
But an equally significant event happened today, April 6, 1926. A biplane under contract to Varney Airlines left Pasco Airfield with a load of mail bound for Boise, Idaho. This was the first time commercial (public business) mail was flown from one city to another.
The US government had flown mail to the East Coast a few years earlier, but it wasn’t public. According to the Pasco Aviation Museum on Facebook:
“On this day in 1926 in Pasco WA, Varney Airlines pilot Leon Cuddeback took off in a small biplane, full of mail making history as the first Commercial Air Mail flight in the entire United States. Varney Airlines was successful and eventually merged with other smaller airlines to become United Airlines.”
After landing in front of a huge crowd in Boise, Cuddeback then picked up another load of mail and took off for Elko, Nevada.
Fed Ex, UPS and other couriers that transport mail and packages around the world owe their origins to the humble flight that left Pasco this morning some 86 years ago.
To learn more about this great historical event in the history of our region, click on the button below. (images courtesy of Pasco Aviation Museum-Facebook)
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