Odds and Ends From The MUSEUM!
On August 4, 1937, the first airmail flight was launched from the Millinocket Airport. The first air mail flight in the United States occurred in May, 1918 and carried mail from Washington, DC to New York City. The airmail letters carried on that Millinocket 1937 first flight from Millinocket went to Caribou.
Articles in The Katahdin Times by Barbara Waters and another earlier unnamed correspondent article include information on that First Flight from Millinocket. Additional info for both articles came from a handwritten journal loaned to The Katahdin Times by the son of Vincent Michaud. Entries include: Aug. 1, 1937 – Airmail was to start today, but no soap. Department of Commerce officials say no. Wires along road at airport had to be moved and trees at end of runway had to be cut down. Aug.2, 1937 – no entry. Aug. 3, 1937 – Everyone hustling around. At last word is received that everything is OK. First flight is to be tomorrow. Aug. 4, 1937 – First flight today. Half the people in town gather at the airport. The band is there in uniform. She’s late. A plane is coming. Not the right one. It’s a pilot ship carrying officials. It belongs to Gannet Publishing Co. There she is. Our first air mail passenger and express service has started. She’s landed and ready to take off again. She leaves at 12:51 p.m.
The Katahdin Times articles state that incoming airmail that first day were packets of airmail from Bangor, Waterville, Augusta, Portland, Presque Isle and Boston. The first day outgoing flight included mail to go to most of those same towns. Sent north that day were 495 pieces of mail weighing a total of nine pounds. Southbound mail that day included 3,147 pieces of mail weighing a total of 54 pounds.
It appears that on that day, Aug. 4, 1937, a person could visit the Millinocket Post Office and purchase a “first day cover.” This was a special air mail envelope with a red, white and blue border, the words VIA AIR MAIL, and some sort of wording, picture or other designation for the town where the mail originated. The Millinocket envelope has a square design (far left) with a front view of an airplane, a typical woods scene with Katahdin in the background, a lake with deer and fish. On scrolls in the center are the words Millinocket, Houlton, Presque Isle, and Caribou, Maine.
The museum recently received two of these First Flight envelopes that were mailed on Aug. 4, 1937. They had been purchased at the Millinocket Post office with one addressed to someone in St. Louis and the second to someone in Rochester, NY. Both have the postmark Aug. 4 with one timestamped 5 PM and the other 12 (can’t tell if 12 AM or 12 PM). Neither envelope contains anything. They were purchased on the internet by a former Millinocket resident and donated to the museum. Thank you, Josh!
First Flight covers are collectibles and can be found from post offices around the world. The collecting of these envelopes is called aerophilately. Collecting postage stamps is called philately and was a first collecting hobby for many young people back in the day.
If anyone knows of the whereabouts of the Vincent Michaud journal or other journals, diaries, letters etc. that contain first-hand information about earlier Millinocket happenings, we would like to hear from you. We have the ability to scan such items and return the items to you. These items and old newspapers with Millinocket articles are a valuable resource.
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