HISTORIC AIRPLANES: de Havilland Workhorse of the Postal Service

It could fight winds and weather and carry heavier loads.
"Ham Lee" on the de Havilland mail airplane

We had quite a system worked out to make sure we got away on schedule. We had a dozen DHs lined up and we went down the line trying each ship. When we found one that would start we threw our mail in the cockpit and were off.
Harold "Slim" Lewis', lighthearted view of the pilots' flight assignments

In 1918 the Post Office Department requested 100 de Havilland airplanes, model DH-4, from the army. Created by Geoffrey de Havilland, these airplanes had been built both in England and the United States during the last years of the war. Like most of the 2,500 fighter airplanes built in the United States by 1918, few DH-4 aircraft even saw battle.

The de Havilland began to retire from Air Mail Service in 1926 when the Post Office Department began to contract the service from private carriers.

Click here to learn more about the de Havilland Workhorse of the Postal Service.