PILOT STORIES: Charles
Ames
| Air Mail
Service Began: |
December 8, 1920 |
| Air Mail Service Ended: |
October 1, 1925 |
| Total Hours Flown: |
1334 |
| Total Miles Flown: |
132,739 |
| Assignment: |
College Park, Maryland |
| |
February 15, 1921 – Hazelhurst
Field, New York |
| |
June 1, 1921 – Cleveland, Ohio |
| |
September 1, 1922 – Hazelhurst
Field, New York |
| |
December 1, 1922 – Cleveland, Ohio |
Charles Ames was born on February 2, 1894 in
Jackson, Michigan. In 1917, he enlisted at Rockwell Field
in San Diego, California and in the next year was in ground
school at SMA in Berkley. He worked his way up to an instructor
position at San Antonio, Texas, then at the Curtiss field
in Kokomo, Indiana in 1920. He had over 700 flight hours before
signing on with the Air Mail Service on December 8, 1920.
On October 1, 1925, Ames disappeared from sight
in the mountains near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania while flying
a de Havilland airplane on his portion of the Cleveland to
New York run. Dozens of groups worked to find Ames over the
next several days, including national guard troops. The 32-year
old pilot was finally found in the wreckage of his airplane,
where he had died on impact.
Click here to learn more about Charles
Ames.
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