PILOT STORIES: Ames, Charles
Hayden
| 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 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 deHavilland 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.
Learn more about Charles
Ames' accident.
|
Click
on the photos to view a larger image.
