PILOT STORIES: Conrad, Glenn V.

Glenn V. Conrad had a short and very unhappy career with the Air Mail Service. On December 14, 1920, he wrote a long letter to President-Elect Warren G. Harding outlining his concerns over the service, and especially Otto Praeger, the Second Assistant Postmaster General in charge.

It is with great hesitancy that I presume to occupy any of your time during these important days, but may I briefly call to your attention a certain department of the Government, the Aerial Mail Service, which has been of particular interest to me for some time?

The Aerial Mail Service is under the jurisdiction of the Second Assistant Postmaster General, a Mr. Otto Praeger, who has no knowledge of aeronautics, except the little he has acquired by experimenting with the Aerial Mail Service. It was my lot to pilot a mail airplane for a period of six months, and while so employed, I became familiar with certain details of operation which I wish to bring to your attention.

In the short time I was connected with the Aerial Mail Service there were nine men killed; one man crippled and disfigured for life; three men sustained broken limbs and five men received other serious injuries. Twenty-four ships were crashed and partially or completely wrecked, that I recall. To one familiar with flying, this speaks for itself. A conservative estimate would place the fatalities, accidents and crashes at about nine times the number that should be expected as a result of the natural hazard of flying. This state of affairs can be traced back and shown to be a direct result of the manner in which this department has been administered.

Earlier that year, after having been fired by Praeger, Conrad asked for help from a number of people to get him back into the service he had complained so heartily about in his letter to Harding. In reply to a request by Senator William S. Kenyon on behalf of Conrad to secure his reassignment, Praeger responded "In making his first regular trip with the mail on May 29th, [Conrad] became lost and in landing slightly damaged the mail ship he was flying. On June 1st, he made a successful trip. On June 8th he lost his way and wrecked a ship completely. He was called back to College Park and given some more landings. He made a successful trip on June 22nd. June 23rd he wrecked another airplane after loosing his way. June 29th and 30th, he made two successful flights. July 1st he lost hs way and wrecked another ship. After a careful investigation, he was separated July 6th. Mr. Conrad is well liked by all the Air Mail Service, but his inability to find his way across country disqualifies him as a mail pilot."