PILOT STORIES: Ellis, Robert H.

Robert H. Ellis was born on April 4, 1895 in Elroy, Wisconsin. During the first World War, Ellis served in the American army in England and France. His military and commercial flying experience added up to 600 hours flying time.

On September 9, 1920, Ellis was suspended for disobeying orders. He had been ordered to travel by train from the airfield at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania to the field in New York in order to fly the mail out the next morning. The manager at Bellefonte had no money to pay for Ellis' train ticket and Ellis refused to buy the ticket and be reimbursed. Paul Smith, Superintendent of the New York-Chicago Division noted on the separation papers that Ellis "has at this instance and at previous times shown that he has not exerted his best efforts for the success of the Mail Service."

Ellis found his way back into the Air Mail Service on May 19, 1921, and kept his job until the service was turned over to contractors in 1927. However, his second stint in the AMS was not incident-free. In 1922, he was reprimanded for public drunkenness. Although several airmail pilots had reputations for drinking, the nation was legally dry. In the climate of Prohibition, airmail service managers who looked the other way at their pilots' drinking in private were quick to scold them for being drunk in public.

Ellis was also scolded by his managers for not keeping in touch with his family. On May 7, 1923, Ellis' father wrote to his supervisor asking about his son. In his letter, he noted that the family had not heard from Robert and they were worried about him. Mr. Ellis had written a similar letter the year before. His boss, A. Nelson, responded to Ellis' father, telling him that "I have to-day called Robert to the office, requested that he write you direct, as I do not like to see him slight his folks the way he has been doing, and this neglect is the only criticism I can find with him."

Early in 1925, Ellis found himself the subject of a strange rumor. On January 13, 1925, Second Assistant Postmaster General Egge sent a radiogram to Ellis' boss in Salt Lake City stating that the "Omaha papers have story pilot Ellis gone blind. Please give me report immediately." Egge was relieved to hear that while Ellis had been ill, it was a case of bad food poisoning, and his eyesight was unaffected.