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.
