Pioneering the age of airmail, U.S. mail carriers had one of the most dangerous jobs during WWI. Previously, "fast mail" was by train, which could go round trip from Washington to New York overnight, delivering return-mail the next day. Airplanes were a groundbreaking advancement that allowed this to be done in the same day.

Many of the early airmail pilots were WWI aviators-- and it turned out .flying mail could sometimes be as deadly as war. Considered a job to end in fatality, it was often called "A Suicide Club."

"They all understood the bargain they had made: risking their lives to get the mail where it needed to go," says Nancy Pope, curator of the National Postal Museum's new "Postmen of the Skies" exhibition.

The pilots were viewed as the superstars of this early 20th-century cultural phenomenon. "These guys were the astronauts of their age," says Pope. The Post Office received hundreds of applications, many from men who had no flying experience but were "eager to learn."

Honored for their courage and dedication, these men are remembered today for their undoubtable bravery.


Proceeds of works sold will be donated to MercuryOne, one of Mr. Beck's non-profit organizations that includes a history museum whose library is only surpassed in volume and significance by the Library of Congress and The National Archives. MercuryOne also houses education classrooms, a large first responder team for natural disasters, two anti-human trafficking teams, The Nazerene Fund, which has freed, fed and housed over 100,000 religious minority refugees from the Middle East as well as continues funding for Operation Underground Railroad.