ROBERT S. FOGG, U.S. MAIL PILOT INTERVIEW
Bob Fogg's mail plane making a run
to Weirs Beach.
Reprinted from The Manchester
Union - August 7, 1925 edition - Courtesy Beth Lavertue,
Weirs Historian
This interview of a Union correspondent with Robert S.
Fogg, United States mail pilot, was sent to Manchester via
the air route from Wolfeboro.
WOLFEBORO-AUG. 7 - A few generations ago a surprised nation
sat up and took notice of the “Pony express.”
and the speed with which it carried a letter across the
American continent. Just as enthusiastic as people were
in those pioneer days are residents of the Winnipesaukee
region over the rural mail service introduced here Aug.
1.
The “pony express” was acclaimed as a great
forward step, but where it took a rider days and weeks to
cross the plains, it takes but a few minutes over an hour
for United Stated mail pilot Robert S. Fogg of Concord to
cover 65 miles, and drop and take on mail from 10 camps
located at various points on Lake Winnipesaukee.
Complained of Poor Service
For some time residents in the lake region had complained
of the poor mail service. The Lake Winnipesaukee Region
associates were called in for assistance. Headed by President
James R. Irwin, the members resolved to obtain the best
service possible. Meetings were called, the post office
department in Washington was consulted and as a result a
flying boat was chartered from August 1 to September 7.
The innovation has resulted in many pleasant surprises.
Where newspapers once reached the remote corners of the
lake region after 11 o’clock in the morning, they
are now received as early as 7 a.m. through the air service.
Four hours after a newspaper is run off the press in the
Union and Leader establishment in Manchester, Frank Hobbs,
prominent resident of the town, is reading the news in the
Union. Before the air mail was inaugurated he was obliged
to wait until 11 o‘clock.
When the 5:55 train from Boston reaches the Weirs 10 sacks
are dropped into waiting hands and, without taking them
to the local post office, are thrown into compartments on
the Fogg plane but a few hundred feet from the station.
Railway mail clerks, in cooperation with the pilot, quickly
sort the first class mail and 15 minutes later the plane
had started on its daily route.
It is a 16-mile trip to this town, the first stop of 10
for the pilot. Ten minutes after the start, flying gracefully
like a great bird, the plane is halted at the local pier.
The pilot is met at the landing and exchanges sacks, one
containing mail for residents here, and the other outgoing
mail. Not a moment is lost, and within a few minutes the
flying boat, at 6:25 o‘clock, is headed for Camp Wyanoke,
three miles away.
In approximately two minutes time the ‘ship’
plows the water to the landing pier, where the exchange
of pouches takes place. There are 250 boys at the camp and
at every appearance of “Bob” Fogg he is greeted
with cheers, for his coming means mail from home. The next
stop, at Camp Ossipee, two miles away, is made two minutes
later, and the plane continues to Phillip Smith’s
Landing. Four miles further is Camp Belknap, the distance
being covered in about four minutes and then the mail pilot
speeds on to Camp Wawbeek, the Chester L. Campbell summer
place. It is a distance of three miles and is covered in
as many minutes.
Leaving Camp Wawbeek, Pilot Fogg drives his machine to
Camp Winaukee covering the mile in a minute. Next on the
route comes Long Island, a distance of five miles covered
in four minutes. Sandy Island, the Boston Y.M.C.A. camp
is next in line, a mile further. Camp Idewild, the last
stop before the trip back to the Weirs is another mile,
with the pilot making the final outward stage in a minute.
At 7:20 o‘clock the plane is again docked at the
mail plane landing near the station at the Weirs and the
mail it has collected is rushed to the post office, where
it is stamped and placed on the 8:05 train for Boston.
No Long Stops
The average stop of the plane at each camp is two minutes.
The speed with which the route is covered gives local post
office employees ample time to prepare the mail in sacks
for the southbound train.
Every trip sees 200 to 400 pounds of first class mail and
newspapers loaded on the plane and taken across the lake.
Parcel post packages and other pieces of mail not in the
first class are carried to the various points on the lake
by the United States mail boat Uncle Sam, but delivery is
made several hours later than the plane delivers mail.
It is estimated by Pilot Fogg that 2000 pieces of mail
are brought back daily by the plane to the local postoffice.
The air mailman points with pride to the fact that where
it formerly took three days to receive an answer to a letter
mailed from Wolfeboro, the answer can now be received in
24 hours, owing to the speed and efficiency of the plane.
A letter is taken on the morning trip, placed on the Boston
train a few hours later, and is delivered in the afternoon.
If an answer is sent immediately, it is carried back the
next morning.
The rest of the day Pilot Fogg devotes his time to carrying
passengers in his 150-horsepower Hispano-Suiza motor flying
plane. It is equipped for two passengers besides himself,
but while on the air mail trip he makes the journey alone
and utilizes the extra space for mail.
Veteran Aviator
He has been an aviator for eight years and saw service
as an instructor of acrobatic flying at Love Field, Dallas,
Tex., during World War. Not once, he says, during his long
career, has he been injured in an accident.
He has spent approximately 2,000 hours in the air, he estimates.
An aviator, he points out, is judged by the number of hours
he has spent in the air. Just as a chauffeur is judged by
the number of miles he has driven.
“I did get a thrill on my first trip when I thought
that I was the first pilot in the country to carry rural
air mail. However, it is only paving the way for Uncle Sam
to deliver most of the mail by the same route,” he
said.
“It is a pleasure to give residents of the lake region
their mail early in the morning. I made my first flight
last Saturday, and it was raining hard and blowing. That
didn’t stop me, because I expect to run into more
difficult weather than that before my contract expires on
Sept. 7.
The introduction of the novel way of delivering rural mail
was brought about by lake region associates, Congressman
Fletcher Hale of Laconia, John H. Bartlett, first assistant
postmaster general at Washington, and Senator George H.
Moses.
J.O. Ashley, railway mail superintendent of White River
Junction, Vt.. and Chief Clerk Larrington of the railway
mail service at Washington were brought here to investigate
the complaint of lake folks that mail service was not up
to standard. The result of the investigation was the recommending
of air service as the best way of correcting the fault.
It marked the first contract signed by the government calling
for delivery of R.F.D. all by airplane. By motor boat it
takes five hours to cruise around the lake. The plane covers
the route in one hour and ten minutes.
