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50-573: The Pitcairn Mailwings were developed to carry air mail for the United States Post Office Department . Of simple and robust construction, they had relatively benign flying characteristics. They were constructed using chrome-moly steel tube and square-section spruce spars with spruce and plywood built-up ribs. The fuselage was faired using wooden formers and covered with fabric. The tail sections were built up from steel tube and fabric -covered. The Pitcairn Mailwing had

100-520: A Combined Statistical Area that includes the Lafayette metropolitan area ( Benton , Carroll , and Tippecanoe counties) and the Frankfort micropolitan area ( Clinton County ), which had a combined population of 212,408 at the 2000 United States Census . As of the 2010 United States Census , there were 67,140 people, 28,545 households, and 15,863 families in the city. The population density

150-662: A French fort and trading post had existed since 1717 on the opposite bank and three miles downstream. It was named for the French general Marquis de Lafayette , a Revolutionary War hero. When European explorers arrived at this area, it was inhabited by a tribe of Miami Native Americans known as the Ouiatenon or Weas . In 1717, the French government established Fort Ouiatenon across the Wabash River and three miles (4.8 km) south of present-day Lafayette. The fort became

200-734: A French officer who significantly aided George Washington 's Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War . Lafayette toured the United States in 1824 and 1825. In its earliest days, Lafayette was a shipping center on the Wabash River. In 1838, Henry Leavitt Ellsworth , the first United States Patent Commissioner, published a booklet titled Valley of the Upper Wabash, Indiana, with Hints on Its Agricultural Advantages, to promote settlement of

250-472: A balloon starting in Lafayette, Indiana , with a destination of New York . Weather issues forced him to land near Crawfordsville, Indiana , and the mail reached its final destination via train. In 1959, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 7 cent stamp commemorating the event. Balloons also carried mail out of Paris and Metz during the Franco-Prussian War (1870), drifting over the heads of

300-417: A ground-adjustable fin and in-flight adjustable tailplane. The undercarriage was of outrigger type with Oleo-Spring shock absorbers and disc brakes on the mainwheels. All versions looked very similar and changes were minor, with several fuselage extensions being the most obvious. The mail was carried in a fireproof metal-lined compartment forward of the pilot's cockpit. The Mailwings were flown extensively by

350-703: A high of 86 °F (30 °C) in July, although a record low of −33 °F (−36 °C) was recorded in January 1985 and again in January 1994; and a record high of 105 °F (41 °C) was recorded in June 1988. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 1.58 inches (40 mm) in February to 4.24 inches (108 mm) in June. Lafayette is the larger principal city of the Lafayette-Frankfort CSA ,

400-473: A monologue by a veteran pilot, preserving the atmosphere of these pioneering times: "We used to fly on the Paris route, from Hounslow to Le Bourget and get through as best as you could. Later we moved on to Croydon . (...) We carried the much advertised Air Mails. That meant the machines had to fly whether there were passengers to be carried or not. It was left to the discretion of the pilot whether or not

450-406: A specific kind of airmail letter which is its own envelope; see aerogram . Some forms of airletter, such as aerogram , may forbid enclosure of other material so as to keep the weight down. The choice to send a letter by air is indicated either by a handwritten note on the envelope , by the use of special labels called airmail etiquettes (blue stickers with the words "air mail" in French and in

500-553: Is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail , and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the only option for sending mail to some destinations, such as overseas, if the mail cannot wait the time it would take to arrive by ship , sometimes weeks. The Universal Postal Union adopted comprehensive rules for airmail at its 1929 Postal Union Congress in London. Since

550-630: Is the Purdue University Airport (LAF) in West Lafayette. Amtrak , the national passenger rail system, provides passenger rail service to Lafayette through the Cardinal to Chicago , Washington D.C. , and New York City . Norfolk Southern ; CSX ; Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad ; and Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway ( RailAmerica ) provide freight rail service. Many lines that originally passed through

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600-500: Is unavailable. It is usually impossible to know this by examining an envelope, and such items are not considered "airmail." Generally, airmail would take a guaranteed and scheduled flight and arrive first, while air-speeded mail would wait for a non-guaranteed and merely available flight and would arrive later than normal airmail. A letter sent via airmail may be called an aerogramme , aerogram , air letter or simply airmail letter . However, aerogramme and aerogram may also refer to

650-459: The 2020 census , the population of Lafayette was 70,783. West Lafayette , on the other side of the Wabash River , is home to Purdue University , which contributes significantly to both communities. Together, they form the core of the Lafayette metropolitan area , which had a population of 235,066 in 2020. Lafayette was founded in 1825 on the southeast bank of the Wabash River near where the river becomes impassable for riverboats upstream, though

700-549: The Germans besieging those cities. Balloon mail was also carried on an 1877 flight in Nashville, Tennessee . Starting in 1903 the introduction of the aeroplane generated immediate interest in using them for mail transport. An unofficial airmail flight was conducted by Fred Wiseman, who carried three letters between Petaluma and Santa Rosa , California, on February 17, 1911. The world's first official airmail flight came

750-585: The Middle East . On 25 December 1918, the Latécoère Airlines (later becoming the famed Aéropostale ) became the first civilian international airmail service, when mail was flown from Toulouse , France, to Barcelona , Spain. Less than 2 months later, on 19 February 1919, the airmail service was extended to Casablanca , Morocco, making the Latécoère Airlines the first transcontinental airmail service. In June 1919, Alcock and Brown completed

800-598: The Royal Air Force pioneered the first scheduled international airmail service between Folkestone, Kent and Cologne, Germany . The service operated between December 1918 and mid-1919; its purpose was to provide troops of the British Army stationed in Germany with a fast mail service. (see more at British Forces Post Office ) Throughout the 1920s the Royal Air Force continued to develop air routes through

850-635: The United States was inaugurated on May 15, 1918. The route, which ran between Washington, D.C. , and New York City , with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , was designed by aviation pioneer Augustus Post . The field used for this service is marked by a plaque in West Potomac Park . In 1925, the U.S. Postal service issued contracts to fly airmail between designated points. By 1931, 85% of domestic airline revenue

900-494: The back end in dynamic intermodal combinations. Thus even "regular" mail may make part of its journey on an aircraft. Such "air-speeded" mail is different from nominal airmail in its branding, price, and priority of service. Specific instances of a letter being delivered by air long predate the introduction of Airmail as a regularly scheduled service available to the general public. Although homing pigeons had long been used to send messages (an activity known as pigeon mail ),

950-594: The pilot would sign them as well. The first stamps designated specifically for airmail were issued by Italy in 1917, and used on experimental flights; they were produced by overprinting special delivery stamps. Austria also overprinted stamps for airmail in March 1918, soon followed by the first definitive stamp for airmail, issued by the United States in May 1918. A postal service may sometimes opt to transport some regular mail by air, perhaps because other transportation

1000-493: The war , including in Germany , France and Japan , where airmail provision was briefly established in 1912, only to meet with similar practical difficulties. The range, speed and lifting capacity of aircraft were transformed through technological innovation during the war, allowing the first practical air mail services to finally become a reality when the war ended. For instance, the first regularly scheduled airmail service in

1050-599: The Lafayette market . With the 2017 launch of WPBY-LD , local broadcasts of all "big four" networks became available. Lafayette also remains one of few television markets without its own PBS station, the market being served by WFYI in Indianapolis . WRTV , WTHR , WTTV , and WXIN , the respective ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox affiliates in Indianapolis which had been carried by cable and satellite providers in

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1100-506: The Lafayette market as "out-of-market" stations , remain viewable in the area via a large over-the-air antenna or, in some cases, via a subscription satellite or streaming service . Cable provider Comcast Xfinity discontinued its remaining carriage of Indianapolis-based "big four" stations on March 7, 2018, but resumed carriage of WTHR and WRTV two days later. No airports are located within Lafayette city limits. The nearest commercial airport which currently has scheduled airline service

1150-577: The Tippecanoe County Public Library: The government consists of a mayor – elected in a citywide vote – and a city council of nine members. Six are elected from individual districts; three are elected at-large. K-12 public education in Lafayette is provided by the Lafayette School Corporation . The Tippecanoe School Corporation also administers county schools nearby. New Community School

1200-567: The U.S. Air Mail service from 1927 until the end of dedicated Air-Mail routes. Pitcairn also built the same aircraft in sport versions for private use. These aircraft had the mail compartment removed, and a side-by-side two-seat cockpit was fitted. Data from: Aerofiles : Pitcairn Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1931, Aerofiles: Pitcairn General characteristics Performance (Partial listing, only covers most numerous types) Air mail Airmail (or air mail )

1250-425: The age of 18 living with them, 36.7% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 44.4% were non-families. 34.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age in

1300-402: The average family size was 2.98. The city population contained 23.2% under the age of 18; 14.2% from 18 to 24; 31.3% from 25 to 44; 19.3% from 45 to 64; and 12.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.3 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 35,859, and

1350-599: The centennial of the event. Lafayette is located in Fairfield and Wea Townships. According to the 2010 census, Lafayette has a total area of 27.74 square miles (71.85 km ), all land. Neighborhoods include: Historic neighborhoods include Ninth Street Hill Neighborhood Historic District and Upper Main Street Historic District . In recent years, temperatures in Lafayette have ranged from an average low of 17 °F (−8 °C) in January to

1400-464: The center of trade for fur trappers, merchants and Indians. An annual reenactment and festival known as Feast of the Hunters' Moon is held there each autumn. The town of Lafayette was platted in May 1825 by William Digby, a trader. It was designated as the county seat of the newly formed Tippecanoe County the following year. Like many frontier towns, Lafayette was named for General Lafayette ,

1450-409: The city was 31.9 years. 23.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 12.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29.9% were from 25 to 44; 22.2% were from 45 to 64, and 11.3% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.7% male and 51.3% female. As of the 2000 United States Census , there were 56,397 people, 24,060 households, and 13,666 families in the city. The population density

1500-524: The first aerial flight in North America by balloon on January 9, 1793, from Philadelphia to Deptford, New Jersey , Jean-Pierre Blanchard carried a personal letter from George Washington to be delivered to the owner of whatever property Blanchard happened to land on, making the flight the first delivery of air mail in the United States. The first official air mail delivery in the United States took place on August 17, 1859, when John Wise piloted

1550-515: The first airmail flight was piloted by Henri Pequet , who flew 6,500 letters a distance of 13 km (8.1 mi) from Allahabad to Naini —the nearest station on the Bombay-Calcutta line to the exhibition. The letters bore an official frank "First Aerial Post, U.P. Exhibition, Allahabad. 1911". The aircraft used was a Humber-Sommer biplane , and it made the journey in thirteen minutes. The first official American airmail delivery

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1600-513: The first mail to be carried by an air vehicle was on January 7, 1785, on a hot air balloon flight from Dover to France near Calais . It was flown by Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries . The letter was written by an American Loyalist William Franklin to his son William Temple Franklin who was serving in a diplomatic role in Paris with his grandfather Benjamin Franklin . During

1650-460: The first transatlantic airmail flight. The first airmail service established officially by an airline occurred in Colombia , South America, on 19 October 1920. Scadta , the first airline of the country, flew landing river by river delivering mail in its destinations. Australia's first airmail contract was awarded to Norman (later Sir) Brearley's Western Australian Airlines (WAA). The first airmail

1700-549: The flight should be cancelled in bad weather; the pilots were dead keen on flying in the most impossible conditions. Sanderson got killed this way at Douinville. And all he had in the machine was a couple of picture postcards from trippers in Paris, sent to their families as a curiosity. That was the Air Mail. No passengers or anything—just the mail". In the aftermath of the war, the Royal Engineers (Postal Section) and

1750-546: The home language), or by the use of specially-marked envelopes. Special airmail stamps may also be available, or required; the rules vary in different countries. The study of airmail is known as aerophilately . Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( / ˌ l ɑː f i ˈ ɛ t , ˌ l æ f -/ LA(H)F -ee- ET ) is a city in and is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana , United States, located 63 miles (101 km) northwest of Indianapolis and 125 miles (201 km) southeast of Chicago . According to

1800-404: The median income for a family was $ 45,480. Males had a median income of $ 32,892 versus $ 23,049 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 19,217. About 8.0% of families and 12.1% of the population were below the poverty line , including 15.8% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over. Companies located in Lafayette include: The Lafayette area has four branch locations of

1850-537: The next day, at a large exhibition in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh , British India . The organizer of the aviation display, Sir Walter Windham , was able to secure permission from the postmaster general in India to operate an airmail service in order to generate publicity for the exhibition and to raise money for charity. Mail from people across the region was gathered in at Holy Trinity Church and

1900-551: The official language of the Universal Postal Union is French, airmail items worldwide are often marked Par avion , literally: "by airplane". For about the first half century of its existence, transportation of mail via aircraft was usually categorized and sold as a separate service (airmail) from surface mail. Today it is often the case that mail service is categorized and sold according to transit time alone, with mode of transport (land, sea, air) being decided on

1950-421: The population. There were 24,060 households, out of which 27.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them; 42.5% were married couples living together; 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present; and 43.2% were non-families. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 individuals and

2000-621: The region. By 1845, Ellsworth had purchased 93,000 acres (380 km ) of farmland around Lafayette and moved there from Connecticut to supervise land sales. By 1847 Ellsworth was distributing broadsides looking for farmers to purchase his farmland. He became president of the Tippecanoe County Agricultural Society in April 1851 – despite some local resentment over what was called "the Yale Crowd" – but he

2050-485: The successful experiment he had overseen in India. The service ran for just under a month, transporting 35 bags of mail in 16 flights; four pilots operated the aircraft including Gustav Hamel , who flew the first service in his Blériot , covering the 21 miles between Hendon and Windsor in just 18 minutes. The service was eventually terminated due to constant and severe delays caused by bad weather conditions. Similar services were intermittently run in other countries before

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2100-659: The time, this was the longest such flight in the world. The world's first scheduled airmail post service took place in the United Kingdom between the London suburb of Hendon , North London , and the Postmaster General 's office in Windsor, Berkshire , on September 9, 1911, as part of the celebrations for King George V 's coronation and at the suggestion of Sir Walter Windham , who based his proposal on

2150-463: Was 2,420.3 inhabitants per square mile (934.5/km ). There were 31,260 housing units at an average density of 1,126.9 units per square mile (435.1 units/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 74.2% White , 11.2% African American , 0.4% Native American , 1% Asian , 0.0% from other races , and 2.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 16.3% of the population. There were 28,545 households, of which 29.4% had children under

2200-416: Was 2,806.5 inhabitants per square mile (1,083.6/km ). There were 25,602 housing units at an average density of 1,274.1 units per square mile (491.9 units/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 88.91% White ; 3.22% African American ; 0.37% Native American ; 1.22% Asian ; 0.04% Pacific Islander ; 4.61% from other races , and 1.62% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.11% of

2250-601: Was a tuition-free elementary charter school (sponsored by Ball State University ) located on the north side of Lafayette; it closed in 2016. Beacon Academy was a charter school operated by the Lafayette School Corporation in West Lafayette; it closed in 2018. Elementary Middle School Junior/High School K-12 From 1953 until the 2016 launch of WPBI-LD , WLFI-TV had been the only "Big Three" ( ABC , CBS and NBC —or, including Fox , "big four") commercial network television broadcaster in

2300-494: Was carried between Geraldton and Derby in Western Australia on December 5, 1921. Since stamp collecting was already a well-developed hobby by this time, collectors followed developments in airmail service closely, and went to some trouble to find out about the first flights between various destinations, and to get letters onto them. The authorities often used special cachets on the covers , and in many cases

2350-491: Was defeated the same year when he ran for the Indiana House of Representatives . Ellsworth Street and Ellsworth Historic District are named for him. The Wabash and Erie Canal in the 1840s stimulated trade and affirmed Lafayette's regional prominence. Railroads arrived in the town in the 1850s, connecting it with other major markets. The Monon Railroad connected Lafayette with other sections of Indiana. Lafayette

2400-430: Was from airmail. In Germany, dirigibles of the 1920s and 1930s were used extensively to carry airmail; it was known as Zeppelin mail , or dirigible mail. The German Zeppelins were especially visible in this role, and many countries issued special stamps for use on Zeppelin mail. The 1928 book So Disdained by Nevil Shute —a novel based on this author's deep interest in and thorough knowledge of aviation—includes

2450-482: Was made on September 23, 1911, by pilot Earle Ovington under the authority of the United States Post Office Department . The first official air mail in Australia was carried by French pilot Maurice Guillaux. On July 16–18, 1914, he flew his Blériot XI aircraft from Melbourne to Sydney, a distance of 584 miles (940 km), carrying 1785 specially printed postcards, some Lipton's Tea and some O.T. Lemon juice. At

2500-482: Was the site of the first official airmail delivery in the United States on 17 August 1859, when John Wise piloted a balloon starting on the Lafayette courthouse grounds. Wise hoped to reach New York ; however, weather conditions forced the balloon down near Crawfordsville, Indiana , and the mail reached its final destination by train. In 1959, the US Postal Service issued a 7¢ airmail stamp commemorating

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