Amazing photo of an Aeromarine flying boat flying over Bimini in the Bamahas. Photo date 17 January 1922 according to one source, but photo reportedly issued as a postcard in the autumn of 1921. Columbus sank between Key West and Havana on 13 January with the loss of four passengers and mail. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

This early US airline offered flights from Key West to Havana and from Miami to Bimini - both international destinations which still allowed drinking. Photo from: Monroe County Public Library

The Aeromarine 75 could seat about ten passengers and was a civil conversion of the American-built Felixstowe F.5L, itself based on a Curtiss design. Civil aviation in America lagged behind Europe through lack of government support, but Aeromarine's own airline was quite innovative, with branches in Florida and New York plus a Detroit - Cleveland service across Lake Erie. The Great Lakes Division only lasted from July 1922 until September 1923 though. In other photos its aircraft carry names and a light paint job. Here the rear fuselage reads 'Aerial Express' and a British contemporary source mentions the Aerial Express Company of Detroit. Photo from: Wayne State University