President Woodrow Wilson came to see the departure of the US Post Offices's first scheduled mail flight to Philadelphia, but it was quite an embarrassment. First, the US Army Air Service crew had forgotten to fuel the new JN-4HM mailplane and then the pilot, Lt Boyle, was seen flying off in the wrong direction. Trying again two days later, the inexperienced Boyle got lost again. He had been selected by the Post Office because he was engaged to the daughter of someone important. Appropriately, Jenny 38262 flies upside down in a misprinted stamp. Photo from: US Air Force

A temporary airfield was set up on the polo field in Potomac Park for a US Army air mail service from Washington to New York via Philadelphia starting in May 1918. In August 1918 the Post Office took over the service and moved the Washington terminus to an airfield in College Park, Maryland. Photo from: National Archives at College Park, Maryland