Aircraft that made the first airmail flight through Idaho

A Swallow aircraft restored to look like the one that made the first airmail flight through Idaho in 1926.In 1925, the Post Office began to make contracts with private operators to carry air mail. One route, from Pasco, Washington, to Elko, Nevada, called CAM 5 (Contract Air Mail route number 5), was awarded to Walter T. Varney. Varney acquired six new Swallows for the dangerous route over the mountains and desert. On April 6, 1926, 2,500 residents of Pasco came to see pilot Leon Cuddeback and the first mail-laden Swallow take off for Elko via Boise, Idaho. This plane was restored to look like the Swallow aircraft that made that flight. It is at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

http://www.museumofflight.org/aircraft/swallow-commercial

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