Experimental aeroplane mail service postal card
Though he had planned a mail flight from the fair grounds at Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, to Pittsburgh's Schenley Park, a distance of twenty-five miles, pioneer aviator Theodore Stockman failed to get his plane aloft on October 4 and subsequent days. The plane was dismantled and shipped to Verona, where John Kowalski, a mechanic and inventor, operated a shop.
As it became evident on October 4 that the plane would not lift, Stockman took the forty-five pieces of mail in his possession to the post office at Verona, where they were postmarked on October 17 and dispatched by regular means. All mail was serviced by collectors, sent by Harry Truby and other members of the Aero Mail Club. Truby had organized this flying exhibition with the approval of Natrona's postmaster, John Clinton.
This card, addressed to collector Karl Koslowski, Detroit, Michigan, prominently features the purple-colored cachet - A'ERO MAIL SERVICE / OCT 4 1913 / Natrona PA." The circular postmark, which is unclear, cancels the 1-cent McKinley indicia.
