Aviation meet postal card
The Clayton, New Mexico, Fair Grounds Aviation Meet, held September 17-18, 1914, featured flights by Rodgers Aviation Company, owned and managed by Mabel Rodgers (widow of Calbraith Rodgers, pilot of the transcontinental flight of the "Vin Fiz" in 1911). The Post Office Department approved the service, identifying it as Route No. 667,001.
Pilot J. Floyd Smith flew 326 pieces of mail on September 17 and 18. The route flown was from the fair grounds to Clayton's post office, where Smith dropped the mail sack to officials. Only four cards are known, one of which is shown here.
The card, addressed to A. W. Tanner, Dalhart, Texas, bears a large, oval postmark, which cancels the 1-cent Washington stamp. The postmark reads, "FIRST AERIAL POST O[FFICE] / SEP 17 1914 / CLAYTON, NEW MEXICO."
