James H. Knight

James Herbert "Jack" Knight (14 March 1892 – 24 February 1945), born James Herbert Brockett was an American pilot who made the first overnight transcontinental air mail delivery. Jack Knight was part of a relay team that flew 2,629 miles across the country on February 22–23, 1921.

Life

Jack Knight was born March 14, 1893 in Lincoln Center, Kansas. Knight was born James Herbert Brockett, but would later take the last name of his adoptive parents. Knight was a member of First Christian Church in Omaha, Nebraska, where he sang in the choir. Knight served in World War I as a pilot instructor at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas. After the war, Knight took a job as an airmail pilot. The U.S. transcontinental mail route began operating in September 1920. But, since pilots did not fly after dark, the mail was transferred to a railcar to travel during the night. At dawn, a waiting plane would take the mail sacks and fly on. However, newly elected president, Warren Harding, and some Congressmen began to talk openly about ending Federal airmail subsidies. Questions of safety of flying the mail were not without merit. In the prior three years 17 airmail service pilots had died in crashes traced to mechanical or weather-related causes. Airmail pilots at the time virtually flew by the seat of their pants. Their instrument panel included a magnetic compass which was affected by everything metal on the plane and oscillated from north to south in rough weather. They also flew low - peering over the side of their planes to navigate - skimming rivers, railroad tracks and towns.

Consequently, Postmaster General Burleson devised a plan to demonstrate airmail's potential. He would have mail flown across the country completely by air, without using the railroad, in order to reduce transit time, and chose February 22, 1921, for the all-air cross-country test. This flight would not be an easy task for the pilots flying in unprotected cockpits as it would be difficult for pilots to find visual landmarks at night. On the morning of February 22, 1921, two mail planes left Hazelhurst Field, Long Island, New York, heading west, while two other planes left Marina Field, San Francisco, California flying east. Relay planes waited at the regularly scheduled stops in between.

James H. “Jack” Knight was waiting in North Platte, Nebraska, to continue the west-bound leg. Sporting a broken nose, bruises, and the effects of a concussion he had suffered three weeks earlier when his de Havilland DH-4B mail plane crashed into a snow-covered peak in Wyoming's Laramie Mountains, Knight looked a sorry sight. After fixing the tailskid on the DH-4, which was cracked by fellow pilot Frank Yeager after flying the Cheyenne, Wyoming to North Platte leg, Knight left for Omaha after 10:00 pm not knowing that the relief pilot scheduled to meet him in Omaha was stuck in a snowstorm in Chicago. That same storm had also stopped the westbound pilots, whose mail was being loaded onto a train. Knight was unaware that he was the only pilot left flying and that the future of airmail could depend on him.

Knight left North Platte and began eastward to Omaha, Nebraska. Through the cold night he was able to see signal fires lit by post office employees, airfield managers, and even local farmers. Landing at Omaha after 1:00 AM on the 22nd, Knight learned that he was the only pilot still flying, as the east bound leg had also been grounded by the snowstorm. However, after warming himself, Knight chose to continue the flight, despite the threatening storm and the fact that he had never flown east of Omaha, and took off an hour later.

Following more fires and other landmarks across Iowa, Knight flew the next leg through Des Moines, Iowa, where snow prevented a landing, and then another 120 miles to Iowa City. Knight finally set down in Iowa City, to rest and warm himself before taking off again at 6:30 a.m. for the final 200 miles to Chicago. At 8:40 a.m., Knight reached Chicago Checkerboard Field. His all-night flight had covered 830 miles and he had found his way using a basic compass and a small, torn section of road map. Knight admitted later that he had broken his nose a few days earlier and the frozen wind and bumpy air were especially brutal. Newspaper reporters were waiting for Knight in Chicago, and his flight made front-page headlines nationwide.

Though Knight was a hero, the feat was a team victory as two other pilots continued on to New York. All together, seven pilots had taken part in the transcontinental flight, taking 33 hours 20 minutes to fly 2,629 miles (3,652 kilometers). Only 26 hours of that time had been spent in the air. Impressed by the feat and by the wide public acclaim, Congress at last appropriated the needed funds for the beleaguered mail service.

After becoming a household name, Knight worked with the Postal Service and local civic leaders to set up a system of navigational beacons and emergency landing strips. Knight continued to fly airmail, even after the system was contracted out in 1925, ending up with National Air Transport Inc which became United Airlines. Knight continued with United, eventually DC-3 flying passenger flights and later becoming a vice president of the company.

Knight died on 24 February 1945 in Chicago, after contracting malaria during a South American business trip while working with the Defense Supply Corps, to set up a reliable transportation route to the United States for native rubber.