Apparently not superstitious, Ovington knew that taking this “unlucky number” as his own would make him unique in the aviation world. He deemed his lucky number to be 13 and flew with it painted on his wing. While earning his wings, the aviator adopted a mascot described as a French gendarme by the name of “ Treize” (the number thirteen in French). Ovington then attended Louis Bleriot’s Aviation School in France, sponsored by his successful MIT friends. Curtiss who introduced him to the young world of aviation. In 1900, Ovington attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to further his electrical knowledge.Īfter becoming interested in motorcycles and other vehicles, Ovington befriended Glenn H. Here, he saw the “electrical revolution” firsthand. At 16, Ovington left school and went to work as a messenger boy for Edison Electric Illuminating Company making three dollars a week. His aunt said her electric door bells never worked when her nephew was around because he always stole the batteries for his experiments in the attic.
#AIRMAIL TRIAL TRIAL#
He loved the idea of innovation and how he can create new ideas and technologies just by using trial and error. Around age nine, he was given a $1 electric motor and a book titled Experimental Science. As a person and a pilot, Ovington was a unique character and his Septemflight has an interesting story.īorn in 1879, Ovington was an innovative and passionate figure of aviation that gave birth to the experimentation of mail delivery by air. In September 1911, Ovington was officially sworn in as an airmail carrier before climbing into his fixed-wing plane and flying from Garden City, New York to the nearby town of Mineola with a heavy sack of mail. Fred Wiseman “unofficially” carried mail in February 1911, coincidentally the same day as an airmail flight in India. Earle Ovington receives a bag of mail at the International Aviation Tournament in Garden City, New York, where he took off for the first official airmail flight in the United States.Įarle Ovington was the Post Office Department’s “First Aeroplane Mail Carrier,” but he wasn’t the first person to get airborne with the mail.
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