The First Air Mail Flight from the roof of the Post Office @ 30th Street in Phila PA to Camden NJ.

[@viarnay]

perhaps the most beautiful autogyro ever made

[@jamesburns2232]

It's nice to see a kinder, gentler time in America when postmen were allowed to open carry their pistols. 🤠

[@brianhill9532]

I would give anything to fly a DC-3 JUST ONCE MORE

[@BucketListBadass]

My father-in-law used to work at the 30th Street Station as a postman for yrs. He told me there was a time when planes used to land on the roof. I didn't believe him until I saw this footage. Great video....thanks!

[@ntesla66]

I got to meet Captain Miller at the Oshkosh airshow one year. He came by our booth in hanger c and needed to set down for a bit. He was 98 when I met him, got my picture took with him as well. Thanks for the outstanding video post !

[@carolewilliams1149]

My father was a sheet metal mechanic who helped build that autogiro. He sent 2 letters to my mother on that first flight and had the pilot sign the letters.

[@Alan1234x]

Excellent video! Thanks for putting it up. I collect postal covers and the video is for the flight from 1939, as shown by the postal route # 2001. The first autogiro flight on the post office was in 1935, an experimental service.

[@1776vtgmb]

I spent many years sitting next to Capt. Miller at the flight instructor refresher courses in Albany, NY. What a wonderful gentleman and what an aviator! We'd go to lunch together and just never stop talking. I could not believe it... but when he was over 100 years old, he took his FIRST glider (sailplane) ride! It was in the back cover page of Flying Magazine. The stories he told of the early barnstorming days in the lower Hudson River Valley were amazing! A wonderful, tall, handsome man - the image of a pilot we all wish we could have been! Willy Barrett

[@PFFCO]

awesome story. I never had a chance to meet him, but did speak to him on the phone after I had sent him a copy of the video. His daughter and he watched it together.

[@jamesburns2232]

You can still book your first glider flight with Adirondack Soaring Club in a Grob 103 for $175.00 which includes a 1 day membership in the Adirondack Soaring Association, Saratoga Springs, NY. 🤠

[@Rickster5176]

That was fantastic! The best vintage gyro footage I've ever seen.

[@guybuxman4884]

Simply amazing. What a treasure this footage is.

[@Aprilmarcloud]

Beautiful classic autogyro, pure joy to watch.

[@sovietball5414]

The vintage give me a good memo. Great job! 👍

[@DavidVanderhoof]

That is stunning!!! WOW !!!! Thank you for sharing!!!

[@italobambino43]

Fantastic footage! I always heard that the main post office at 30th street was able to accommodate trains, boats and air planes! This was so well done, and the color. Thank goodness it sat in a very well maintained environment out of harms way! This belongs in the Smithsonian!

[@Catbert814]

Am I too late for the 4:30 autogyro?

[@grahamaindow8894]

Superb! Thank You!

[@rivetguru]

Excellent quality. Thank you for posting.

[@RealWorldDesign]

Fantastic to see. I am here courtesy of James Chiles' great book The God Machine which I'm reading. He describes how he met Miller at his house in Poughkeepsie when Miller was aged 99 and quoting from p85 of the book "Miller showed me a home movie of the rooftop comings and goings taken by a friend" I figured I might find that footage on YT and luckily I was right ! PFFCO. it seems quite clear that Miller played Chiles the very DVD you sent him about a year before Chiles arrived. - Dean

[@MrDugas]

@rivetguru I enjoyed watching this video very much. Thanks for posting it. I was born in 1939 so the video was made the same year. Memories!!

[@oldgafirefighter]

That is actually a Douglas DC-2 at the beginning of the film, not a DC-3. Note the engine cowling that tells tthe difference... Great Film!

[@bobskiba7181]

What a wonderful film! Thanks so much for posting. The DC-3 is taxiing at the Camden Airfield, since this was a full year before the first terminal was built at the tiny Philadelphia airport.

[@1flyfire8]

The name was Central Airport and it was in Pennsauken, just outside the city limits. The area is now the Airport Industrial Park adjacent to US Rt. 130.

[@tcmits3699]

Next to the airport circle

[@JPIGGUS]

The pilot flying that Kellet gyrocopter, Eastern Air Lines (EAL) Captain Johnny Miller, was still flying his privately owned Beach Bonanza at age 100; he died at 101. He also landed that gyrocopter on the Mall in Washington, D.C. That Philly Post Office rooftop mail service was an experiment with EAL in 1939, later EAL pilot E,J. Lukens alternated with Miller for the year it was operated. Service was discontinued due to the National Emergency. During this time there were 10-flights per day scheduled with an 85% completion.

[@robbif]

Great job. I just happened to find your copy mentioned in a Cessna170 forum about John. Sorry I missed the mention of Gary's site at the end.

[@55pilot]

Wham! That tailwheel hit kind of hard.

[@bob2161]

That was not unusual for these. The Pitcairn was the same. When the pilots would "pull them up short" after a near vertical approach, they would often mis-time the flare. The tailwheel took a pounding. The entire landing gear system on all of the autogyros at the time where pretty beefy for just that reason.

[@richarddegen6184]

Very good, film quality was really good also

[@valic000]

Amazing filmdocument..great plane!!

[@edlizard]

This is too cool. Thanks for sharing!

[@1flyfire8]

The DC-3 must have been landing at Central Airport in Pennsauken, where the Autogiro was heading from 30th St... You can see the Tacony-Palmyra bridge sign in the background late in the clip. Great stuff!!!

[@robbif]

This film was also made available online several years ago along with a lot of information about John. I knew John for many years and enjoyed hangar-talking with (or mostly listening to) him. You can also hear my 1 hr. 40 min. recording of his stories from 2007. Apparently, KZbin does not allow links here. But you can find my recording page which includes a link to the history pages if you Google for 'dutchess pilots john miller'

[@thatguybrody4819]

youtube allows links now. i'll have to take a look at that recording then.

[@scottcates]

SUPERB

[@terryboehler5752]

Happy days

[@PFFCO]

@robbif I met Gary from DMairfield by way of this video. i started out on google to find out the pilot based on the tail number of the autogyro at the time.

[@PFFCO]

I'll check out the video. I had only spoken to John and sent him copies of the DVD at the time. I was surprised to be getting email from someone over 100!. My video here came from several 16mm film cans that I had transferred a few years ago. I had no idea of what I had sitting on those reels.

[@davids369]

Here is an original Event cover that was carried on this flight. www.etsy.com/listing/224910419/1939-first-autogiro-roof-top-mail-flight?ref=shop_home_active_1

[@davidraybon1615]

WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker was head of Eastern at the time.

[@tomlovejoy9899]

And Bach, too!

[@RoosterG33rs]

oh how far we have fallen

[@Giovanniram22]

Great video and also the first landing! The second one maybe because of the video operator wasnt good :-)

[@marguskiis7711]

so sad Bach...

[@JosephTricarico]

Cool video, but it's not 30th St. Station. This was the Post Office, which now belongs to the IRS.

[@1flyfire8]

It only says 30th St., which is where the Post Office was. Yes, now IRS.

[@TonVerkleijT3]

Air from Bach, beautifull fitting music.