National Air Mail Week

Postmaster Elmer Winchell with Ben Curler at the inagural airmail flight at the Susanville airport on May 19, 1938.

This was an interesting national promotion that was during the week of May 15-21, 1938. It commemorated the twentieth anniversary of the implementation of air mail. Citizens and communities were encouraged to participate.

Of course, Lassen County Superior Court Judge Ben F. Curler and avid flier was more than happy to participate in carrying air mail. For a brief time, when Curler served as magistrate for Lassen Volcanic National Park he would fly to Mineral to hold court. Curler’s May 1938 airmail flight went from Susanville to Reno. At Reno, he picked up his father, Washoe County District Court Judge, Ben V. Curler. The elder Curler, was a pilot, too, having obtained his license in 1935 at the age of 70. The two flying judges departed Reno and flew to various Nevada communities as part of the National Air Mail Week campaign.

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