National Air Mail Week

On Friday, May 20, 1938, the Intelligencer reported, “Doylestown’s first outgoing air mail taken away by plane left the county seat Thursday afternoon, May 19, at 1:57 p.m. as four U.S. Navy planes flying low over the Doylestown Flying Field signaled a salute for Pilot Wilfred “Bill” R. Webb, to take off in his new Taylor-Cub, cabin monoplane, with 20 pounds of mail.”
The mail sack contained approximately 1,200 back-stamped letters, many of which were addressed to the senders or to members of their families in Doylestown and were returned the next day. Mail was postmarked “Airmail from Doylestown,” and the cancelled postmarks became a collectors’ item. Pictured prior to takeoff are John Sweeney (unk-1944), mayor; Bill Webb (1905-1996), pilot; and Francis Fonash (1889-1971), postmaster.
The Doylestown Flying Field, owned by Bill Webb, opened in 1928. In 1942, the airfield for private planes became a dual use airport and farm owned by John Van Sant (a popular local aviator and founder of the Van Sant Airport). In 1946 the Veterans Administration accredited the airport to provide subsidized flight training to former GIs.

Between 1957 and 1960, the airport was converted from a pig farm; and the Bucks County Airport Authority purchased Doylestown Airport in 1962. Located at 3879 Old Easton Road, Doylestown, the airport is in Buckingham Township and remains under the management of the Bucks County Airport Authority (BCAA). Today, its website states, “It is two miles north of Doylestown, Pennsylvania and has a single fixed-base operator, Leading Edge Aviation, and a Civil Air Patrol squadron, flight training, and aircraft rentals.”
Photo source: Milton Rutherford Collection
Doylestownhistorical.org

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