Aviation in the 1920s was unpredictable. Pilots flew routes that few had successfully flown before, with untested technologies and in all weather conditions. These risks went hand in hand with being a pilot for the airmail service.
None embody this better than James H. Knight, who went by the name of Jack and whose exploits frequently graced newspapers across the West. The newspaper record remembers Knight as a pioneer, pushing the boundaries of aviation. Despite the dangers of flying Western airmail routes during the 1920s, Knight’s advancements to the service are a testament to his courage, skill, and, to some extent, luck.
The Dangerous Life of an Airmail Pioneer
Jack Knight kept a log book that detailed all of his flights for much of his airmail career service, and it relates the dangers of this pioneering profession. Housed at the American Heritage Center, the log book reveals at the beginning that Knight recorded three entries under the title “Record of Forced Landings, Smashes, Crashes, ETC,” all within the span of two years. Entries of “forced landing,” “motor trouble,” and even “crash” are repeated frequently throughout the book alongside remarks about the weather. There is a surprising number of these notes. Despite the many malfunctions and accidents faced, he continued to fly, advancing airmail and aviation to new heights. He was seemingly undeterred even after so many forced landings and outright crashes.
Breaking Speed Records
Airmail pilots flew for relatively long hours considering the limited distances they covered on each leg of the transcontinental air route. On December 13, 1920, Knight is reported to have gone about 385 and 8/10 miles an hour, traveling forty-five miles in seven minutes due to a gust of wind.1 This would be relatively slow for a modern airplane, but at the time it was considered a possible record-breaking speed. The Laramie Boomerang stated that Knight “probably traveled faster than ever a human being moved before.”2 Spectators and news reporters found Knight’s speed flight to be an exciting moment to witness. Airplanes were on the forefront of technological developments.
The Night Flight That Made History
One of Knight’s most well-known achievements occurred during a test of a 24-hour transcontinental airmail flight with different pilots flying small routes in 1921. Jack flew at night from North Platte, Nebraska, to Chicago, Illinois. Originally scheduled to fly only to Omaha, he decided to continue on to the next leg when the pilot assigned to the Chicago route refused to fly during a storm.3
Despite having never flown the Omaha-Chicago segment and having already completed his assigned portion with a broken nose, he still successfully navigated two sections of the route in poor weather. The Omaha Bee reported that Jack Knight was “the man who flew with the mails from Cheyenne to Chicago in a single night.”4 His successful completion of this challenging night flight, especially when another pilot had deemed it too dangerous, proved that airmail could be delivered safely after dark—a crucial advancement for the service.
When Knight returned to Cheyenne in a new plane, his down-to-earth personality was evident. Despite accomplishing one of aviation’s most heroic feats, his immediate concern was simple: “I’m famished,” he told the welcoming crowd. “Nothing since breakfast, and that a darned early one.”5
Behind Every Great Pilot
A 1921 newspaper article about Jack’s wife Lois portrays her as being confident in her husband’s skill and supportive of his work in the U.S. Airmail Service. She is depicted in the newspaper article as being calm despite the risks that were inseparable from her husband’s career.6 Regardless of her likely concerns about those risks, her interview does not focus greatly on her worry. The only times she stated that she frequently worried was when Jack flew in poor weather or when he flew over the mountains.7 The article’s author is more focused on Jack, even while interviewing his wife for her opinions, reflecting Jack Knight’s status as a celebrity of sorts.
Innovations in Communication
Knight tested a “Hush-A-Phone,” which was designed to limit outside noise so that pilots could hear radio transmissions. Knight’s radio was equipped with “a hushaphone [sic] to shut out the sound of his motor.”8 In an open-air cockpit, the Hush-A-Phone allowed clear two-way communication despite the constant roar of both engine and wind. Despite the historic significance of this test, Jack only wrote the words “radio,” “radio test,” and “night radio” in his log book on the days of the test. No further information is provided to suggest his experiences or opinions. Perhaps it was truly a routine test for him, unlike the article which raised public anticipation for the coming test.
Flying Into History
Knight’s importance to the advancement of airmail and aviation was so significant that when he retired in 1937, the Wyoming State Tribune featured an article about his work. The newspaper claimed that “veteran” had become synonymous with Jack’s name, describing him as one of seven volunteers who flew mail through the night to prove it was possible, and who “could and had flown everything from a crate to a luxury liner.”9 Though clearly exaggerated, the fact that Knight’s retirement warranted news coverage more than a decade after his most prominent achievement reveals his lasting recognition in aviation history and his importance to the development of airmail service.
Jack Knight’s work in the airmail service, despite its dangers, allowed for advancements in the aviation industry. He was involved in many of the advancements of the 1920s which made airmail, and aviation as a whole, safer and less uncertain. In his own log book, however, his accomplishments are noted alongside all other flights without more than a few words of commentary. Jack was only one of many airmail pilots who pushed the limits of aviation, becoming a true pioneer in the process.
We share his story to commemorate the beginnings of this vital service, which saw its first official experiment under the US Post Office Department on September 23, 1911.
Post contributed by Lilly Graham, student in the Spring 2025 course “20th Century American West” (HIST 4540) taught by Toppan Rare Book Curator Dr. Mary Beth Brown.
- “Pilot Flies Plane at Rate of 385 Miles an Hour, is Claim,” The Laramie Boomerang, December 13, 1920, 7. ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- “Jack Knight Returns to This Station,” Cheyenne State Leader, February 27, 1921, 1. ↩︎
- “Flight of the Night Mail,” The Omaha Bee, February 24, 1921, 6. ↩︎
- Cheyenne State Leader, February 27, 1921. ↩︎
- Eyre Powell. “When ‘Their’ Ships Come In, Wyoming State Tribune and Cheyenne State Leader, May 15, 1921, 7. ↩︎
- Wyoming State Tribune and Cheyenne State Leader, May 15, 1921. ↩︎
- “Hushaphone Test Made By Air Mail Pilot Jack Knight,” Wyoming State Tribune and Cheyenne State Leader, November 22, 1923, 1. ↩︎
- “Veteran Pilot Retires After Twenty Years,” Wyoming State Tribune, November 19, 1937, 1, 11. ↩︎
