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US Mail leather flight suit worn by Leon Cuddeback, who flew the first scheduled air mail in the US, ca. 1926
Pilot Leon Cuddeback wore this sheepskin flight suit while delivering mail in the 1920s. On April 6, 1926, Cuddeback made the nation's first regularly scheduled airmail run, flying between Pasco, Washington, and Elko, Nevada, with a fuel stop in Boise, Idaho. Early mail planes, like Cuddeback's single-engine Curtis biplane, had open cockpits. Above 20,000 feet above sea level, temperatures sometimes reached -47 F. Pilots had to bundle up but still be able to work the controls. They wore many layers of woolen underwear, sweaters, socks, and footgear with their sheepskin outerwear.
ID Number: 1955.977.1C685
Date: Circa 1926
Physical Description: 1 Suit, Flier's; leather, wool, metal; 66 in.H x 27 in.W
Credit: MOHAI, 1955.977.1 C-685