In this flight, you’ll re-create the daring and difficult “Hell Stretch” airmail route across the Allegheny Mountains.
Once the first regular airmail service between New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. was established in 1918, the U.S. Postal Service looked west, and began to scout a route toward Cleveland and Chicago. The land, however, was not as flat as the map. Between New York and the newly chosen airmail refueling stop of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, there was a formidable mountain range to negotiate: the Alleghenies.
On September 20, 1918, pilot Max Miller landed the first airmail plane, a survey flight, in Bellefonte. Once Bellefonte was chosen over rival town Lock Haven as a stopover, the new western airmail route ran: New York-Lehighton-Bellefonte-Clarion-Cleveland. On December 18, mail planes began landing in Bellefonte. Pilots often made a showy arrival, thrilling townspeople. One story claims that pilot Slim Lewis flew so close to the courthouse that the weathervane spun. Townspeople vied with one another to have airmail pilots as house and dinner guests. In Bellefonte, the pilots were honored and well-known, and enjoyed life as celebrities.
But pilots first had to reach Bellefonte, and this meant flying across the Alleghenies—and perhaps their life. Visibility was often poor, and instruments in the Curtiss Jenny's and de Havilland DH-4s were unreliable. Unpredictable weather and mountain winds posed the greatest threats. This section of central Pennsylvania was so treacherous, it soon earned the nickname “Hell Stretch,” claiming more pilots’ lives than any other leg of the coast-to-coast airmail route. One highly publicized crash involved Charlie Ames on October 1, 1925. After 10 days of searching, his plane was found where he crashed into the side of a mountain. The town of Bellefonte mourned as if it had lost one of its own.
As you lift your Jenny into the skies above New York and head west with the morning mail, cinch down your cap and goggles. Make it through the Hell Stretch, and you’ll not only have proven your piloting skills, but you'll have a hot dinner and warm welcome waiting for you in Bellefonte.
Total Legs: 2 Total Distance: 201 Total Time(125kts): 1 hours 36 minutes
Leg 1
Leg Distance: 107.67 Approximate time at 125kts: 52 minutes.
Republic Airport(KFRG) to WP 1(POI1)
Distance: 3.49NM Bearing: 325° 2 minutes
Fly runway heading for 3.5 Nautical miles. Just before the Highway intersection you will reach waypoint 1.
WP 1(POI1) to WP 2(POI2)
Distance: 18.37NM Bearing: 285° 9 minutes
Cross over La Guardia Airport (KLGA): two intersecting runways.
WP 2(POI2) to WP 3(POI3)
Distance: 4.18NM Bearing: 284° 2 minutes
Manhattan Island.
WP 3(POI3) to WP 4(POI4)
Distance: 4.36NM Bearing: 285° 2 minutes
Teterboro Airport (KTEB), 4 NM north of course: two intersecting runways.
WP 4(POI4) to WP 5(POI5)
Distance: 4.29NM Bearing: 284° 2 minutes
Newark International Airport (KEWR), 5 NM south of course: three runways.
WP 5(POI5) to WP 6(POI6)
Distance: 11.8NM Bearing: 284° 6 minutes
Morristown Municipal Airport (KMMU): two intersecting runways. 1 NM North of course.
WP 6(POI6) to WP 7(POI7)
Distance: 20.11NM Bearing: 284° 10 minutes
Hacketstown Airport (N05), 7 NM north of course: one runway, difficult to see.
WP 7(POI7) to WP 8(POI8)
Distance: 11.01NM Bearing: 283° 5 minutes
Delaware River. Power plant. Pennsylvania border.
WP 8(POI8) to WP 9(POI9)
Distance: 6.54NM Bearing: 283° 3 minutes
Braden Airport (N43), 8 NM south of course: one runway.
WP 9(POI9) to WP 10(POI10)
Distance: 8.96NM Bearing: 283° 4 minutes
Lehigh Valley International Airport, 9 NM south of course: two intersecting runways, 3 NM northeast of city of Allentown.
WP 10(POI10) to WP 11(POI11)
Distance: 10.39NM Bearing: 283° 5 minutes
Lehigh River. Highway.
WP 11(POI11) to Jake Arner Memorial Airport(22N)
Distance: 4.17NM Bearing: 283° 2 minutes
(Land) Arner Memorial Airport (22N): one runway (08-26), 3 NM southwest of city of Lehighton, and 2 NM southeast of Mauch Chunk Lake. Airport elevation is 534 feet MSL. Expect straight in for runway 26.
Leg 2
Lehigh Valley International Airport, 9 NM south of course: two intersecting runways, 3 NM northeast of city of Allentown.
Leg Distance: 93.43 Approximate time at 125kts: 45 minutes.
Jake Arner Memorial Airport(22N) to WP 12(POI12)
Distance: 3.27NM Bearing: 285° 2 minutes
Mauch Chunck Lake, 1 NM north of course.
WP 12(POI12) to WP 13(POI13)
Distance: 3.73NM Bearing: 285° 2 minutes
Town of Coaldale. Lake Hauto, 1 NM north of course. Tamaqua Reservoir, 1 NM south of course.
WP 13(POI13) to WP 14(POI14)
Distance: 28.88NM Bearing: 285° 14 minutes
Northumberland County Airport (N79): one runway. Just south of course.
WP 14(POI14) to WP 15(POI15)
Distance: 11.65NM Bearing: 284° 6 minutes
City of Sunbury, at junction of two branches of Susquehanna River. Sunbury Airport (71N) on island at river junction, just north of course.
WP 15(POI15) to WP 16(POI16)
Distance: 2.78NM Bearing: 284° 1 minutes
Penn Valley Airport (KSEG), 2 NM south of course: one runway, just west of river.
WP 16(POI16) to WP 17(POI17)
Distance: 5.18NM Bearing: 284° 2 minutes
Sauers-Haven Airport (4PA1), 3 NM north of course: one turf runway.
WP 17(POI17) to WP 18(POI18)
Distance: 28.33NM Bearing: 284° 14 minutes
Penns Cave Airport (N74), 1 NM north of course: one turf runway.
WP 18(POI18) to Bellefonte Airport(N96)
Distance: 9.61NM Bearing: 283° 5 minutes
(Land) Bellefonte Airport (N96): one runway (07-25), 3 NM southwest of city of Bellefonte, just east of Bald Eagle Mountains. Airport elevation is 1,071 feet MSL. Do not confuse with University Park Airport (KUNV), 2 NM to the southwest. Expect straight in for runway 25.
