About the Artwork

This piece commemorates the pioneering U.S. airmail carriers of World War I, whose daring flights ushered in a new era of same-day mail delivery.

Story & Inspiration

The painting pays homage to the bravery of early airmail pilots—many of them World War I aviators—who risked their lives to transport mail across long distances. Their work was so perilous that the job was sometimes referred to as "a Suicide Club." According to Nancy Pope, curator of the National Postal Museum’s "Postmen of the Skies" exhibition, "They all understood the bargain they had made: risking their lives to get the mail where it needed to go."