Aviation History – August 13, 1928. On this Monday, August 13, 1928, a new postal service was inaugurated by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, to improve the delivery of mail between France and America: the company thus setting up a service that will be provided by a marine-postal plane; indeed, the sea and air routes to be used.
This dual mode of delivery should thus make it possible to save time and optimize the postal service: compared to the classic mode, the mail would arrive 24 hours earlier: a boat taking care of the first part of the journey, before the seaplane carried by the ship joins the sky to finish executing the liaison.
It is from the port of Le Havre, that the liner bearing the name of “Île-de-France”, dedicated to this service, will leave on August 13, 1928, with on its deck the seaplane Lioré and Olivier H 198 with motor Gnome-Jupiter, capable of developing 420 horsepower, a device which 450 miles from the American coast will be catapulted to complete the journey. At 5.16 p.m., he will then arrive in New York, after a health check.
