Biography

Frank R. Yager, born in 1889 in Audubon, Iowa, was known as an airmail pioneer. He trained at the U.S. School of Military Aeronatics at the University of Illinois from November 1917 to February 1918 and then continued in flight training at various locations, including Gerstner Field, Louisiana and Langley Field, Virginia. It does not appear that he was trained in time to serve in World War I. He then went on to fly for air mail service, becoming a pioneer for night air mail. He flew the first night flight between Cheyenne, Wyoming to North Platte on February 22, 1921, part of a longer transcontinental air mail flight. Two planes had departed from Oakland, California, but one pilot, W.L. Lewis crashed in Reno, Nevada. Pilot Jim Murray brought that leg into Cheyenne where Yager picked up the next leg. He reached North Platte, Nebraska where pilot Jack Knight headed to Omaha, Nebraska, flying through a blizzard. Knight then had to replace another pilot to fly the next leg to Chicago, Illinois. The transcontinental flight continued during daylight to New York. Due to this exhibition flight, transcontinental day-and-night airmail service was enacted and began July 1, 1924. Yager flew the Cheyenne to Omaha portion of the route. During heavy fog and bad visibilty, he was known to fly low to the ground, "hopping" over fences. Yager later flew with Boeing Air Transport flying from San Francisco to Chicago.

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