Wednesday, July 23, 1919

In city. Beautiful bright mild day. Up 8 A.M. Candled 20 cases eggs. To dentist's etc. Out to Schemerhorn field to see Lucas and Bjorkland in airplanes ascended and descended several times. Out on bicycle. Home 9:30. To bed 10:30 P.M.

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I looked up Schermerhorn field, and found an interesting blog entry (from the Grems-Doolittle Library Collection Blog) that talked about that summer in Schenectady when the pilot and his plane wowed the crowds.

Below is an excerpt from that blog plus a picture of the plane piloted by Philip Lucas. I highlighted the passage that refers to the event Stanford mentions in his journal.

[Eastholm Aviation Field] was first used in early August 1919 and was established for the Aerial Activities Corporation, a business chartered in July 1919, which located its primary office in Schenectady. Lt. Philip D. Lucas, a World War I veteran and a pilot, gave exhibitions and carried passengers under the auspices of the company. After picking up his Curtiss plane from Mineola, New York, Lucas began the season in late July flying from "the Schermerhorn field on the river road." A week later, a newspaper article announced the construction of the airfield near Balltown Road and Consaul Road on land owned by the Eastholm Realty Company. On August 11, 1919, the city's common council passed an ordinance authorizing an expenditure of $50 yearly to lease the airfield. General Electric offered to equip the field with lighting without cost to the city.

Lt. Philip Dearborn Lucas' Curtiss Airplane at Eastholm Field

Mr. Bjorklund was a pilot also and he had his own gimmick: delivering the mail by air. Below is an article that appeared in the July 26, 1919 edition of The Fourth Estate, a weekly newspaper for publishers, about Bjorklund and Lucas' activities that summer.

SCHENECTADY PAPER SENT BY AIRPLANE. The Schenectady Union-Star enjoys the distinction of being the first newspaper in the capitol district to deliver its papers by airplane, due to the courtesy of Filip Bjorklund. At 4.10 o'clock on Saturday after noon, July 19, an airplane piloted by Mr. Bjorklund passed over the heart of Schenectady bearing copies of the 4 o'clock edition of the Union-Star. At 4.15 o'clock bundles of papers tied with red, white and blue stream ers and labelled "Union-Star aerial post" were dropped at Burnt Hills, a few miles north of Schenectady. At 4.19 o'clock the plane reached Ballston Lake, a few miles further on, where the remainder of the papers were dropped. A large crowd turned out and pieces of the streamers were doled out to the eager souvenir hunters. The papers were rushed from the Union-Star to the Schermerhorn flying field by automobile, where a Union- Star representative was waiting to supervise the trip.

I learned a bit more about Lt. Philip Dearborn Lucas, aviator, from Ancestry.com. He was born in 1889 in New York. In 1920 he lived in Schenectady at a rooming house and gave his occupation as engineer for G.E.  He applied for a passport to go to Chile in September 1920 to "look after certain engineering interests" for the Bethlehem, Chile Iron Mines Company, based in Pennsylvania. He took several other trips abroad, probably on business. So it looks like he didn't continue as an aviator after that one summer.