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Darren Lilja of Lemont (middle), chapter president, was one of the members that met a plane from Elkhart Indiana at the Lewis University airport in Romeoville at 4:53 p.m. Tuesday evening. Then early on Wednesday morning, Lilja was the co-pilot of a plane that flew out of the Lewis airport to Iowa. Lilja was just one member of AirMail100 Centennial Flights, a group of volunteer private airplane owners and pilots who are spending four days retracing the 15 segments – also called legs - of the original 1920 airmail route, according to the event’s website.
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The planes are carrying a ceremonial sack of commemorative letters and post cards, which pilots are transferring from plane to plane. Lilja said the plane that flew out of Indiana was supposed to land at the Joliet Regional Airport. But instead the plane was diverted to the Lewis airport due to the inclement weather and low cloud ceiling, Lilja said. Because of those conditions, the pilot flew by instrument flight rules instead of visual flight rules, Lilja said. “The Joliet airport is not equipped to fly by instruments,” Lilja said. “I know the south end of the runway is a power plant with smokestacks that hinder any kind of change. You can’t come out of the clouds. You’d hit them [the smokestacks] on the way to the runway.” Lilja said he had initially planned a celebration around the landing but canceled it due to the pandemic.
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“They [pilots] hung around for about 30 minutes, took pictures and explained the pilot log that they signed in front of us,” Lilja said. “The pilot log is passed from each pilot that flies the legs.” Lilja said they were scheduled to fly out of the Lewis airport shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday morning. They were due in Iowa City at 8 a.m. “Due to the weather conditions here, we have to fly by out instruments,” Lilja said. “And then we’re going into storms in Iowa City, so we have to go a little north of the storm.” Lilja said words can’t describe the feeling of retracing the same route World War I pilots flew 100 years ago with primitive equipment and no instruments, just beacons and ground references. Lilja said he has a postcard featuring five Joliet-area airmail pilots. All five died in the 1920s delivering the mail, he said. “And here we are 100 years later,” Lilja said. “We can pretty much close our eyes and run the same route. And we have a 99 percent chance of survival compared to what they had back in 1920. The mortality rate then was 60 percent.” Lilja said pilot 100 years ago flew in below zero-degree weather in open cockpits. They wore “big parkas” to keep them warm. They had no protection over their faces.
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“Today we fly in a luxury heated cabin and no wind in our faces,” Lilja said. “It’s a great feat what we’re doing. We’re doing something they did 100 years later. It’s paying homage to our forefathers in the aviation community.” To follow each plane in real time and for more information, visit airmail100.com. (All photos)