Airmail: the transcontinental airway over the bend

1927 — 1930s

The mail route came before the airport did: South Bend sat on the federal airmail's main street almost from the start of contract flying. Contract Air Mail route CAM-17, flown by National Air Transport, was awarded on 2 April 1927 and opened for service on 1 September 1927 — the New York–Chicago leg of the transcontinental route, meeting Boeing Air Transport's CAM-18 at Chicago to carry the mail coast to coast. National Air Transport was absorbed into United Aircraft & Transport on 7 May 1930, the holding company out of which United Air Lines came. The Commerce Department's 1929 airway bulletin already listed the city's northeast field on the federal airway, which is what an airmail-era airport was: a lit, described, federal stopping place on a route flown whether or not a given city's mail was heavy. What the record reached for this section does not establish is a scheduled mail stop at South Bend itself on CAM-17 — the route passed over the bend and the field stood on the airway, and a collectors' want-ad in the American Air Mail Society's literature seeking CAM-17 covers "from South Bend toward Chicago" survives as a lead, not as proof. This record prints the airway and the field's place on it, and names the scheduled stop as not established rather than assuming it.

Sources:

1. United Airlines Historical Foundation and the Aerodacious CAM route index, from the American Air Mail Society's contract airmail catalogues — CAM-17 awarded to National Air Transport 2 April 1927, service from 1 September 1927, the New York–Chicago leg connecting with CAM-18 at Chicago; National Air Transport absorbed into United Aircraft & Transport 7 May 1930.
2. U.S. Department of Commerce, Airway Bulletin, 16 January 1929 — South Bend's municipal field listed on the federal airway.