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[[image No. 69 - black & white photograph of Luke Harris in front of air commuter airplane]]

[[image No. 70 - black & white photograph of Luke Harris, second from left, and his Bryon, Ohio, gang]]

[[image No. 71 - black & white photograph of Luke Harris's dog Pal sitting on top of aiplane]]

[[caption]] Luke Harris helped develop first air commuter service with Ludington Line's "Every Hour on the Hour" schedule between New York and Washington (69), during early 1930s.  A distinguished air mail pioneer, Harris, second from left, stands with his Bryon, Ohio, gang (70), 1925.  Pal, a famed flying fox terrior (71) and air mail mascot of the late 1920s, was a constant Harris companion. [[/caption]]

Luther Harris

"I have always considered myself a technical and maintenance man.  My first love was the machine, then came flying it."

Luke Harris has given a great deal of love to the industry, and blessed with multitudinous talents, he has helped create a bit of history on the side.  "And you've got to remember that my education came by way of night schools and correspondence schools," the former Capital Airlines VP said.

His burning the midnight oil hasn't really let up since mustering out in 1919.  From 1920 through 1927, Harris was both an air mail pilot of renown and one of the men responsible for establishing and operating vital maintenance way stations for Post Office Department carriers.  During 1929 and 1930, Luke "worked" Nyrba, an early aviation acronym for the New York-Rio de Janeiro-Buenos Aires route that was the foundation for Pan American's service to the southern hemisphere.  He designed the maintenance and engineering support systems for the pioneer water-land route.

"But Ludington was something special," he says with fondness.

Ludington Air Lines was the wonder of its day, the world's first long distance commuter service, with every-hour-on-the-hour service in both directions between New York City, Camden, Baltimore, and Washington.  Service began September 1, 1930, and Ludington was one of the few carriers to operate at a profit, without Federal air mail contracts.

[[image - small drawing of a propeller]]

Luther Harris:  born Whitewell, Tennessee, February 21, 1899.

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