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BATTLE OF THE BIRDMEN-Perhaps someone in Sonoma County has the envelopes in which Fred Wiseman delivered the first letters ever air-maild, 41 years ago this week? They could settle an old controversy which has denied the former Santa Rosan a good deal of his rightful glory.

It seems Earl Ovington, a Santa Barbara man, flew a package of "authorized" air mail across Long Island in September, 1911 - months after Wiseman's flight. But Wiseman's mail was properly stamped and canceled by the Petaluma postmaster, some authorities belief. Because of the doubt, Wiseman's historic plane has been shunted out of the Smithsonian into a Chicago warehouse, where re. Hubert Scudder traced it. In 8 more years, this may mean a 50th Anniversary Air Mail stamp won't honor Wiseman and Santa Rosa, but a man whose only claim to fame is that he flew with a bundle of red tape.
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