Viewing page 9 of 20

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

There Ovington and Sopwith engaged in daily rivalry in the monoplane events, with Ovington usually the winner. He entered some events with the Curtiss biplane, but preferred his Bleriot. From Chicago he shipped both machines to Boston for the Harvard-Boston Meet, held August 26th to September 4th, where he specialized in the speed events. On September 2nd he flew in the Boston Light Race, and on Septenber 4th won the Boston Globe $10,000 Tri-State race by flying from Boston to Nashua, New Hampshire; Worchester, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; and back to Boston. The total distance was 186 miles and total flying time was three hours and six minutes. He made landings at all three towns and at Providence, was greeted by the Governor of Rhode Island and the Mayor of Providence. In this race he earned $11,780 and expenses.
From Boston, Ovington flew at the Nassau Boulevard Meet on Long Island, New York, from September 23rd to October 5th. There he made history as America's first officially appointed aerial postman. After beign [[being]] so appointed by Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock on September 23rd he carried mail from Nassau to Mineola daily for nine days. A special postal station was provided at the Meet where mail could be posted, then it was flown by Ovington to a prescribed point over the Mineola Post Office where is was dropped for collection. 
After this event Ovington had a contract with flight promoter William Pickens to enter the Hearst Transcontinental Race, and a special Queen-Bleriot monoplane, with an Indian 7-cylinder, 50 h.p. rotary engine, was built for this event.* The machine was troublesome on test so Ovington announced that he was going to quit flying and take a rest. This ended his flying until later with he reentered aviation as a business and not as a barnstormer. He had done well that season both in accomplishments and financially. He had entered all the major flying events of the 1911 season, was an active competitor and established many "firsts."

*This engine is now in the National Air and Space Museum.