Giant Concrete Arrows Across the United States

In terms of leaving a signature mark on the landscape the Egyptians built the pyramids, the Romans built straight roads across Europe, the Chinese the great wall. Here in the United States we have…70-foot concrete arrows all across the country! It’s really true. There were 1500 of them built between 1923 and 1933 to guide pilots for flight during day and night.

Postal Service Shows the Army How to Fly Mail

The postal service wanted to deliver mail via air during WWI but was unable to gain access to planes. Shortly after the war ended, the War Department decided to use the postal service to train its pilots in cross-country flying. The first airmail flight, from New York to Washington, DC, was flown in May 1918. The pilot got lost and landed in the wrong airport.

Three months later the postal service took control of airmail routes and made the Army airmail pilots postal employees. The postal service fine-tuned the process of flying mail and the inaugural flight of the Transcontinental Mail Route from New York to San Francisco was in 1921. The route was 2,612 miles and had 13 stops along the way.

Swashbuckling Pilots are Inefficient

Early pilots had no navigation aids and no radio communication. They had to literally look out the cockpit window for landmarks and use roadway maps. Flying in an open cockpit, in a leather suit and battling the elements is a romantic notion; but it was not very safe and did not allow flying at night. In 1919, Army Air Service pilot Donald Bruner experimented with bonfires for nighttime navigation. In 1921 an airmail pilot named Jack Knight flew at night from Chicago to Nebraska aided by bonfires lit by postal service staff, farmers and volunteers.

An Aerial Roadway Across the Country

By 1923 the idea of lighted beacons and improved safety had taken hold. The post office effectively lighted the entire Transcontinental Air Mail Route by installing lights on 51 foot towers placed at intervals of 10-25 miles. The tower stood in the middle of a 50 to 70-foot concrete arrow. At night, local citizens, often farmers, would light the acetylene-gas powered beacons. The fuel was stored in a shed at the base of the arrow. Each beacon had a rotating light which flashed an identification sequence and had a fixed light shining towards the next beacon and one back to the last. They were designed to be visible for 40 miles. While the Transcontinental Airway tends to get all the press, these beacons were built all over the country for many mail routes.

Great While it Lasted

In 1926, the Air Commerce Act gave the Department of Commerce jurisdiction over aviation. The idea was that the federal government was needed to assist the aviation industry in improving standardization and safety. The Department of Commerce continued expansion of the airmail beacon system until 1929. By the 1930s, navigation and radio technology had improved to allow flight without land-based visual guidance. The airmail beacon program closed in 1933, when technology advancements and the high cost of operation made it obsolete.

Various beacons operated in limited capacities into the 1940s. During WWII many were taken down and their towers recycled for the steel. All visual airway beacons were shut down in 1973, except in Montana where they maintain 19 of the original beacons.

Updated August 9, 2016.

Further Information

Arrows Across America Website
Ciabola County Historical Society Aviation History Museum