That Time A Missile was Used to Deliver Mail
- Aeryn Avilla
- Jun 8, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
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Of all the whacky mid-century military and space dreams, using a cruise missile to deliver mail was one that actually became a reality, if only for just one day.
June 8, 1959 marked the first and last time a missile was used to deliver mail in the United States. A U.S. Navy Regulus I was launched from the USS Barbero on a flight to deliver 3,000 letters to Florida. Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield, the man behind the endeavor, deemed it "of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world."
In the late 1950s, the Post Office Department (predecessor to the USPS) wanted a faster and more efficient way to deliver mail. The first official American airmail delivery took place on September 23, 1911 when Earle Ovington flew 1,920 pieces of mail from Nassau Boulevard aerodrome in Garden City, New York, to Mineola New York [1].
Using rockets to deliver mail was tested as far back as the early 1930s. According to a 1934 issue of Popular Mechanics, rockets in Austria would launch at a 65° angle upwards until its fuel ran out, at which point the letter case, an asbestos-lined container, would float down to its destination below, having traveled only a few miles. These flights apparently successfully carried 200 to 300 letters from one small town to another.
Attempts were also being made in the northeastern United States. On February 9, 1936, a catapult-launched rocket-powered airplane attempted to deliver mail from Greenwood Lake, New York to Hewitt, New Jersey, six miles south and separated from the former by a frozen lake. The vehicle anticlimactically flopped onto the ground as soon as it cleared the catapult. According to reports at the time, more than 1,500 people showed up to witness the next launch attempt on February 23. The vehicle's name was Gloria and it traveled approximately 984 feet (300 m) before again crashing into the ground. Although it was badly damaged, it did, however, cross the state line into New Jersey, marking the first time a rocket had been used to deliver mail in the United States. These small attempts showed the world it was possible to deliver mail via rocket.
As post-war American rocketry (and later space launch vehicles) were made possible by the reverse-engineering of the German V-2 rocket, reverse-engineering the V-1 flying bomb led to the development of the cruise missile. Cruise missiles are "unmanned self-propelled guided vehicles that sustain flight through aerodynamic lift" (Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance). In August 1947, the US Navy began Project Regulus, which sought to develop a cruise missile specifically for submarine deployment. It was to use the same equipment as the US Army Air Force's MGM-1 Matador [2]. The SSM-N-8A Regulus was a nuclear-capable turbo-jet powered cruise missile and America’s first sea-based nuclear deterrent. The Regulus had a length of 42 feet (12.8 m), a diameter of 4 feet and 8.5 inches (1.5 m), and a wingspan of 21 feet (6.4 m), and could carry a 3,000 pound warhead up to 500 nautical miles (575 mi or 926 km). Its first launch via submarine was off the deck of the USS Tunny in July 1953.
The USS Barbero was a Balao-class diesel-electric submarine that completed two patrols in the Java and South China seas during World War II. In 1955, she was converted to launch the Regulus 1 and joined the USS Tunny as the US’s first nuclear deterrent patrol submarines. In 1958, they were joined by the USS Grayback and USS Growler, two diesel-electric submarines purposefully built to carry the Regulus missile, and them being diesel-electric subs specially built for nuclear armament, rather than being converted for nuclear armament, is what makes them unique. The nuclear-powered USS Halibut brought the total Regulus-equipped submarines up to five and four Baltimore-class cruisers and ten aircraft carriers also carried the Regulus.
The USS Barbero was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia and carried out deterrent patrols in the Atlantic Ocean for three years, from mid 1956 to mid 1959. Before reassignment to the Pacific Fleet Submarine Squadron 1 in at the start of July 1959, the Barbero participated in an experimental mail delivery. The Post Office Department established an official post office branch on the submarine and received 3,000 commemorative postal covers containing letters from Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield addressed to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Vice President Richard Nixon, Cabinet members, Supreme Court Justices, members of the Universal Postal Union, and the crew of the USS Barbero. This experiment was not announced to the public ahead of time and Summerfield’s office received several complaints from philatelists who had not been given the opportunity to submit personal items for flight. The letters were placed in two red and blue mail containers that replaced the missile’s nuclear warhead.
Barbero sailed to a spot in the Atlantic Ocean about 100 miles from the Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Mayport, Florida (now Naval Station Mayport) . Shortly before noon on June 8, 1959 and under the command of Captain Robert H. Blount, the Barbero fired a training Regulus towards the naval station. 22 minutes later, it landed. Postmaster General Summerfield was in attendance for the missile’s touchdown and said the event was “of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world.” The letters were forwarded to a post office in Jacksonville for sorting and distribution, and over the decades some postal covers found their way into the hands of the public.
“This peacetime employment of a guided missile for the important and practical purpose of carrying mail, is the first known official use of missiles by any Post Office Department of any nation. Before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles.” — Postmaster General Summerfield
Despite Postmaster General Summerfield’s enthusiasm for the implementation of missile-delivered mail and the success of the experiment, this would be the only time a missile was used to carry mail in the United States. The ultimate downfall was its impracticality; delivering mail using airplanes and conventional methods of transportation were cheaper and more reliable in the long run. Nevertheless, this “peacetime employment of a guided missile” was a unique experiment in communication transportation and a subtle flex of American missile accuracy.
Barbero operated in the Pacific from July 1959 until decommissioning on June 30 1964 and was sunk by the USS Swordfish off Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on October 7. The Regulus had a number of disadvantages, namely being required to launch while surfaced, using liquid fuel, depending on active tracking and guidance, and having a limited range (Navy magazine). The Regulus was retired from service in 1964 and replaced by the UGM-27 Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missile.
Missile mail and rocket mail never really took off though astrophilately has been a popular hobby for space enthusiasts for generations.
Author's note: Thanks for reading and be sure to like and share this post!
[1] The first airmail delivery took place in British India on February 18, 1911. 6,500 letters flew 8.1 miles (13 km) from Allahabad to Naini.
[2] The Matador became the first American operational surface-to-surface cruise missile in 1952.
Bibliography
"Earle Lewis Ovington." Early Aviators. https://www.earlyaviators.com/eovingto.htm
Limer, Eric. "That Time the USPS Launched a Missile Full of Letters Off a Navy Submarine." Popular Mechanics. 2016. https://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/a21601/usps-first-official-missile-mail-1959/
"Missile Mail." National Postal Museum. https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/fad-to-fundamental-airmail-in-america-historic-airplanes-unusual-and-experimental/missile
"Missile Mail." United States Postal Service, 2008. https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/missile-mail.pdf
"West Milford Museum celebrates 80th anniv. of rocket mail flight." northjersey.com. 2016. https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/passaic/west-milford/2016/03/03/west-milford-museum-celebrates-80th-anniv-of-rocket-mail-flight/94528796/
Whitman, Edward C. "Regulus: America's First Sea-borne Nuclear Deterrent." Undersea Warfare, spring 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20170211231915/http://www.public.navy.mil/subfor/underseawarfaremagazine/Issues/PDF/USW_Spring_2001.pdf
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