10. The Army took on non-military roles in the 1920s and 1930s
For troops stationed in the United States, a series of non-military duties occupied their time during the interwar years. The Army became a relief force in the face of natural disasters, setting up emergency camps and feeding those whose lives were disrupted. In 1934, as a result of a scandal affecting airmail contracts with private carriers, President Roosevelt abruptly canceled all contracts. He assigned the US Army Air Corps to deliver all air mail. In an Executive Order FDR ordered the Army to deliver all airmail, under the authority of the Postmaster-General, and in accordance with his schedules. His schedules included a great deal of night flying. Ill-prepared and with limited equipment (such as suitable airplanes for the mission), the Army began delivering airmail in February 1934. The Army lacked the necessarily experienced pilots and possessed only airplanes unsuited to the task.
Prior to 1934, budget cuts severely hampered pilot training in the US Army Air Corps. Flying was, for the most part, only in clear weather, only in daylight, and in open-cockpit aircraft. The private contractors delivering the mail used established air routes in civilian passenger airliners. The Army pilots were unfamiliar with the routes and had no such aircraft. The Army initially selected 48 pilots to carry the mail, none of them from their most experienced ranks. In fact, only two of the pilots had more than 50 hours of experience flying on instruments, and only 31 had over 50 hours of flying at night. By March 9, after just 19 days of the Army carrying the mail, 10 pilots and navigators/observers had been killed in crashes from flying in inclement weather. FDR, publicly humiliated, ordered Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur to suspend the project on March 11.