This year, visitors are delighted to be returning to Bethlehem, where they can send franked letters by first class or by air mail.

BBC: Bethlehem post attracts festive flock

Correspondents did as they were bidden, filing their copy by air-mail letter or, in later years, by telex.

ECONOMIST: Nancy Balfour

"We are mapping out a return-to-service plan, and we look forward to getting our 787s back in the air, " she said by e-mail.

NPR: FAA Approves Resumption Of Boeing 787 Flights

Of course, by 1940, commercial air service had been hauling transcontinental freight, passengers, and mail for more than a decade, and doing so largely as a result of the incentive of Lindbergh's solo feat and his industrious efforts as a million-dollar-a-year consultant to the newly organized airlines.

NPR: Roth Rewrites History with a 'Plot Against America'