1917 Manufacturers Aircraft Association Map of the United States

This is a 1917 J.N. Matthews Company and Manufacturers Aircraft Association map of the United States illustrating airfields and naval air stations at the outbreak of World War I. The map depicts the continental United States from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean and from Canada to Mexico.

Illustrating the beginning of American aviation, the focus here is on the creation of an air mail system. Both proposed and operational air mail routes are indicated by thick red lines; proposed lines are noted by dashed lines and the only operational line between New York and Washington, D.C. is noted by a solid line. Aerial distances between the proposed hubs for air mail service are noted above the lines by large numbers. Thinner red lines illustrate air routes between important cities throughout the country and aerial distances between these cities are also given. At table in the lower left corner lists the fifty-six airfield and naval air stations noted on the map alphabetically. Each airfield or naval air station is marked by a square and identified by a number on the map, which correspond to the number next to the name of a given airfield or naval air station in the table.

Myriad cities and towns are labeled throughout the United States, with state capitals and other major cities labeled in bold. The nation's railway network is also illustrated, and each line is identified by the company operating over those rails. The Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains are illustrated and labeled, as are all five Great Lakes.

The Manufacturer's Aircraft Association

The Manufacturer's Aircraft Association (MAA) (1917 – 1975) was a patent pool and trade association of U.S. aircraft manufacturers. At the outbreak of World War I, the U.S. military and other elements of the U.S. federal government put pressure on the Wright Company, the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, and other manufacturers to form an association to break the patent logjam preventing American manufacturers from producing airplanes for the U.S. military. The brainchild of a committed formed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, then the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the MAA was a private corporation that had agreements with aircraft manufacturers to cross-license their patents without substantial royalties.

This map was originally created by the J.N. Mattews Company in 1916 but was repurposed by the Manufacturers Aircraft Association and republished in 1917.