Photograph of airmail pilot John F. Milatzo

c. 1924

John Milatzo holds the dubious distinction of being the last pilot to die while working in the Post Office Department's Airmail Service. Milatzo began his career with the Department on February 24, 1923 and was killed in an airmail crash on April 22, 1927. While flying from Chicago, Illinois to New York, New York, Milatzo encountered a rough snow storm. Ice collected on his airplane, forcing him to try and land at night. His plane crashed in a field not far from Goshen, Indiana.