Clifford Ball, a native of
McKeesport,
PA, was the owner of the
airline which flew the first regular
airmail route in the
United States.
Ball started Clifford Ball Airlines, Inc. in 1927 with seven biplanes based out of Bettis field, near Pittsburgh. He was awarded Contract Airmail Route 11 by the Federal government (on March 21, 1926), and Ball sent the first airmail flight off on April 27, 1927.
The route was Pittsburgh -> Youngstown -> Cleveland (a distance of 121 miles) and back.
The pilot on the first airmail flight was named Merle Moltrup, and the name of the plane was Miss Pittsburgh.
Information compiled from http://facweb.stvincent.edu/academics/english/faculty/wissolik/cliffordballlinks.htm