It also had the provision to carry a passenger instead of mail in the front cockpit. The main change from the M-1 was that the tunnel radiator was replaced with a frontal type. When the Contract Air Mail (CAM) routes were introduced, the newly formed Western Air Express Company (later Western Airlines) ordered six mailplanes with the designation M-2. Small modifications were made to the exhaust system to keep fumes away from the pilot and the design was considered a success, but was not ordered into production. The M-1 used the same Liberty engine as the DH.4, which was available in large numbers. The aircraft was designated the DAM-1 (Douglas Air-Mail-One) but this was soon shortened to M-1. The company modified an O-2 by covering over the forward cockpit to make a mail compartment and moving the pilot into what had been the observer's cockpit. In 1925, it decided to modernize and placed an order with Douglas for a replacement aircraft based on the Douglas O-2 observation biplane. The United States Post Office had been running the air mail service since 1918 mainly using variants of the de Havilland DH.4 biplane.
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