Part Two the First Air Mail Letter Card

The History of the Aerogramme and the Start of Commercial Air Mail — Part Two The First Air Mail Letter Card Sir Samuel Hoare, told the Imperial Confer Office Department to announce a new interior ence of 1926 that ‘No one can fail to be air mail service. On the back panel is an outline impressed with the great future which awaits drawing of a high wing monoplane and the civil aviation in the British Empire and with whole of the interior (correspondence) side the benefits, both political and commercial, describes in Spanish the reason for the intro which should follow on the development of a duction of the Air Letter and its postal rates complete system of Imperial air routes’. to various parts of the world, for which six Imperial Airways quickly followed this lead simulated air mail stamps pictured on the by turning towards the Empire-linking routes front were contemplated. Only the 6c value and it was fully committed in this direction by was ever issued and the Air Letter had no 1928. The Eastwards routes towards India, franking value. Malaya and, ultimately, Australia and New During 1932 Air Orient performed experi Zealand was certainly the most significant in mental flights to discover the feasibility of terms of both trade and defence. changing their Far East terminal from Saigon In 1926, Imperial Airways had completed to Hanoi. At the same time the Aerial Trans preparations for an extension of their air port Company of Siam was planning to operate service from Baghdad to Basra and from there an air service from Rangoon to Hong Kong, in down the Persian Gulf to India. conjunction with the Far Eastern Aviation Letters were accepted for airmail trans Co Limited. The Siamese company was to be mission to Basra at 3d per oz, and to India at responsible for the Rangoon-Hanoi sector, and 6d per oz, as from 6 January 1927. Mail had to the Far Eastern for that from Hanoi to Hong proceed by steamer from Basra onwards until Kong. 1929, when permission was obtained to fly In August 1932, a lightweight form bearing along the southern coast of Persia. the name ‘Air O Gram’ was devised by Mr 30 March 1929, was the day Imperial Air R B Jackson of the Aerial Transport Company ways inaugurated the first through air mail of Siam, for use on the Air Orient services service between London and Karachi. The between the Far East and Europe. Adhesive route was London-Basle by air. Mussolini postage stamps had to be added to these would not allow aircraft to enter Italy from forms which did not come into general use France and as airliners of the time could not until early the following year. manage the alternative flight over the Alps, In August 1933, Air Orient was merged there was a rail link from Basle to Genoa. with other French airlines into a state- From there by air to Athens, Tobruk, Alexan controlled group, which later became known dria, Gaza, Baghdad, Basra, Jask, Gwadar and as Air France. Karachi, where the first mail from England We are so familiar with services we use that arrived on 6 April. we seldom wonder how or why they originated The air fees varied from 2|d per half oz for in their present form. letters destined for Egypt and Palestine to 6d Under the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, per half oz for the Gulf Ports and India. Turkey renounced its sovereignty over Iraq From the start it was essential, if a maximum (Mesopotamia); a Mandate for the territory number of communications were to be carried had been awarded to Britain by the Supreme by aircraft which had marginal payload on Allied Council at San Remo in April 1920; long-range flights, that a small, lightweight consequently, British personnel were in key letter form should be provided. positions. This explains why the Inspector On 29 June, 1930, Guatemala issued the General of Posts and Telegraphs, and the world’s first ‘philatelic’ Air Letter Sheet. Director of Civil Aviation was a Britisher. This Official Air Letter was issued by the Post Mr Douglas William Gumbley, CBE, ISO 12 (1880-1973)9 was employed by the Iraq ranged from the epic Atlantic ‘first’ by Alcock Government as their Inspector General of and Brown to the 10th Anniversary of the Red Posts and Telegraphs. Normal letters, carried Arrow. Covers have been flown in Spitfires overland, being of varying weight and dimen and Hurricanes and also in Concorde: they sions, seemed likely to be much too expensive have become Rocket Mail and have been in those days for mass use by newly developing dropped by Parachute, and in one case the air services in the Middle East. Mr Gumbley mailbag in which they were being returned to realized the need for a light-weight form of England fell off the German Post Office sling specific size and weight. and dropped into Bremerhaven harbour. For this purpose he designed and had Philatelic ‘firsts’ were achieved when Covers printed by Bradbury Wilkinson & Co Limited, were carried on the maiden flights of both an Air Mail Letter Card. The British Air MRCA and Hawk. Letter form commonly in use until 1968, was All these Covers have been photographed almost identical in format and size. and the events described in the Reference Book The Air Mail Letter Card, weighing just and Catalogue of Royal Air Force Museums under four grammes was registered at Station and Royal Air Forces Escaping Society Flown er’s Hall in London on 15 February 1933 under Covers published by the Museum. The Book Mr Gumbley’s own copyright. has been produced to meet the large demand, The impressed 15 Fils stamp (3d) on the from a growing number of Private and Service world’s first printed Air Mail Letter Card collectors, for an authentic reference book of issued on 15 June 1933, shows King Faisal, the Covers. The layout has been standardised who had been elected King of Iraq in August in an easy format, the top half of each page 1921. Peter Jennings being a photographic reproduction of the ‘Standard’ Cover. Below is information on Book Reviews the Backstamps, Number Issued, Approved Catalogue of RAF Museum and RAF Varieties and Catalogue Values together with Escaping Society Flown Covers— some interesting background notes. 1975 Edition The Covers appear in three basic formats, The Royal Air Force Museum Series of although some have additional variations. The Flown Covers was born from ideas conceived Standard Cover, making up the greater part of by two serving Officers at the Ministry of the Issue numbers, has a cachet giving details Defence during the last half of 1968 as a of the Special Flight on which it was carried. project to raise money for the planned A proportion are then signed by the Pilot or Museum at Hendon. The original forerunner, Captain of the aircraft, and a Variety is commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the produced in limited numbers which may have first Regular Passenger and Cargo Service had special handling and will be signed by an between London and Paris, was flown on eminent personality connected wih the event. 10 January 1969 and since that date no fewer Such signatories have included His Majesty than 154 Flown Covers have been produced. King Hussein of Jordan, Rt Hon Roy The aircraft depicted and the events Mason MP and Service Chiefs such as commemorated have spanned the whole Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur history of the Royal Air Force and some ‘Bomber’ Harris, Viscount Montgomery, Earl notable Civil Aviation milestones—Covers Mountbatten and Lord Portal. have featured the DH4, Bristol Boxkite and A glance through the pages will show that Maurice Farman Shorthorn among the the stamps used have included many of the ‘earlies’ to the Harrier, Jaguar and MRCA of definitives, commemoratives and regionals the ‘moderns’; events commemorated have issued in the period, with a bias towards 13.

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