deRirpa~T .Jaur1717f VOLUME33 NUMBERS MAY 1962 \\\VE are philatelic auctioneers
and specialize
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for stamp collections
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~ c ~ Over 35 years' experience I assures the maximum I in results - Y om inquiry is welcomed i a :: I IRWIN HEIMAN~ ; Inc. I Serving A mcrican Philntely Since 1926 ~ 2 WEST 46th STREET ~ NEW YORK 36, N.Y. I Telephone: JUdson 2-2393 Suite 708 I ~llllltllClllllllllllllClllllllllllltlllllllllllllClllllllllllltlllllllllllllClllllllllllltlllllllllllllClllllllllllllClllllllllllllCll1illlllllllCllllllllllll!~lllllllllllllC'~ The American Air Mail Society A Non-Profit Corporation Incorporated 1944 Organized 1923 Under the Laws of Ohio
Official Publication o:t the PRESIDENT Dr. James J. Matejka, Jr. AMERICAN AIR MAIL SOCIETY LaSalle Hotel, Chicago, Illinois VOL. 33, No. 8 Whole Number 384 SECRETARY Ruth T. Smith 102 Arbor Road Riverton, N. J. TREASURER Contents ...... for May, 1962 John J. Smith 102 Arbor Road Riverton, N. J. VICE-PRESIDENTS The Pilot's Story of the May 1•5, 1918 Joseph L. Eisendrath Flights ...... 234 Samuel S. Goldsticker, Jr. Herman Kleinert Presidential Message ...... 238 Lester S. Manning EDITORS - Other Publications 1912 Open Planes No Place for a Skirt 239 L. B. Gatchell Geo. D. Kingdom Zeppelin-A Brief Biography ...... 241 ATTORNEY Foreign Pioneer Airpost Flights, George D. Kingdom (1909-14) ...... 246 DIRECTOR OF FOREIGN RELATIONS Balloon Post of the Siege of Paris 251 Dr. Max Kronstein AUCTION MANAGER Early Flights in the Himalaya Mts. 253 Samuel S. Goldsticker, Jr. Official Section ...... 254 ADVANCE BULLETIN SERVICE Paul Bugg By the Seat of My Pants 255 1417 Gersuch Avenue Baltimore 18, Maryland TRANSLATION SERVICE Roland Kohl EDITOR 350 E. 30th St., New York 16, N.Y. joseph L. Eisendra1:h AUDITOR 350 No. Deere Park Drive, Highland Park, m. Stuart J. Malkin ASSISTANT EDITORS DIRECTORS Alton J. Blank, Herbert Brand Robert W. Murch ner, Paul Bugg, Robert E. Har Ernest A. Kehr L. B. Gatchell ing, Dr. Max Kronstein, George DEPARTMENT AND ASSOCIATE EDITORS L. Lee, Narcisse Pelletier, Horace D. Westbrooks. R. Lee Black, N. Pelletier, Florence L. Kleinert, Dr. Max Kronstein, Richard L. Singley, William MEMBERSHIP DUES - $4.00 R. Ware, James Wotherspoon, John Watson, per year William T. Wynn, Frank Blumenthal, Samuel Include subscription to The S. Goldsticker, Jr., J. S. Langabeer. AIRPOST JOURNAL. Appli Published monthly at Albion, Erie Co., Pa., U.S.A. cants must furnish two refer Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office ences, philatelic preferred. At at Albion, Pa., February 10, 1932, under least one must reside in Appli the Act of March 3, 1879. cant's home town. Applicants under 21 years must be guar The AIRPOST JOURNAL is not conducted for teed by Parent or Guardian. profit. The Editor and all others serve without Membership may be terminated compensation. Receipts from advertising, sub by the Society in accordance scriptions and contributions are applied to the with its By-Laws. betterment of the magazine and the promotion of aero-philately. Correspondence concerning sub scriptions, back numbers and The Editor and Officers of The American A1r bound volumes, address changes Mail Society assume no responsibility for the and other matters and all re accuracy of statements made by contributors. mittances should be sent to the Every effort is made to insure correctness of Treasurer. All general com all articles. munications and adverttsing Subscription Rates: $4.00 per year, 35c per copy. should be sent to the Editor. Advertising Rate Card available from the Editor. THE A'IRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 233 The Pilot's Story of the May 15, 1918 Mail Flights
EMBERS of the Collectors Club of Washington heard from the lips of one of the first air mail pilots, the story of those first trips. The pilot was M James C. Edgerton, then a Lieutenant in the Army and now an official in the Commerce Department in Washington. Here's the story as told to us: "On the morning of May 13, 1918, a small group of Army officers, assembled from all sections of the country, met in a small room at Hazlehurst Field, Long Island. Thus actually began an experiment which was to have far reaching effects. In command of the group was Major Reuben H. Fleet, the others being Captains Torrey Webb and Paul Culver and Lieutenants Steve Bonsal, Walter Miller and the speaker, all pilots. After a brief and inspiring talk, Major Fleet started the work of the day. "As we were soon to learn, threats of failure stared us in the face fr.om the beginning of this great adventure. It is a significant and interesting fact that the inception of most human endeavors which are to bulk large in world affairs have inauspicious beginnings. "We were informed that, due to pressure of getting out war materials, our planes with which we were expected to launch the Air Mail in a matter of hours were just then arriving from the factory in many pieces, all dressed up in nice new crates. "Just picture the situation! These inanimate objects required first to be trans formed into planes. Following assembly, they must be serviced, flight tested and then sufficient planes flown to Philadelphia and Washington in time to protect the inauguration of the Air Mail Service. The skeptics were close to triumph in that hour. "Desperate situations command more desperate remedies. We made a con certed rush on the storage hangar. There was a mass of crates. Each pilot selected a willing crew of mechanics and the requisite number of crates. Then the feathers flew. Such a shower of boards and protective wrappings has never been seen before or since. Finally uncrated, in the sunset glow of the thirteenth stood the parts of shiny new JN4Hs, the good old Jennies of early fame, but these had 150 horsepower Hispano-Suiza motors (what power!) and the entire bunch of crates transposed into the first mail compartments. They even had nice new leather straps to protect those first souvenir letters about to be entrusted to us by your great group of stamp col lectors. "By intense effort, and this carried through the wee small hours of the morning of the fourteenth, Paul Culver and I had each gotten our respective bunch of crates transposed into actual airplanes. These two were serviced and stood ready for flight tests by 3 p.m. The others were not so fortunate. Mind you, this was the afternoon of the fourteenth and still Hazlehurst Field. Pulling on helmets and goggles, Culver and I each climbed into our respective cockpits with fear and trem bling. Would we succeed? Contact, and my motor took hold with a roar. Many times since I have thought of those cartoons depicting a grand and glorious feeling. "With my motor idling in the first warm-up I looked over and saw Culver's motor puff, then the glint of the whirling propellor. Away with the blocks and off we both went. The next ten minutes must tell the story. My plane, old 38274, seemed sweet from the start so I promptly landed. Culver soon came in. As no 234 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 other planes were ready a hasty council of war ensued, the result being that Major Fleet, Paul Culver and I arranged a second hop, luggage aboard, with a meeting place at Belmont Park racetrack, the future New York Air Mail Terminal. The Major came near taking my ship, but with sympathy for my anguish, reconsidered and took a conventional JN4H belonging to the Army Post. The three of us took off through a low, broken ceiling and soon landed at our meeting place. A real council ensued at Belmont Park. The ceiling was even lower and the clouds had closed in. About an hour and a half of daylight remained, strange country was ahead with an unknown field of doubtful condition to locate. Impetuous youth prevailed, so we took off to meet at Bustleton Field, Pennsylvania. All we knew about our destination was that it lay some twelve miles north of Philadelphia. "Paul Culver and I landed at Bustleton about dusk. We anxiously waited for Major Fleet. With tension and darkness increasing by the minute, the hangar phone finally rang and with a sigh of relief we heard the Major's voice inform us that as a result of a forced landing he was on a golf links about three miles away, with minor damage. Rushing like madmen, we dumped spare parts in a truck and went careening across the landscape. That is one truck which should have been equipped with safety belts. A spare wheel was soon in place and by dint of a commandeered fleet of autos, Bustleton Field was lighted for a successful landing. "Early the next morning, May 15th, Major Fleet ferried to Washington, leaving Paul Culver and I on station with our own ships in readiness for the inauguration of the service. Fleet reached the Polo Field here in Washington in time for the first north-bovnd flight, but found no gas to service the ship. Under the watchful eye of President Wilson and many dignitaries, the flight hour, eleven o'clock, came and went to the accompaniment of a wild scramble for aviation gas. What a theme for "Embarrassing Moments." The first flight from Washington north was ill star red. Due to the gas incident the plane took off a few minutes late and as a result of inexperience, the pilot, Lt. George Boyle, who had awaited the opening day in Washington, lo&"t his way soon after the takeoff. By the irony of fate he landed next door to the southern Maryland farm of Otto Praeger, Second Assistant Post master General, a point directly opposite to his true course. Praeger was in charge of the new Air Mail, and it is a pleasure to say that the ensuing success of the Air Mail was in large measure due to his tenacity of purpose. He was ably assisted by George Conner, who became the first Chief Clerk of the Air Mail Service. "The first southbound airmail left Belmont Park, New York, on time and was flown to Bustleton Field without incident by Capt. Torrey Webb as pilot. This mail, together with that originating from Philadelphia, was flown to the Polo Field here in Washington by your speaker (James C. Edgerton) as pilot. The northbound Philadelphia mail was finally flown on to New York by Paul Culver when it became apparent that the Washington mail plane would not get through. This made the world's first regular Air Mail 75% complete. "An erroneous report is still current that the first Washington northbound mail was entrained the evening of the fifteenth. For philatelic and historical reasons, I desire to state that this is untrue. This mail being of a souvenir character, was trucked back to Washington from Southern Maryland and was flown to New York on the sixteenth on the regular scheduled flight, with the speaker (Edgerton) as pilot to Bustleton. Torrey Webb flew from there to Belmont Park. Lt. Steve Bonsal carried the southbound mail from New York on this second day, but on losing his course landed in a south Jersey racetrack, crashing while avoiding livestock. This mail was immediately trucked to Bustleton Field and together with Philadelphia southbound mail, left for Washington late in the afternoon, Lt. Walter Mill pilot. THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 235 This plane soon returned to Bustleton due to several foul spark plugs and ap proaching darkness. Rather than see a failure chalked up for the second day, your speaker (Edgerton) decided on a return trip and left Bustleton Field about six p.m., arriving over Washington at about eight-thirty, well after dark. Due to the forethought of Major Fleet, a landing was readily negotiated. He had secured a number of automobiles which he strategically located at the North end of the Polo Field, their headlights affording very fair lighting. The second day the Air Mail scored a delayed 100 per cent. "One of the greatest handicaps experienced by the infant Air Mail was, strangely enough, psychological. Some of you will recall that weather conditions commanded the greatest deference during the early war days. It was believed that the unfortunate and unwary pilot who permitted himself to be caught in the air by a thunder storm was courting sudden and dire disaster. There was supposed to be mysterious and terrifying downcurrents which would deposit a pilot on the ground amidst a a mass of wreckage. "Our small group of Air Mail pilots was therefore instructed by the War De partment to sit down on the closest field at the approach of bad weather. I am glad to be able to record the fact that these instructions were gradually and quietly ignored so that before the new service was more than a month old these sup posedly terrible weather conditions had been met and largely conquered. If this had not been so, the Post Office authorities would have given up the grand experiment as impracticable. We can now measure the paralyzing results of such an eventuality. "There were other handicaps. One of these was the Washington terminus of the Air Mail. The contrast is laughable in comparison with the present successful agitation for huge airports. Our field in 1918 was known as the Polo Field, an area about 900 feet long and 400 feet wide, oval in shape and entirely surrounded by sixty-foot trees. To make the situation more enjoyable, a covered bandstand stood out about 150 feet from the southeast end, the hangar occupying the opposite end. The danger of forced landings was something to cause dreams. On one approach was a city of barracks and the other side of our two-way field led directly to the War and Navy buildings. On each side the field was sandwiched in by water. We pulled real sideslips in those days. I think we also invented 'fish~tailing'. "We also had several mechanics, expert on the western range of 'bulldogging'. The manner in which they could waylay a flitting wing tip and dig in as the hub of ground loop was an epic. Real art came into play through having the opposite wing tip just graze the tree trunks which formed a semi-circular audience about these gyrations. Further, the day was hardly complete unless we could bring a spray of leaves waving gracefully from our spreader bars. Garlands of victory, so to speak, much admired by divers sweet young things who watched our precarious comings and goings. And I must pay my compliments to the bandstand. The Post Office people, with a naive interest, were determined to find out by a process of trial and error, just how much poundage these magnificent Air Mail planes would carry. Their trial and our error. These loads reached a maximum along with the summer heat. The air trapped in that box of a field simply had no bottom. Con sequently, our play was to just about roll the wheels of our creaking, groaning planes on the sloping roof of the bandstand. If the mechanics held on tight enough to let the pilot 'rev' up the motor full, as the ship nestled in the trees at the oppo site end of the field, and a 'zoom' was pulled at the proper moment, the takeoff was chalked off as a successful trial, but if the pilot guessed wrong, it was an error. "Joking aside, the early Air Mail staggered along Divine grace and bullheaded-
236 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 ness. Its pathway is marked by blood. Fine fellows whom many of us called friends paid the eternal price. 'Dhe Post Office Department was the custodian of the torch of progress in Aviation. Airminded eyes still look for the pathway blazed by the Air Mail. Let us not forget the men who have died that these paths of the sky might be made better and safer. "The Air Mail has a double meaning for the members of the Collectors Club. It expedites the handling of your business and social correspondence. Better, it is a prolific source of interesting covers, a veritable philatelic mine. In fact, I understand that a considerable group of stamp collectors is specializing in Air Mail covers". As gathered from the above address, Mr. James C. Edgerton was the first pilot to fly the air mail from Philadelphia to Washington, with the date of the flight May 16, 1918. -(Western Stamp Collector, May 13, 1935)
FIRST FLIGHT LUFTHANSA UNCROSSED postal orders or interna TO SOUTH AFRICA tional money orders. As the number of Arrangements have been made with these special covers will be limited it Lufthansa to issue commemorative cov would be advisable to place orders as ers and a special cachet to mark the soon as it is possible. above. T~o covers will be serviced Frankfurt I Johannesburg and Johannes THE NAVAL• NAVEL burg I Frankfurt and these will be ob According to the London Daily Mirror tainable from Mr. Bill Brune, Lufthansa, the Naval Medical School at Pensacola, P. 0. Box 1083, Johannesburg. Florida, wanted to put Miss Jerrie Cobb, The flights take place as follows: a potential astronaut, through a series of Southbound, May 14, Frankfurt to Jo special space tests and sent this signal hannesburg via Athens, Khartoum; Nari. to the Chief of Naval Operations. robi, and Salisbury: Northbound, May "Request authority for civilian Miss 15, Johannesburg to Frankfurt over the Jerrie Cobb to fly in naval aircraft for same route. The planes in use will be purpose of baseline studies designed to Boei11g 720B. The cost per cover is 2s. determine fundamental differences be Od. each sterling to which is to be added tween male and female asb:onauts." ls. Od. for postage and registration of Back came the reply from the Admiral: covers for return to sender. "If you don't know the difference al Orders will be posted to applicants ready, we refuse to put money into the within four weeks of flight. Kindly send project." THE A'IRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 237 PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE The convention is beginning to run into high gear. Are you with it? Will you stay with it? Very shortly you shall receive in your mail a prospectus asking you to exhibit at our 39th annual convention in Miami Beach, Florida, at the Hotel Seville, June 29-30, and July 1. Now, there may be a slight excuse why only some of our membership cannot come to Florida personally, but there is NO EXCUSE why any of you is incapable of sending an exhibit to support your society and to support your own philatelic specialty-airmail collecting. The last exhibition of airpost material was in 1958- four years ago. I am very sure that within this period of time you certainly can get together an exhibition collection whether you show it competitively or not. I have promised the Society a 250 to 300 frame exhibition, but I'll never get it if you don't help. You know the field-from the basic airmail stamp to astro philately and everyt!hing in between-is exhibitive, so you see I'll have to have an exhibit from all of you to cover all of these fields. A plaque ceremony will be held during our convention in Miami commemorating the Lindbergh Circle which all of us know was an important step in the exchange of airmail between the United States at Miami, Florida and the countries of Cen tral and South America, especially those islands in the Caribbean. 'Way back in 1927 and up to 1932 this link between F.A.M. 5 and 6 proved an important stamp in the dissemination of knowledge between our neighbors in the Western Hemis phere. This dissemination of knowledge now has been put in focus by President Kennedy, in his ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESS movement. More about this soon. What are you doing about coming to Miami Beach this summer to take ad vantage of a real good time at the most reasonable rates yet produced? Let me tell you what the Chicago group is planning. We shall leave on the. 26th of June via the Illinois Central Railroad in our own railroad car. Do you want to come along with your friends on this ride? The rates have been drastically reduced to make it further possible to tempt you into a real good time. If you or your friends are in terested-they need not be members of the Society-please drop me a note for the facts. We already have several dealers signed up for the bourse. Those planning to attend the convention, please save your money and give these grand fellows all the business you can. In the July issue of the Journal, we will list these dealers. Speaking of the July Journal, this will be a CONVENTION ISSUE, and thus it will not only be mailed out to each of the members but also be passed out without charge to ~hose attending the exhibition. I hope that it will be a grand one. I have been in close contact with our editor, Little Joe, who promises me that the articles in this issue will be extra good. One request. Since this issue will be in additional hands, why not take a small ad in the Journal itself? You, as a member, can acquire much wanted material, as well as advertise what you might want to sell. The rates are from $15.00 to $5.00 per ad. Please write our editor for details. Oh, yes, if you know any dealers in your area that might be interested in an ad, why not sell them an ad in this exhibition - convention issue? Getting back to tl1e original subject, I'd very much like to see all of you per sonally at Miami Beach or at least see your exhibit there. No one wants any glory or personal edification out of this convention. But we do need your concrete support. Let's show 'em that airmail collecting is not dying out, but is still a living t!hing, getting better and better all the time. I's your show and your Society. It is still your specialty in philately. Support it! -Jame J. Matejka, Jr. 238 THE AIRPOS'l' JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 1912 Open Planes no Place for a Skirt: By Mildred Schroeder A. black satin knicker-clad trim figure with a saucy cap atop long blonde hair "'ould enliven aviation anytime. But when Ruth Law Oliver made feminine flying history back in 1912 in that out fit, she was the most exciting thing since Halley's Comet. Now a sedate San Franci can in a smart wool frock and a mink stole, Mrs. OliYer reminisced about her early antics the other day with a comparative new comer, Ruth Rueckert, who didn't get her license until 1929. The two distinguished aviatrices are among honored guests invited to the So ciety of California Pioneers' luncheon to morrow at the Sheraton-Palace to cele brate "The Golden Jubilee of Aviation in California." :\fr . Oliver, who soloed Aug. 1, 1912, was the 188~h American and the fourth ·women licensed to fly. For 10 years her :Model B Wright Brothers' biplane and her Curtiss "pusher type" plane thrilled fair and special event crowds. That black satin knicker attire was her orig inal design mn up on her own sewing machine "because sitting out in front of that biplane was no place for a skirt." Knee-high kid boots completed the cos tume. The first woman to loop the loop, she sold World War I Liberty Bonds in a 2,500-mile cross-country tour. Today she still proudly wears dainty gold wings cir cled by a diamond set lamel wreath pre sented in appreciation of her work. One nervous incident of that cam pai0n occurred near the White House when she flew 200 feet above the head 19 12 FLYING COSTUME OF RUTH LAW OLIVER of President Woodrow Wilson shortly A iiren of the skies in bla'k satin knickers after pulling her plane out of a spin. "Imagine today's Secret Service agents was getting too nervous about my flying. permitting that!" she smiled. \Ve lived in southern California until Medals for flight records and exhibi- 1946 and moved here a year before his tion , one forced landing in a cow pas- death." Mrs. Oliver, active in several ture where the bright red sweater top- aviation organizations as well as the ping her knickers required a cowboy DAR and the Eastern Star, has no desire rescue squad, and carrying the first air- to fly todaY : mail in the Philippine Islands are among "The sky is too crowded. The planes her airborne memories. are as thick as cars." "I retired in 1922 because my husband But she was very interested hi Mrs. THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 239 Rueckert's report that the Powder Puff Airplane Mail Service Derby will start from Oakland next July. "I won't be flying in that one because Inaugurated I am chairman of the local committee," By A. C. Roessler said Mrs. Rueckert, who is a frequent Belmont Park, L. Id., May 15, 1918- competitor and who once solved the ba Promptly on schedule - a fact that by-sitting problem by taking her daugh brought favorable comment from Post ter, Marsha, then 6, along with her on master Patten of New York City - the a Santa Ana to Detroit course. initial airplane U. S. mail service started Mrs. Rueckert, to whom flying has al from Belmont Park. Aviator Torrey ways been a hobby, is founder and or Webb tuned up the machine (an Italian ganizer of the Bay Cities Chapter of the motor in a Curtiss type plane) and at 99' women's organization for licensed 11:28 a special car on the Long Island pilots and one of the backers of the R. R. raced to the edge of the field, Powder Puff Derby. where a waiting U. S. Mail auto carried the two bags of aero mail to the impa The brown-eyed matron pointed out tient messenger of the air. There were that her husband Fred "is really the pi about 10,000 pieces in the bags for lot in the family" and holds a commer Philadelphia and Washington. Postmas cial license dating from his World War ter Patten had a wire from Washington, II Air Force service. Marsha, so far, has informing him that 4,000 letters were been content to be a passenger. being sent northward. (This interesting story of Ruth Law Before the flight, speeches were made appeared in the San Francisco Examiner by Mr. Hawley, President of the Aero Club of America; Congressman Murray on September 6, 1961, and was sent to Hulbert, who was instrumental in ap us through the kindness of Everett Erle.) propriating $1,000,000 in Congress for the development of the airplane service, and Mr. Bryon R. Newton, Collector of the Port of New York. AIRMAILS ON 1COVER At 3:30, five battle planes from Min A MUST TODAY eola training field, arose in triangle for mation to greet the postplane from Phil A RARITY TOMORROW adelphia, which was then a speck on the • FOREIGN (many first days) horizon, and five minutes later, after e CACHETS circling the field, first at 5,000 feet alti tude and then at 1,000, the machine slid e FLOWN REGISTERED gracefully to the ground and the first e SPECIAL CANCELLATIONS regular daily airplane mail pouch was One of the largest stock ever accum lifted from the observer's seat and rush ulated by any dealer at hand for ed to the waiting auto, thence to a your inspection. special track, where the one electric car of the Long Island R. R. was waiting to Price list issued bi-monthly, $1.00 per carry the single pouch to New York City. year. Single copy 20c. Newspaper correspondents mentioned ALSO FOREIGN SUPERB the enthusiasm philatelists took in this USED AIRMAILS. airline mail, and several papers gave Price lists will be included with the notice to the 400 letters one dealer had above subscription .. in one batch-one-tenth of all the mail coming on the Washington plane. While HARRY REICHENTHAL much interest was shown in the event The Airmail A Cover King of America .iii& by P.O. officials and members of the P. o. Box 876 Aero Club of America, it can be said Miami Beach 39 Florida with safety that the stamp collectors were the most interested. 240 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 Zeppelin - ;4 ~"4 ~~µ, By Emil Bruechig Although Count Ferdinand von Zep The following July, the anxious Count pelin made his first balloon ascension sent word everywhere that the first trial during the Civil War, as an officer in flight would be made.Thousands of peo Lincoln's army, it was thirty-five years ple flocked to Lake Constance; journal later before he began work on his first ists, peasants, scientists, men and wo rigid dirigible. While many years passed men of all ages and interests came to before he mentioned his theories about see this huge sausage-shaped balloon ballooning to anyone, yet we can feel navigate through space. quite sure that his American experiences The morning of that epochal day was with air travel provided the inspiration clear and bright, as bright as the feverish which he was to carry through to such glint in Zeppelin's eyes, as, with poorly success. concealed excitement, he tested ropes Count Zeppelin was 60 years old in and wires, and examined the hundred 1898, when, after dogged persistence, he and-one vital parts of the L.Z. 1. The succeeded in building up a suitable fund great crowds that surged about the lake to finance the construction of his first stood in hushed awe as he came out of dirigible. This money came from many the hangar, bareheaded, and reverently sources; public donations, a special lot bowed his head in silent prayer. A few tery, and a large portion of Zeppelin's moments later, the roar of two powerful private fortune constituted the initial motors went echoing over the waters and "stake" in this great venture. slowly the dirigible glided from its han The reason for this enthusiasm from gar. And then, with that same serene the public, even though the German gov indifference, the L.Z. 1 floated upward, ernment refused financial assistance, was higher, higher into the full glare of the due to the endorsement of the Associa midday sun. tion of German Engineers. This group While wave after wave of full-throat of men examined his plans and were im ed cheers announced to the world a tri pressed by the idea of a rigid balloon. umphant achievement, the airship travel Heretofore, balloons, even those of the ed three and a half miles. Seventeen navigable type which Santos-Dumont minutes later, it descended safely at Im was building, were one-piece bags. menstadt. The German Count's ideas differed Although the experiment appeared to greatly at this point. He believed that a be a complete success to the majority framework of aluminum should form the of spectators, yet trained observers not base over which the outside fabric would iced that the dirigible was not, at all be placed, and that inside the bag would times, under complete control. Slhifting be several individual containers of gas. winds threw it out of its course several This feature would insure against the times and the flight was, admittedly, of whole balloon collapsing or becoming short duration. The criticisms which the unmanageable due to leakage of the lift newspapers directed at Zeppelin's first ing medium. effort, convinced him that their view A hangar was built near Friedrichs point was utterly wrong. Writers as hafen and t!he first steps taken to bring sumed that this was the final step of the Zeppelin's blue prints into practical re Count's labors-in sheer stupidity they ality. It was almost autumn, in 1899, failed to realize that what they had seen when his first great bird was finished, was but the beginning-the first groping the L.Z. l, ( Luftschiff Zeppelin 1) 419 endeavor to develop a practical mode of ft. long, 38 ft. in diameter and carrying air travel. a gas content of 400,000 cu. ft.! At that So many difficulties had constantly time, it dwarfed any other similar at blocked his efforts that tltey would have tempt and occasioned quite a bit of torn the heart and soul from a weaker comment throughout the world. man. They left their mark, assuredly, THE A:IRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 241 upon Zeppelin, but with an ever-renew purpose. ed courage he always came back into In October of 1906, the L.Z. 3, a bet the fray. One particular thorn was the ter and more stable airship, made two critical articles whidh appeared in the completely satisfactory flights. The scof Frankfurter Zeitung declaring that "dir fers realized their error-the govern igibility of a balloon was most prob ment of Prussia reversed its attitude. lematic" and that Zeppelin's ideas were Zeppelin was given generous loans, lot "much ado about nothing." These re teries were held all over the nation to ports were simply signed, "Dr. E." and build dirigibles, and the Reiohstag pass some of the Count's friends have sug ed a formal law, guaranteeing Federal gested that they may have been written subsidies on all future balloon construc by Dr. Hugo Eckener, who, some thirty tion. Within a few weeks, the aged years later, was to pilot the largest Zep German inventor was the lionized hero pelin in the world! But these suggestions of his Fatherland. The Kaiser wrote him have never been substantiated so far as a "gushy" letter which virtually amount we can learn. ed to an apology and the Chancellor re The following year witnessed another imbursed him for all Zeppelin's personal flight by the L.Z. l, and this time the moneys which had been spent in experi airship achieved a speed of 17 miles an menting. hour, breaking all previous records. The Although future dirigibles met mis stock company, which had been formed haps from time to time, the Count's in to give financial aid to these experi vention was vindicated and each suc ments, was almost insolvent, but the ceeding flight served to broaden his public came through gallantly again fame. By 1914, he had built no less with enough money to build another dir than 26 airships which were utilized for igible. Zeppelin, also poured a steady passenger, military, and naval service. stream of gold from his private fortune Even up to his dying day, though, he into these trials, practically impoverish remained a practical thinker, and saw ing himself. that the balloon would never become a The L.Z. 2, although it boasted sev perfect weapon for warfare. During the eral improvements and much more pow course of the World War, he visited erful motors than its predecessor, was Hindenburg at Pless and admitted that doomed to but a brief existence. Its first his airships were antiquated for air fight flight had hardly begun when the mo ing. Zeppelin prophesied that the air tors stopped, and left the balloon at the plane and not the dirigible would be the mercy of the elements. Guiding it care conqueror of the skies, and he voiced fully, however, Count Zeppelin was able this opinion but a few months before his to bring it safely to earth, several hours death on March 8, 1917. later, near the town of Sommersried. A !Reprinted from Stamps, Dec 7, 1935.) violent storm soon arose after the descent had been made, and tore the L.Z. 2 Transoceanic Airplane apart-reducing it to a twisted mass of scrap. Mail Flown - Attempted After this disaster, there were only Intended Flights two paths open to him-to stop his ex Bought - Sold - Exchanged periments altogether, or raise money for KRINSKY another airship. The first course Zeppe 250 ·E. 96th Si. Brooklyn 12, N.Y. lin would never follow, for he had sac rificed horses, carriage, servants, all to feed the gluttonous maw of mounting expenses. The Prussian Ministry of War refused to render any aid, and Kaiser Wilhelm flatly turned aside his petition. King 'William, of Wurttemberg, however, the monaroh who constantly lent his moral and financial support to Zeppelin's work, agreed to float a lottery for this 242 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 lnterpex Aerophilatelic Awards The recent Interpex show in New Rir Post Stamps York had two aerophilatelic organiza Are Frequently Offered tions taking part. These were Aero Phil atelist, Inc., and the Metropolitan Air In Our General Sales mail Cover Club, a chapter of the For Example ... A.A.M.S. THERE WILL BE A SESSION Aero Philatelists' trophies were as fol IN OUR lows: Special Interpex Award: Herbert A. Feist, Brazil Air Mails. June 4-7 Auction Interpex Award: Florence Ortale - Request auction catalogue Brown, Zeppelin Covers. 1st Aero Philatelists' Award: Jan Bart, And when you come-·- to sell . . Rooseveltiana Airmails. write :for our booklet, 2nd Aero Philatelists' Award: William "MODERN METHODS OF N. Mead, Italian Occupation. PHILATELIC SELLING" Special Award: The Astrojet Trophy explaining clearly all the advantages given by American Airlines, Philip Sil of selling through . . . ver, U. S. First Day Covers and Flights. Judges for t!he Aero Philatelists were: H. R. HARMER, INC Phil'ip Silver, Henry M. Goodkind, H. D. S. Haverbeck. The judges for the Am The Caspary Auctioneers erican Airlines award were: Edwin 6 West 48th St., New York 36, N.Y. Mueller, Harry Lindquist, Col. James DeVoss . .M.A.C.C. made the following present at10ns: Interpex First to Robert E. Harring, AIR MAIL ENTIRES Blizzard of '88. envelopes Interpex Special, Harry E. Gordon, postal cards Jet and Rocket Covers. lettersheeis M.A.C.C. Trophy, Samuel S. Gold sticker, Jr., Wings Over New Jersey. Finest Stock In the World Judges were Col. Leonard A. Smith Jr., Carl Rueth and George Allard, Jr. ' THE NEW ISSUE SERVICE PLUS the outstanding specials that EVERETT E. THOMPSON characterize this servi<:e PASSES AWAY ATTRACTIVE PAGES FOR MOUNTING George vV. Angers sends us a news paper clipping telling of the death of THE AIRMAIL ENTIRE TRUTH Dr. Everett E. Thompson, 85, at Spring newsletter. Send as many 8c field, Mass. stamped & addressed No. 10 en Well known in the educational field velopes for as many copies as you Dr. Thompson was the co-translator witl~ wislh to receive. George Angers of the Paris Balloon Post AUTHORIZED AGENT FOR THE series now appearing in this magazine. GODINAS CATALOGUE He was well known in New England LAVA philately, and had become a member of The Distributor of the Barbados Error Box 1, Fort George Statton the Springfield group on the same day New York 40, N. Y. with George Angers 41 years ago. THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 243 THE DEPARTMENT STORE OF PHILATELY May We Delp Yon? Auction Opportunities
Regardless of whether you are buying or Each month you may acquire fine phila· selling, you will likely find The Depart· telic properties in our Mail Auction Sales. ment Store of Philately able and willing The current sale includes numerous air- to help you. mail stamps as well as covers which may ..._ Your inquiries coupled with your A.A.M.S. be of interest to you. membership number will be welcomed. A large and varied stock of stamps, seals If you receive catalogs regularly, be sure and covers will be found as close to you as to scan the offers and mail your bid sheet your mailbox. A complete line of albums, catalogs and supplements is maintained in today I If you do not have the current the Elbe, Scott, Minkus and White Ace catalog, ask for your Free Auction Catalog line. You may send your orders for and look it over! prompt attention: all orders of $2.00 or more sent Postfree anywhere in The U.S.A. All bidding is done by mail and you have Interesting covers are always available on equal opportunity to obtain these stamps, approval. As you know, you can't buy covers and collections! We are nearing the covers from a price list! You'll find UD· usual and even unique covers in Long's 350 mark in having held monthly sales stock, available to you on approval on for more than a quarter of a century. Let request. Write today! me know how I may be of help to YOU!
Life Member: 22 N 244 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 245 -- ~------Foreign Pioneer Airpost Flights 1909-1914 B. The Air Stationery for the Pioneer Airposts of the World (1909-1914) XIII. SPECIAL AIRPOST STATIONERY FOR THE SWISS PIONEER AIRPOSTS OF 1913 By Dr. Max Kronstein Earlier chapters of this series have discussed• the various airstamps which were issued in Switzerland during this period as a part of the air events which represented an essential part of the drive for a National Military Aviation Fund. There were many different cards issued for use on such occasions, but none of these cards had an imprinted postage stamp or an imprinted airstamp or an imprint covering air transportation (without additional flight fee). This means that these regular cards were issued for the use and the convenience of the public, but that they required an additional payment for the postal and for the air transportation fees. The first airpost stationery cards were issued in June, 1913 on the occasion of airplane developments in Switzerland. Here is the place to say something about the various special card issues of the preceding airpost events. The first issue of special color-printed and carefully prepared aviation cards were those of the Gordon Bennett Balloon Races in Zurich 1909, which preceded airlane developments in Switzerland. When the National Aviation Fund Drive started, an official card form was issued. This was shown in the August, 1960 issue of the Airpost Journal. It exists with imprints in German, French and Italian. Another form of card showing Oskar Bider and his monoplane was used on various occasions at aviation days or for air mail flights, with special imprints. One such imprint was applied for the First Airpost Biel-Berne, whioh will also be discussed. For the three airpost flights by Th. Borrer (Solothurn, 17, VIII, Grenchen 31. VIII, and Laufen 28. IX) similar cards were used showing Borrer and his plane, without special imprints for particular flights. Often such cards were sold at the airfield with the special airstamp already attached, to facilitate their use for that airpost despatch. The development of early airpost stationery included local Swiss card issues, issued on March 9, 1913, Airpost flight from Basle; March 30, 1913, Airpost flight from Burgdorf to Berne; March 31, 1913, Airpost flight from Herisau; April 6, 1913, Airpost flight from Aarau and April 27, 1913, Airpost flight from Liestal. It is not possible to illustrate all these issues. But to give an idea of their style and artistic effort, we present the three issues for the First Swiss Airpost flight from Basle, March 9, 1913. Some of these cards are scarcer than others. The Burg dorf issue comprised two different designs, . printed in black and white. There was one colored design in Herisau, three different ones at Aarau. The Liestal card in enlarged form, used the same design as the Liestal airpost stamp shown in the November 1960 issue. The Biel-Berne Airpost Card of June 8, 1913 is somewhat different, as here the card was sold at 50 centimes to cover a prepaid airfee for its air despatch. The occasion was an aviation day in Biel, in beautiful weather and with good financial success for the Aviation Funds. Bider made six passenger flights in Biel. For this event two aviators flew from Berne to Biel. Emile Taddeoli, Swiss pilot license A2, flew first. At a height of about 2 yards he lost 'his left wheel. Bider, who started soon afterwards, picked up this wheel, flew off and by-passed the first aviator and 246 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 showed him the lost wheel. Taddeoli, thus informed, landed his plane sharply on its right side and landed successfully on a single wheel, and thus was able to appear at the Biel events. For Bider's return flight at 7: 30 p.m. the special airpost card was offered to the public. This card was prepared by using the Bider card mentioned earlier in this report, with a three lines imprint: "Erste Flug-Post, Biel-Bern, Transportiert It appears that too few cards had been prepared before the aviation day. In order to supplement the supply, regular Bider cards were also offered with a Com mittee cachet in four lines "Erste Flug Post, Biel-Bern, Transportiert THE AIRPOST J OURNAL, MAY, 1962 247 Bleriot Monoplane and 3) Oskar Bider, Switzerland's most popular aviator, with a 70 HP Gnome-motored Bleriot Monoplane. For their two days' participation the three aviators were paid 12,000 francs out of a total income of the air events amount ing to 22,000 francs. Bider's first start was announced by gunshot at 4 : _1_5 p.m. He went success fully for 6 minutes 56 seconds. T.addeoli, who had arrived by air from the Biel Aviation Day in a two-stage flight, did not start that afternoon. Maffei started at 4 :32 p.m., but did not get higher than 150 feet. He flew to Lake Geneva, circled back and landed 8 minutes 22 seconds later. Bider made a second flight of 7 min utes 50 seconds and was congratulated by the Army's Division Colonel L. H. Born and. Maffei tried to start a second time. His plane was caught by the wind at an altitude of 60 feet and was pressed into the branches of a tree. However, he suc- 248 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 ceeded in freeing the plane and landed with the plaudits of the crowd in his ears. He attempted then to repair his plane for the next afternoon's flights. Sunday was a beautiful day. There was ·a colorful two hours' parade along the Promenade de Montbenon. It was led by a group in ancient and modern military Swiss uniforms, featuring the Swiss soldiers of 1798, the Dragons of 1854, the Cara binieries of 1865, the Grenadiers of 1903 and so on. There were flags and fanfare with choral groups singing national songs. Gymnasts performed and the public par ticipated with .loud applause along the route to the airfield. Again Bider started the events, flying for 4 minutes 37 seconds. Taddeoli made a successful demonstration. After another 6 minutes demonstration flight, Bider took about 20 kilos ( 44 lbs) mail on board and flew to Morges, on Lake Geneva, west of Lausanne, where he landed on a prepared landing field. He re turned to Lausanne by air 28 minutes later. Taddeoli made a second start, flew out of sight and landed at another Lausanne field, the Blecherette, instead of returning to the Beaulieu events. When he did not come back, an automobile was sent out to look for him. He was found at the other airgrounds. Maffei's plane had not been repaired enough from Saturday's tree accident to get up again this afternoon. Bider concluded the flight demonstra tions with a passenger flight (with Miss Terdie Ibrahim). 8992 airpost cards had been sold with the cachet of the airpost event usually applied to the mint card before the sale to the public. How many of these cards were actually posted and flown, is not known. The greatest number of cards was flown from Lausanne to Morges by 0 . Bider. They have the cancellation of Lau sanne and the backstamp of Morges besides the circular air cachet. Other cards were brought back by Bider from Morges to Lausanne. These were cancelled at Morges; but the author does not know if they exist with a backstamp of Lausanne. (The card from Morges on page 1125 of the 1950 American Air Mail Catalogue does not show such a backstamp). Bider made a second flight from Lausanne to .t-.iforges the next day with Colonel Bornand as passenger. (No mail is reported from this second flight). Bider's mail on the Sunday flight included a small amount of airpost cards posted in towns on Lake Geneva, east of Lausanne, such as Montreux or Vevey. These cards had been flown to Lausanne by a Farman Hydroplane, piloted by Henri Kramer, who had started from Villeneuve at the eastern end of the lake at 10 a.m. He made one intermediate stop at Montreux, where he took these cards on board. THE .AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 249 They must have included the cards posted in Vevey, because he did not land in Vevy that day. After his arrival in Lausanne, these cards were added to the local dispatch, which Bider flew to Morges later in the day. Therefore these cards are also backstamped at forges. At 3 p.m. Kramer flew back to Villeneuve, cruising over the lake at 1800 feet, considerably higher than at the Lausanne event. It was one week later-on June 22- that Kramer flew his hydroplane from Vevey to Villeneuve, carrying 290 cards of the Swiss National Collection (in the de ign as shown in the August 1960 issue of the Airpost Journal, but with French language inscription) . These cards had a carmine-red colored circular committee cachet "Poste Aerienne - 0.25 - Vevey - 22.VI.13". The term 0.25 must refer to the prepaid air fee of 0.25 francs or 25 centimes . The postal cancellation of Ville neurn was applied to redispatch the cards after the flight. Arctic and Antarctic Atomic Submarine Covers AIR POST NEW ISSUES Sputniks and Space Vehicles Rockets and Jets OF THE ENTIRE United Nations - New York Shepard and Grissom Covers WORLD Gagarin and Titov Covers United Nations Jet Flights PAMPHLET UPON REQUEST - BEAUTIFUL COVERS - ASK FOR A SELECTION TODAY Nicolas Sanabria Co. Inc. WALTER R. GUTHRIE A. MEDAWAR, PRESIDENT P. 0. BOX 390 521 Fiftb Ave., New York 11, N. Y. TUCSON, ARIZONA ~ 250 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 Balloon Post Of The Siege Of Paris, 1370-71 By LOUIS A. CHAINTRlER Translated by DR. EVERETTE. THOMPSON and GEORGE W. ANGERS CHAPTER 33-Ville d' Orleans (Part 3) "Alter we had walked around the • which cheered us up, for we were still house at the door of a small stable, we half frozen. A half hour passed in this noticed some shovels and two sledges pleasant and healthful occupation and piled with hay. Also some fir-tree suddenly coming down the hill from trunks stripped of branches and bark above we saw two peasants covered with were in front of the door. We knocked furs, each leading a horse. They stopped on this door and receiving no answer, we at sight of us, struck with consternation. entered. In Norway as in all countries We arose, very much affected on our that do not know the benefits of civiliza- part; Rolier advancing a few steps, made tion, as in Brittany and in the north of the Russian salute, lifting up his arms; Scotland, where stealing is unknown, they answered by the same sign and hospitality is a sacred duty. The inhabi- advanced toward us. Our first words as tants never lock their homes. we came up near them were: 'Left Paris "\i\Te noticed in the center of the cot- in balloon'. We exhausted all the ex tage some firebrands on the floor, a pressions of our vocabulary to tell them primitive hearth that released a little that we had. crossed a great sea, that we heat and quite a lot of smoke. These had fallen mto tlie snow, and that we firebrands were still smoking so that it w~~e absolutely lost. had been a very short time since its in- . The two worthy n:en loo~ed at us habitants had left the house. On a board silently, not understandmg a smgle word were spread out or hung up different of French, and answe~e~ us witl1 some household articles; large woolen socl(s words of a somewhat h1ssmg and gutteral were hanging in all corners. In a big pot language, an idiom to which it was easy was some milk, in another some coffee, to note ~e were total strangers. The and away in the back of the room in a conversat10n was threatening to become dark recess was heaped up a big pile of dull; for our part we were lavish with trampled hay tliat evidently served as a floods of eloquenc~, but. alas! completely bed; this hay was kept in place by four lost-but then a bn~ht idea came to us. tliick fir planks and on top three blank- We made the outlm~ of a balloon on a ets and two warm bearskins completed a card and were happier than Alexand~r cmnfortable collection. Dumas when he sketched a mushroom m "But wh~t made the biggest impres- an inn and tliey brought him an umbrella sion on us, what first attracted our -we saw all of a sudden that our good hungry looks, was a large cast-iron pot pe~sants understood us. entirely full of boiled potatoes, still More than one peasant in France who warm. We ate most of them witli a cer- observed the incorrectness of tlie sketch tain greediness that may very easily be would have taken our balloon for a top. pardoned for we had eaten almost notli- "After having attentively looked at ing since our departure from Paris. both the sketch and the engraved side "One doubt overcame us· we had en- of the card, they saw in print tlie magic tered a house whose owners' were absent; word 'PARIS' and looking at the sketch we scarcely knew the worthy people of again, they cried out 'tlie Paris balloon', this hospitable country. We did not wish while pointing up with their fingers. to expose ourselves to the reproaches "The good fellows appeared disturbed, that the owners had a right to make but tlieir astonishment suddenly changed against us in return, and we left the into feverish activity; to our great satis house to settle down outside. After hav- faction the younger man went to get ing gatliered together a good supply of some fat and sausage tliat at our request wood, we carefully swept a place that he fried on the stove while the older one we had with some difficulty cleared of a busied himself in leading us into tlie large amount of snow. We lit a big fire house, relighting the fire to warm us and THE A'IRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 251 preparing for us some coffee. In order and excellent Norwegians for the acts of to light the fire for us the good man had solicitude and real kindness that they taken from his coat of skin a box of lavished upon us; they gave us some matches on which Rolier saw printed the thing more to eat, they covered us with words 'NITEDALS TOENDSTIKKER - the clothes of the country, that is, with J. L. SUNDT KHRISTIANIA'. So it was thick furs; they put very warm furlined that we learned that we had landed in boots on us; in short, they treated us Norway for in different attempts we had like sons or beloved brothers and not as inquired the name of the frigid country strangers who had fallen down from no to which the air currents had by chance where-and all this without show, sin borne us. Our good friends, not under cerely and unaffectedly. What can you standing a word of what we were saying, expect? These poor people are but little had not been able to answer. civilized; the outward fonn leaves room "After having dined in style and thor for improvement, but the heart goes on oughly warmed ourselves again, we beg ahead! ged our two good peasants to act as "At four o'clock our hosts, simple guides for us to Christiania. After very woodcutters by their station, after having many expressive gestures and with the made an end of their care in honor of aid of the most eloquent mimicry we guests from God, that is to say strangers, succeeded in making them understand invited us again to be seated at their and our hosts, after having briefly de table and after we had cordially drunk liberated together, agreed. We thought our healths to each other and to our dis we were an hour or two journey from tant fatherland, they begged us to be Christiania but a little later, when we good enough to follow them. had the good luck to meet some Nor "With strong feelings we took our de wegians who spoke our language, we parture from the wives and children of learned with great astonishment that we these two worthy men; with tears in our had landed to the north at a direct dis eyes we thanked them for the good care tance of more than three degrees of lati they had taken of us, and courageously tude from that city and that we had we set out to follow our guides. more than a hundred leagues to go and "For several hours it thawed a little, over what roads!" (The author has re the thermometer registering not more tained the exact text of Bezier's report than 8 to 10 degrees below zero centi which as far as distances are concerned grade. The lake had become navigable; does not agree with the facts.) so our woodcutters launched a small, "As soon as our worthy hosts had light boat in which we embarked and made their decision they very quickly which they set out to row. After about completed their preparations to depart an hour on the water we drew near a and we immediately set out with them. small village, SILJORD. Disembarking, For the third time we had to flounder after a quarter of an hour's walk we and slide along in the snow, an exercise reached the home of Pastor Berut Martin in which our shabby footgear helped us Bije where, being presented by our only poorly. But after a journey of only woodcutters, we were cordially received about an hour we arrived on the shore and put entirely at our east. The good of a splendid lake encircled with snow pastor did not speak French, but hardly covered mountains and magnificent fir had we settled ourselves in his hospitable trees. There, with a background of house than tliere arrived tl1ree friends granite rocks, was a cluster of some in whom he had sent for: Dr. Thomesen, habited cottages. At once we entered one lawyer F. Walloe (in a place where there of these, preceded by our guides; here are no doctors or lawyers), and the di it was that they lived with their families. recting engineer of the copper and zinc The cabin that we had just left was mines of Siljord, M. Niels Nillsen. These only a temporary lodging, a villa; or, if three highly distinguished gentlemen, the you prefer it, a farm house where they best type of people, spoke French excel kept their farming implements and a lently. Introductions were soon made part of their crops. We did not know and at our ease we began to relate our how to thank sufficiently these worthy story." (To Be Continued) 252 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 Early Flights To The 1-1 ima lay a Mountains __By_D_r. _Ma_x _Kr_on_ste_in _ As the air routes of the world were They were cancelled at the redispatch opened one by one, there remained side at Calcutta on January 13. They also roads which were not touched at all by have a two line cachet "American Fli such new developments. Areas of wild ers - In "Stearland" Biplane". erness (like in New Guinea) or of vast The second set of Mount Everest cov mountain worlds like in the Himalayas ers were more official in character. Early were not pioneered by aviators until the in 1933 the British Houston - Mt. Ev early thirtie . Flown covers from such erest Air Expedition was stationed at exploratory flights are rarely fo und. Purnea, Bihar, India. When our late Two American flyers, Richard Halli Honorary member Stephen H. Smith con bmton and Stephens connected world tacted the expedition about an eventual wide flights with a side trip into the carrying of commemorative covers, he area of the Mount E verest. Their "Stear received from Colonel L. V. S. Blacker a land" Biplane "The Flying Carpet" N.R. letter, dated at Purnea April 5 inform 882N had arrived from Timbuctoo fo ing him that such a dispatch of covers Calcutta on January 3, 1932. They flew could be arranged for a special fee of from Calcutta's "Dum Dum" airport to one guinea ( 21 shillings ) for each cover, Bagdogra, over the kingdom of Nepal the proceeds to be devoted to Royal Air and across the snow peaks of Mount Ev Force and other charities. Mr. Smith erest, returned to Bagdogra and to Cal traveled to Purnea and at Darbangah cutta. This special trip was made be House held a conference with Colonel tween January 7 and January 12. Only Blacker and Air Commodore P.F.M. Fel 50 covers were carried, each with a de lowes, D .S .O., the leader of the fliers. scriptive label, and autographed by the He handed them 87 covers for this American pilot Richard Halliburton . flight. THE A'IRPOST J OURNAL, MAY, 1962 253 vVhen he returned the next day, April No Philatelic covers have been recorded, 8, Air Commander Fellowes gave him but this collector arranged to get in the flight covers which were immedi touch with the air branch of the expedi ately posted at the Purnea Post Office tion at the time when the expedition had cancelled 8 April 33, 5 PM. These covers reached its high altitude base at 6200 have a Union Jack label with an aero meters ( 20,336 feet). This was done by plane on the map of India in the center. dispatching a postal card with attached Above the inscription: "The Houston - return card to the expedition via the Mt. Everest Expdtn". This vignette is airplane of the expedition, a Junkers 52, connected to the cover by a circular which dropped eight bags of supplies and purple cachet showing the Himalaya the mail from home. The return card Mountains with the text: "Mount Everest came back with added Indian postage Expedth. 1933 - Par Avion - BY AIR - cancelled at Srinagar, June 19, 1938. It Correo Aereo". The reverse side shows said: "Dear Dr. Kronstein: As far as the same cachet and the autograph of possible we would like to respond to Mr. Smith. your request, even though we do not carry an actual airmail and have no spe There are other covers with the Indian cial cachet of the expedition. But we stamps obliterated by a special double are sending you here the flyer-greetings circle violet cachet "HOUSTON from the crew of the Airplane D-AvVBR MOUNT EVEREST FLIGHT - PUR of the German Nanga Parbat Expedition. NEA - 3 Apr. 33". These covers have on (signed) A. Thomas, A. W. Bowman the reverse side the three line violet 0/CT RAF, Spanger, R. Neust". The cachet "HOUSTON - MT - EVEREST second signature shows that a British FLIGHT - 1933". No details are known RAF flyer had been attached to the Ger about these covers. man expedition. Another flight was a part of the Ger The collector has never seen another man Naga Parbet Expedition of 1938. item from this air arm of the expedition. OFFICIAL SECTION AMERICAN AIR MAIL SOCIETY MONTHLY REPORT From the Secretatiy Ruth T. Smith, 102 Arbor Road, Riverton, New Jersey APRIL, 1962 NEW MEMBERS 4898 Rant, Walter F., 2261 Gleason Ave., New York 62, N. Y. 4899 Bousquet, Victor A., Rivadavia 5485, Buenos Aires, Argentina 4900 Hreben. Mark P .. 4408 California St., Dickinson, Texas 4901 Grahn, C. Leslie, Cunningham Lane, R D 1, Haddonfield, N. J. 4902 Crise, Ross W., 17157 Rutherford, Detroit 35, Mich. 4903 Donoghue, John K., 9310 - 197th St., Hollis 23, N. Y. 4904 Jensen, Nels V., 601 Pennsylvania Ave., St. Cloud, Fla. NEW APPLICATIONS Norris, Maggie (Miss). 337 East 95th St., New York 28, N. Y. Actress. Age: Legal. AM AU U20 UC lD - all of U. S. X By: R. T. Smith Heifetz, Murray, 49 Ternhill Cres., Don Mills, Ont., Canada. Travel Agent. Age: 38. PC FF FAM CF X By, R. T. Smith Beachum, Edward P., 1814 Eastman Ave., Bethlehem, Pa. Metal. Eng. Age: 53. AU U20 UC PC CC Z lD APS PIX By: H. Kleinert Cosentino, Carmelo (Mr.), 271 Ellen Dr., Cheektowaga 25, N. Y. PO Clerk. Age: 36. AM AU PC HC EL RP CC OF DZ By: R. T. Smith Dinse, William F., 525 Cleveland Ave., Rivervale, N. J. Foreman. Age: 46. AM AU FF GF CAM FAM Z APS X By: R. T. Smith Marcus, Lydia (Mrs.), PO Box 188, Ojai, Calif. Actress. Age: Legal. AM AU X By: J. L. Eisendrath CHANGE OF ADDRESS 3820 Thomen, Luis (Dr.), Case 276 Mt. Blanc, Geneva, Switzerland 2022 Rice, Stanley R., Brookside Dr., Route 17, Greenwich, Conn. LM95 Higgs, Suzanne (Mrs.). 1270 S. Atlantic Blvd., Los Angeles 22, Cal. 3721 Hennig, Karl, Box 999, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 254 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 BOOK REVIEW- "How many of us could have sat there in such circumstances and been able to By the Seat of My Pan:ts: Dean C. smoke at the usual rate?" Smith: ·a Pilot's Progress from 1917 There are tales about pilots flying, to 1930. Kelly Field - Flying the and flying well, completely plastered. Mail - The Antarctic. Little, Brown They ring all the more true as the author & Co., Boston. $4.50. tells one on hmiself under similar cir This book is a delightful and enjoy cumstances, and what sobered him up able volume which no airpost enthusiast on that occasion. Sudh incidents may can afford to miss. It is a first hand not be tolerated by today's authorities recording of thrilling air events of fairly but reflect, and let nobody forget, that recent vintage, which has real signifi there would not have been any founda cance for every collector of govern tions either on which to build a present mental and C.A.M. flight covers. routine, if these same pilots had not ex When American Airlines arranged a perimented at the risk of their lives. 20th anniversary celebration of Oving Gradually gaining experience through ton's historical airmail flight of Septem their skill, they made the progress on ber 23, 1911, and had Dean Smith fly which we build today. a special commemorative mail over the The book begins with Dean's World old route in a Fairchild Pilgrim, I met War One flight training, tells how he this veteran airmail pilot in the cockpit. bluffed himself into air student status We had a brief chat. It was the only and played himself through army crap time that I saw this new monoplane, so games. He reports his joy in advancing I must confess that I spent more time after the war to a 150 H.P. Hispano-Su in studying this model that afternoon. iza powered Jenny, making this perform Had I known that this pilot would in livelier than before; how flying the mail time write such a fascinating book about was looked upon as a game and job one his experiences, I would not have missed step removed from suicide, the last re the opportunity to hear every word of course when all other possibilities of his recorded first-hand experiences, and making a living from flying had come to to pump him for more. How fortunate an end. that he has now put down his vivid The only error is the reference to the memories and those of many of his fly Junkers cabin metal monoplane adopted ing buddies of days gone by! Many by the airmail service as smplus stock oldtime airmail pilots are gone, but skill, from World War One. This was not luck and a kind fate have spared Dean built until 1919 and while some disas to live to a ripe old age. Let us hope trous fire losses with this German air that By the Seat of My Pants makes the craft cost the lives of severe! experienced Best seller list and that fat royalties en mail pilots it had a fine safety record in courage him to serve us more of the Europe and elsewhere. same fare. Dean faces up to facts and never shies Many familiar names oppear on the away from problems and situations pages. There is the classic story about which might have discouraged fainter J. D. Hill in the days when the airmail hearts. Statistics he helped to compile pilots came to grip with the blind flying are dismissed without any superfluous problem before suitable instruments comments, as witness this brief sample: were developed. On this particular oc "The years 1920 and '21 were the worst casion Hill was flying over the clouds in the history of Air Mail. In 1920 we in mountainous country when his clock had five fatal crashes, killing nine, a stopped. Resourcefulness was the creed fatal crash for every 130,000 miles flown. of these men. Remembering that he In 1921 there were twelve fatal crashes, customarily smoked one and a half cigars killing fifteen, with the average 104,000 between Bellefonte, where he then was, miles flown per crash. As a pilot could and Sunbury, he puffed along at his expect to fly sixty or seventy thousand usual rate until they were finished, then miles a year, his life expectancy would let down right on the mark. He hits the hardly make him welcome in an insur nail on the head with his comment: ance office". Never one to waste words, THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 255 after a crash the author turned in his cal and terms Byrd's expedition a com typical report, eloquent in its brevity: mercial business venture, 1he tries to "On trip #4 westbound. Flying low. En remain completely fair and credits the gine quit. Only place to land on cow. admiral with sterling qualities as a lead Killed cow. Wrecked plane. Scared me. er. Smith". It is tempting to go on at greater It was only natural that he should seek length, but this would render the reader new challenges when flying became a disservice. Nobody will lay this vol monotonous. He did not turn to greener ume aside before reaching the last page. fields, for he went to the South Pole It is a pity that the publisher has con with Admiral Byrd as a pilot. Here he fined the pictorial material to two snap is frank with his startling observations shots of the author, shown on the back and comments on what took place down of the dust jacket: then in an open cock of Byrd generally presented to the pub pit, now in his California retreat. lic. However, even when Dean is criti- - Erik Hildes-Heim UNRECORDED NEW ZEALAND plane from the nearby Royal New Zea AIR MAIL land Air Force station was often pressed into service, and though several such By J. S. Langabeer flights were made and people can re After giving a talk at a local philatelic member sending and receiving letters, society recently I had the pleasure of be the item mentioned here is one of three ing introduced to one of their oldest known to have survived the years. The members, a one-time airmail collector. cover has a circular postmark, "Auck My interest was arnused when he men land - C.I. - 7SP33. 1030 AM - N.Z." on tioned having a couple of covers from a face and is backstamped, "Auckland - hitherto unrecorded flight which carried N. Z. - 7 SP.33.11 - AM - DELIVERY". mail from the city of Auckland out to Footnote: For our nautical members: the H.M.S. Dunedin, exercising in the Hauraki Gulf. The H.M.S. Dunedin was built in 1919 and transferred from the U. K. to New This warship was manned mainly by Zealand in 1924. "With a displacement English sailors who were always eager of 4650 tons her over-all length was for news from home. When mail arrived mail from the city of Auckland out to 4271h feet. She was sunk off Free port, attempts were always made to get town, Sierra Leone, in November, it to the men as soon as possible. A sea- 1941. 256 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL, MAY, 1962 AAMS EXCHANGE DEPARTMENT APJ ADS BUY SELL WANT LISTS RATES: FOUR CENTS PER WORD per insertion. ABOUT OUR COVER- Minimum charge one dollar. Remittance must accompany order and copy. The You're looking straight down on the AIRPOST JOURNAL. 350 No. Deere Park Drive, Highland Park, Ill. modern London Airport known as Heath row. About thirty years ago Fairey FOR SALE Aviation had an airfield which is out lined within the broken green lines EARLY BALLOON FLIGHTS: Paris 1870, near the center of our illustration. A etc. Just published "Balloonpost Adven tures" by Capt. J. Boesman. Fine illu special type of grass was used and ex strated, price $1.50 Editor: the Netherl. cellently laid, so that a car could drive Aero Museum, Statenlaan 2, The Hagu=. Holland. across the field at 60 m.p.h. without be ing bounced. FIRST FLIGHTS: Early FAM and CAM covers, large selection of good material. Today's airport, usually known as List free. Albert Riese, Box 304, Guilford, LAP, covers 2705 acres ( 4.2 square Conn. miles). It's about 14 miles from the center of London. Under the center of AAMS EXCHANGE ADS No. 1 runway, on the right, running up and down, is a 2000 foot long access WANTED: Project Mercury plate blocks. Pay 30c each or trade $3.00 cab.log value tunnel to the central terminal area, in foreign airmail for each plate block. Of the center of the field. There are 50 fer for limited time. H. E. Bergeron, P. 0. Box 815, Alzxandria, La. *384 airlines using the facilities of LAP; over 5,500,000 passengers passed through it GUS F. LANCASTER Chapter meetings last year. Runway 1 is 9,312 feet long; 2nd Friday of every month in New York City. Info from Harold J. Frankel, pres., number 5, on the left, parallel to No. 1, 62()1 Bay Parkway, Brooklyn 4, N. Y. *385 is 11,200 feet. WANTED: Used Foreign Arrmails Job Lots, Mixtures, Collections, Sets. Send with your Best Price or for my offer ..To sept J. Fi:>:uccio, 8705 - 19th Ave., Brook FRIENDSHl'P 7 lyn 14. N. Y. *384 The Recovery Force was an integral SOCIEDAD FILATELICA DE GUATE part of Project Mercury. Here are MALA (Guatemala Philatelic Society), some unusual covers - all date.ct Feb. membership US $2.00 per year to be paid 20, 1962. - of the ships stationed along by personal chcock. For information: the orbital path which played an im Kurt John Weiss, Panajachel, Guatem"lla portant part in the recovery of Col. AAMS-LM. 27. *385 Glenn and the capsule: EXCHANGE: airmails, Scott basis. Send USS NOA, picked up Astronaut .... $10 any amount, receive equal qm1lity and quantity. Rupert MacLean, 39 Vocational USS RANDOLPH w. pair 4c Drive So., Portland, Maine *384 Mercury, rare FDC ...... $10 USS ENTERPRISE first nuclear air USED Air Mail Stamps exchange wanted, craft carried official Mercury Scott 1962 basis. Have also mint new is w. sues service, very serious. Sarni Kana capsule cachet ...... $10 fani, AAMS 3904, P.O. Box 701, Beirut, USS CONSTELLATION w. off. Lebanon. *385 Mercury cachet ...... $10 WILL TRADE: Canadian Mint Air Stamps USS ANTIETAM. aircraft carrier $10 for obsolete Motor License Flabs from Europe, Asia, Africa. Please write me. Cape Car.averal 4c Mercury FDC .... 25c John .J. McHale, 55 ·Connelly St., Halifax, N. S., Canada. Large Stock of Foreign and US Rockets For over 30 years rare airposts: from Balloons to Rockets WANTED: Zeppelin, Catapult and Rocket mail covers in exchange for Chilean air mail stamps and souvenir proof sheet. ·Alfredo Saavedra M - ( 4767), Gay .#;2145, Belham Exchange Santiago, Chile *385 P.O. Box 119 WANTED: Anything in the Vat\can line, Ridgewood, 27 New York mint, used, errors, freaks, FDC, PCT. J. F. Reinhardt, 804 Taylor Wichita Falls, Tex. Auction Sale May - June 1962 RO CI(ET STAIVIPS & COVERS Probabl y the world's most valuable collection of these popular issues. Property of Mr Thomas A. Matthews. FOREIGN PIONEER FLIGHT COVERS Many rare covers of these early flights are offered. Pro~erty of Mr. John C. Cornelius. AIRMAIL STAl\iIPS & COVERS A verv large collect1on, including CAM, FAM, ANTARCTIC. UNITED STATES and UNIT ED NATIONS, First Days. A~rograms, and other ma terial to be sold by order of the executors of the Estate of Mr. Anton Hobling of Brooklyn, N. Y. COLLE CTION OF MINT & USED AIR IVIAIL STAMPS Property of Mr. Eugene Ronay of St. Paul, Minn. ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE UPON REQUEST F. W. KESSLER 500 Fifth Avenue New York 36, N. Y.