AIRPOST
JOURNAL
February 2014
The Official Publication of the
American Air Mail Society
Volume 85, No. 2
February’s featured article —
Whole No. 1004
Jacqueline Cochran,
T-38 Speed Racer
Page 51
Zeppelins & Aerophilately
Ask for our Free Price List of Worldwide Flight covers and stamps.
The following is a small sampling – full list on Website!
United States
1929 (August 5) Unusual Round-the-World Flight cover with additional franking applied for second leg of journey. Cover first sent from
South Orange, NJ Aug. 5 with 1¢ + 5¢ applied. Friedrichshafen backstamp Aug. 8. Then 2 x 30¢ postage applied, tied by Los Angeles 26
cancel. Fascinating item! Rapp Certificate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $800.00
1930 (April 28) C15 VF stamp on F-VF Doctors envelope to New
Haven, CT. Backstamped New York.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $575.00
Austria
1932 (June 22) Catapult cover Europa to New York sent by registered
mail to Costa Rica. Stamped "Received in ordinary mail N.Y.P.O. Varick S." Backstamped Berlin, New York and Costa Rica on reverse.
K111AU cv $800.00 Hab. 89 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $750.00
Cameroun
1918 (August 23) Two small sized registered covers with #130, 131,
133, 134, 136-141, sent to Birmingham, England. . . . . . . . . . . . . $115.00
Germany
1925 (July 31) VF blue European sized cover sent registered airmail
from Berlin to Scotland via Bremen. Nine airmails: C12, C13 (x2), C1416. Neat and attractive cover! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $100.00
Greenland
1948 (August 1) Photo Post Card of Dansk Pearyland Expedition,
sent to Ridgefield, CT, USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $85.00
Kuwait
1934 (September 28) 10th South American flight cover sent registered from Kuwait Sept. 28. F-VF cover addressed to Brazil. Red flight
cachet and Friedrichshafen cancel on front. S.280 . . . . . . . . . . $1,950.00
Switzerland
Henry Gitner Philatelists, Inc.
PO Box 3077T, Middletown NY 10940
Email: [email protected] — http://www.hgitner.com
February 2014
Page 45
In This Issue of the Airpost Journal
— ARTICLES —
Jacqueline Cochran, T-38 Speed Racer........................................................... 51
Steve Turechek
The Founding of Western Air Express, Part 2................................................. 59
Bob Dille
Another Source for Trans-Atlantic Wartime Trip Summaries........................ 76
John Pare
Letters to
the Editor
— NEWS —
AEROPHILATELY 2014 Advance Bulletin.................................................. 72
News of the Shows.......................................................................................... 65
— COLUMNS and FEATURES —
A Favorite Cover.............................................................................................
Airmail Elsewhere in Print..............................................................................
Book Reviews..................................................................................................
Editorial by Jim Graue.....................................................................................
Letter to the Editor...........................................................................................
President’s Message........................................................................................
Treasure Hunting for CAM Covers.................................................................
— DEPARTMENTS –
64
82
78
48
47
49
68
APJ Ads........................................................................................................... 87
Membership Report......................................................................................... 86
Vickie Canfield Peters
editor and advertising
11911 E Connor Road
[email protected]
Valleyford WA 99036
Staff Writers and Columnists
Joe Kirker
Alan Warren
Chris Hargreaves
Bob Wilcsek
Lee Downer
Copyright 2014 The American Air Mail Society. The Airpost Journal (ISSN 0739-0939) is published monthly by the American Air Mail Society, Box 110, Mineola, NY 11501. Periodical
postage paid at Spokane WA 99201 and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes
to American Air Mail Society, P.O. Box 5367, Virginia Beach VA 23471-0367. Subscription Rate
$30 per year; $5 per copy.
Opinions expressed in features and columns in this publication are solely those of the authors and
do not necessarily represent those of the society.
Page 46
airPoSt JourNal
More on ‘Air mail’ vs ‘Airmail’
If you are willing to take this issue one step further, it happens
that Google is digitizing books. In addition it provides a function it calls
Ngram at https://books.google.com/ngrams that counts the number of
times a word is found.
Airpost Journal Advertisers.
Please support the
American Air Mail Society!
They're supporting the
February 2014
Page 47
President’s
Jim Graue
Message
scope of air mail services, shown and explained by the presentation of
directly relevant items and the treatment and analysis of the aerophilatelic material.
If we enter the three main variations, air-mail, airmail and air
mail, it plots out how many times each form was used in the books in
the Google collection sorted by the year of publication. The two-word
form, air mail, was most popular until the 1960s. In the 1970s the USPS
began to put the single word form, airmail, on stamps. More recent
books tend to use the single word form although all usages are far less
used today than they were in air mail's heyday.
David Crotty
Our Focus: Airmail
Jim Graue, AAMS president
Aerophilately: The development and operations of the transport
of mail by air. A study of the development, operation or other defined
See what's new this month in the aPJ Classifieds
Page 48
airPoSt JourNal
This is the accepted FIP definition for aerophilately. By its terms
“development and operations” it is clear that aerophilately is inextricably intertwined with aviation history. Major advances in aviation –
speed, range, capacity, route development and extension, frequency of
service, and infrastructure – brought major advances in mail transport.
Aerophilately and aviation history are inseparable.
That said, the aviation historian need give little or no consideration to its affects on airmail services. Progress in aviation development,
technology and capabilities were not driven by or dependent on (with
rare exceptions) airmail transport. Improvements in airmail services
came in the wake of aviation developments and advancements, most of
the latter the products of preparing for or engaging in wars.
In aerophilately, our focus is airmail. By clear necessity, aviation
history comes with it. The “how” and “why” questions in aerophilately
find most of their answers in aviation history, so intimate knowledge of
Applications for exhibiting at AEROPHILATELY 2014 and also for
presenting a paper at the 8th Postal History Symposium (being held in
conjunction with Aerophilately 2014) are both due to be received by
May 1, i.e., before the AAMS Convention in Portland. This means that
one cannot wait until the convention to make final decisions about paraviation history is essential for the aerophilatelist.
The American Air Mail Society and its Airpost Journal focus on
airmail. Aviation history cannot be dismissed. The hazard is losing our
airmail focus when engaged in studying or researching aviation history.
That departure takes it out of the realm of aerophilately, and therefore it
is not in keeping with our airmail focus. We have been recently reminded that the American Air Mail Society and Airpost Journal are dedicated
to airmail, not aviation, so articles that get caught up in aviation history
with no substantive mention of airmail are inappropriate. Absent mean-
February 2014
Page 49
ingful airmail context, aviation history is not within our realm.
There are many other forces that affected airmail. Politics, competition, armed conflicts, and perceived national interests, for example,
have been major forces directly affecting airmail services. All are fair
game for us so long as airmail remains the focus.
Not only is it a new year, it is February already!
AEROPHILATELY 2014
AAMS Chapters
The following local, regional and national organizations are
Chapters of the American Air Mail Society. To enjoy the hobby of
aerophilately, the AAMS recommends that collectors contact these
groups about programs and meetings, as well as information about
bulletins, services and dues.
Canadian Aerophilatelic Society
Steve Johnson
787 Wharncliffe Road S
London, ON N6J 2N8 CANADA
[email protected]
Metropolitan Air Post Society
Ernest Wheeler
7 Evelyn Terrace
Wayne NJ 07470-3446
[email protected]
Northwest Chapter - AAMS
Leonard (Len) Lukens
4601 South Pacific Highway, #2
Phoenix OR 97535
This is our major production this year. See the Advance Bulletin in
this issue and visit the AAMS website www.americanairmailsociety.org
for the latest news.
8th Postal History Symposium
This event will be held in conjunction with Aerophilately 2014.
The subject is:
Development of Trans-Ocean Airmail Services
The “Call for Papers” has been issued and is available on the APS website www.stamps.org. Applications must be received by May 1, 2014.
2014 AAMS Annual Convention
Our convention this year will be held in conjunction with PIPEX
2014 on May 9-11 in Portland, Oregon. For details, please see
www.pipexshow.org.
Aerophilatelic exhibit entries will be given preference
Rocky Mountain Aerophilatelic Club
William E. Crabbs, secretary
P.O. Box 620695
Littleton CO 80162-0695
[email protected]
Southern California Air Mail Society
c/o President Bill Keesling
14723 Burbank Blvd.
Van Nuys CA 91411-3336
Changes or corrections?
Please send all corrections, additions or changes to:
[email protected]
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
For AAMS copyright information or permission to reprint
items copyrighted by the AAMS, contact Jim Graue, 11911 E.
Connor Road, Valleyford WA 99036 or email [email protected]
Page 50
airPoSt JourNal
Figure 1
Jackie Cochran and Chuck Yeager on the tarmac following a
1962 flight. (Photo courtesy of Air Force Link www.af.mil)
February 2014
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until February 15, 2014.
Final exhibit entry deadline is April 1, 2014.
Special Note
There will be two copies of the famous Inverted Jenny on display
at PIPEX!
AAMS Membership Secretary
Our long-standing, dedicated and most reliable membership secretary, Rudy Roy, has incurred some health issues and asked to be
replaced in that position.
This is a very important position. The membership secretary is
responsible for maintaining a constantly-current membership list showing the status of all members, mailing dues notices each month to those
members coming up for renewal, providing the complete current list of
AAMS members with addresses to the mailing service for the Airpost
Journal, and providing a monthly membership report to the Airpost
Journal editor. If you have an interest in serving our AAMS in this role,
please contact me: [email protected] .
Thank you for your consideration.
Jacqueline Cochran,
T-38 Speed Racer
Steve Turechek, Major, USAF (retired)
In 1956 the United States Air Force went shopping for a fleet of
new primary jet trainers and selected the Northrop T-38A Talon. Unlike
previous trainers, the T-38 exposed student-pilots to supersonic speeds,
incredible rates of climb and the acrobatic maneuverability of a front-line
fighter. The T-38 also offered safety features: the most obvious was the
backseat from which an instructor-pilot could take over the controls
should the Talon prove too hot for a student to handle. Even still, in
1961, at speeds in excess of Mach 1, the cockpit of a T-38 was not considered an appropriate place for a woman to contemplate fame or fortune.
Jacqueline Cochran had been fighting that particular attitude for
three decades. She already held a number of female speed records set in
the Canadair F-86 Sabre of Korean War fame. But the T-38 made the
Sabre look like a fat, stubby pussycat. Jackie dearly wanted to expand
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airPoSt JourNal
Figure 2
Charles Koch with airplane designer Alexander de Seversky on
the left and air racing champion Roscoe Turner on the right at an air
show in 1953.
her records and just needed to persuade the Air Force or top management at Northrop to give her an opportunity to race one of those sleek,
white T-38s against the clock.
Under no circumstances could a civilian be permitted to fly an
airplane owned and operated by the military. She was not formally
trained, not qualified and not employed by the Air Force. If speed and
altitude records were to be set by a female, it would have to be in a corporate or privately owned aircraft. That left Northrop as the only legal
source of a T-38 which she could possibly fly. Cochran needed friends on
the “inside” to help persuade Northrop’s management. She sought help
from Chuck Yeager in order to convince Northrop that she was capable,
level-headed and would not so much as scratch the paint on the company T-38 were she permitted to attempt the records. With Yeager’s help,
Jacqueline’s proven track record and her charisma, she won over
Northrop’s management. She got her chance at the records in 1961.
Cochran was provided access to the Northrop-owned T-38A, tail
number 00551. The aircraft was prepped by adding instrumentation to
record its performance with Cochran at the controls. There would be no
instructor in the backseat. Flying from Edwards Air Force Base she set 10
female records, including the closed course 100km speed record between
February 2014
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August 24 and October 12, 1961. Despite being well documented, historical mention of Cochran’s T-38 flights is sparse and philatelic mention is
almost non-existent; the 1996 USPS Souvenir Page for the commemorative stamp issued in her honor simply states she set eight major speed
records at age 55.
Considerable documentation of Cochran’s mission planning, the
T-38 flights, and the subsequent application to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) for homologation of the records is held in the
Figure 3
Page 54
Figure 4
Eisenhower Presidential Library archives; these documents, totaling
some 1,600 pages, are readily available for public research. Until now no
philatelic evidence of the 100km speed record flight has ever come to
light. But then, no one but Jackie, her personal secretary and one virtually unknown aviation memorabilia collector knew that souvenir covers
were created and carried aloft 52 years ago.
To simply say Charles Koch collected aviation memorabilia
would be a severe understatement. Living in Ohio, he had many opportunities to observe the National Air Races in Cleveland and he befriended many pilots over the years. He remained on the leading edge of aviation not through his occupation, nor through academic study, but by
nurturing friendships with celebrity aviators.
Later in life Mr. Koch moved to Englewood, Florida and worked
there as a newspaper editor. He wasn’t too shy to ask (over and over
again) for autographs, photographs, and even airplane parts salvaged
from crash scenes and wreckage. Everything Koch acquired was contemporary in his day and only gradually did his accumulation of artifacts
become historical. Koch built his collection knowing that someday bits of
fabric from a crash or discarded instruments or the autograph of a
record-setting pilot would be valued by others. As an amateur curator,
he did what he could to preserve the history he was privileged to
observe.
Koch developed a long-term association with Cochran, dating
back at least to 1947, if not before. In a letter discovered in his estate’s
aviation memorabilia collection, and dated April 29, 1947, Cochran personally wrote:
Dear Mr. Koch:
Thank you for your letter which reached me in California where I was
on a short vacation.
I would be very happy to autograph your pictures if you wish to send
them to me at 435 East 52nd Street, New York City.
At the present time, I have no suitable pictures of myself with the P-51
but will try to get one for you and send it.
I appreciate your nice thoughts expressed in your letter and will get the
photographs to you as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Jacqueline Cochran
airPoSt JourNal
As she readied for the pending speed record attempts in the T38, Mr. Koch prepared an unrecorded quantity of covers and wrote to
February 2014
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flap of each cover has long since stuck to the stiffeners, making them a
permanent part of each cover.
For Mr. Koch, getting the covers back from Cochran after her
flight took some additional coordination, as evidenced by two more letters. The first is from Cochran’s secretary and the second is from Jacqueline herself, both to Mr. Koch. On November 21, 1961, a month and a half
after the record-setting flight, Cochran’s secretary Florence Walsh wrote
to Koch stating, “As requested in your letter of August 29 . . . the
envelopes you enclosed in your letter were carried by Miss Cochran on
Figure 5
Jacqueline asking her to carry the envelopes during her flight. She evidently agreed; this was clearly an extraordinary request which she honored as his friend. Yet the creation, completion and accuracy of the
cachets still remain somewhat of a puzzle. Only three souvenir covers
are known to have been postmarked and signed by Jacqueline Cochran
to commemorate her successful 100km speed record flight. There are two
distinct cachet designs shown in Figures 3 and 4.
Two of the three covers are virtually identical. These have a vertically typewritten cachet that reads: “Carried Northrop T-38, October 9,
1961 – 100 kilometer speed record 784.337 miles per hour.” Cochran
signed these two covers vertically so her autograph is parallel to the
typed cachets near the middle of each cover. Both covers bear two different 4¢ commemorative stamps paying 8¢ postage for first-class airmail
service. Both covers have the 4¢ blue Naval Aviation 50th anniversary
stamp; one cover has a 4¢ Boy Scouts of America stamp issued in 1960
and the second cover has a 4¢ Dental Health commemorative issued in
1959.
The third cover has a cachet made from a rubber handstamp
applied in purple ink. It reads, “CARRIED NORTHROP T-38/100 KM.
SPEED RECORD/BY JACQUELINE COCHRAN/784.337 MPH 10-9-61.”
This cover also has the 4¢ blue Naval Aviation 50th anniversary stamp
along with a 4¢ blue Abraham Lincoln Sesquicentennial commemorative
issued in 1959.
All three known covers from the flight are postmarked “Oct 9/5
PM/1961/Edwards Air Force Base Sta, Edwards. Calif.” All three have a
stiffener insert which appears to be a change of address card pre-printed
in green ink for magazine or newspaper subscriptions. The gum on the
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airPoSt JourNal
Airpost Journal
Procedures and Deadline
Deadline
Deadline for the receipt of articles, letters, advertising and news is
the first of the month preceding the month of publication. For example, we
need everything for the November issue by October 1, everything for the
December issue by November 1, everything for the January issue by December 1 and so on.
The preferred method of receiving copy is via an email attachment.
Please send as an MS Word document. We also welcome compact disks
(CDs). Hard copy is acceptable but it must be rekeyed so we prefer electronic transmission.
All submissions are subject to editing for length, clarity and content. Every effort will be made to retain the facts without changing the
meaning or thrust of the article.
Illustrations
The most effective way to transmit illustrations is electronically.
They should be TIF or JPEG, scanned at no less than 150 dpi and attached to
an email. They can also be sent on CD. We can also retrieve copy and illustrations from electronic storage if provided with the correct routing.
Questions can be directed to editor Vickie Canfield Peters by
emailing [email protected] or by writing to her at 11911 E. Connor
Road, Valleyford WA 99036. The telephone number is 509-924-4484.
Your attention to and compliance with these procedures and deadline assures the best quality we can achieve. Thank you for your support of,
and contributions to, the Airpost Journal.
February 2014
Page 57
her 100km. record flight, Oct 6th.” Walsh went on to write, “after making
3 altitude records a few days later, she had to leave immediately for
Europe to attend an international aviation conference so had no opportunity to sign your envelopes. However she will do so when she returns
from Europe in December and they will be sent to you.” One can only
imagine Koch’s anticipation!
On January 22, 1962 Cochran wrote to Koch in Englewood, Florida, where he worked as a newspaper editor. This letter is typewritten on
her personal “Cochran-Odlum Ranch/Indio, California” stationery; the
cover with its matching return address was postmarked January 23 and
is illustrated in Figure 5. She wrote:
Dear Mr. Koch:
Figure 1
Maurice “Maury” Graham during loading of the mail for a Los
Angeles to Salt Lake City flight. Since loads frequently weighed hundreds of pounds, this is more realistic than common PR photos that
show “Pop” Hanshue, or a rider on horseback, handing a bag of mail to
Chief Pilot Fred Kelley.
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I don’t believe that your requested [sic] was handled as you asked and I
am sorry. All of the envelopes were with me when I made the 100 kilometer
speed record (784.337 miles per hour) on Oct 9, 1961 at Edwards Air Force
Base.
I have signed three of the envlopes [sic] and am returning all to you. I
hope these may be of some value to you.
Thank you so much for the snapshot. I am glad to have it and I read
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your article of August 4th with interest. It brought back memories.
With all good wishes for your success and happiness in this year.
Sincerely,
Figure 3
Cover prepared for the dedication of the new Western terminal in Alhambra.
Figure 2
Cover with an international destination from Graham’s January 10, 1930, fatal accident.
Jacqueline Cochran
Whatever the quantity of unsigned envelopes was, they have not
surfaced, and are likely lost to collectors today. Another mystery
involves the actual date of the record flight; clearly there is a discrepancy
in the dates as referenced in the Cochran-Koch correspondence.
Cochran’s secretary states October 6 as the date; Cochran herself states
Oct 9th. The covers are postmarked on the 9th. Nevertheless the
Northrop press release, dated October 9, states the flight was made on
October 6, as does the National Aeronautic Association’s application to
the FAI.
There is also a slight discrepancy in the speed as reported by
Cochran and that officially submitted to the FAI. The press release, the
cachets and Cochran’s letter to Koch dated January 22, 1962 all state the
record speed as 784.337 mph. The Northrop press release indicates that
“based on initial data recorded by National Aeronautics Association offiPage 60
airPoSt JourNal
cials, the new record speed average will be submitted to the (FAI) for
certification.” The application to the FAI states the speed as 784.285 mph.
Post-flight analysis of the initial data may have resulted in revision and
thus account for the difference on the FAI application, but this is the
author’s speculation.
Today the three flown covers and the Koch-Cochran correspondence regarding the flown covers are in the hands of private postal history collectors, having surfaced in the marketplace just this year. For
aerophilatelists, opportunities to make new discoveries like this help
ensure our hobby remains so exciting. Happy landings to you!
The Founding of Western Air Express
Part 2 of 3
Bob Dille
In 1926, the first flight by Western Air Express (WAE) from Los
Angeles to Las Vegas and Salt Lake City was made by Maurice "Maury"
Graham. Graham flipped a coin with Chief Pilot Fred Kelley for the
honor. Graham received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross and the
French Legion of Honor Awards for helping save hundreds of American
troops' lives after they were overrun by German ground forces during
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World War I.
O
n
January
10,
1930, Graham
left Los Angeles for Salt
Lake City on
the route he
had pioneered.
The aircraft
was a Boeing
Model
95
biplane. Figure
1 shows him in
the cockpit of a
Figure 4
WAE
mail
Cachet on mail from TWA Flight 599
plane while his
mail was being
loaded. There were 648 pounds of it for this trip.
When he landed in Las Vegas to refuel, he was warned of a very
bad snowstorm in Utah and advised not to continue. He ignored the
warning. The open cockpit Model 95 had only four basic instruments
and no radio. He was heard circling St. George, Utah, before he headed
off toward the Kanarra Mountains in one of the area's worst blizzards in
history.
A search was launched when he failed to return or reach Salt
Lake City.
The entire Army Air Corps joined in one of the largest and
longest aerial searches that had ever been conducted, but they found
nothing. A farmer found the plane on June 24, but there was no sign of
Graham. The landing gear and one wing tip were damaged, the clock
had stopped at 2:35 and the mail sacks were intact. The mail was
returned to Los Angeles where a two-line cachet "Delay due to wrecked
mail plane/ January 10, 1930" was reportedly applied in black, purple or
magenta ink. A green Los Angeles Arcade Sta. June 28, 1930 postmarkwith "RETURN TO WRITER UNCLAIMED" was also applied (Figure 2).
Graham's body was not found until nearly a month later. He was
noted for carrying and chewing wheat and a row of new wheat led
directly to his body. He probably froze to death. A report that he had
fallen off a cliff does not fit well with the row-of-wheat finding. His ashes
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airPoSt JourNal
3
were scattered through the mountains along this route by Fred Kelley.
There were several other significant developments during these
seven months including dedication of a new WAE Terminal in Los
Angeles (Alhambra), April 17-19, 1930 (Figure 3).
Postmaster General Walter F. Brown reported to Congress that
airmail delivery was inefficient and too expensive. He requested legislation that would give him the authority to change postal policies in order
to make improvements. Congress obliged by passing the Air Mail Act of
Check out
the AAMS Website:
www.AmericanAirMailSociety.org
REPRINT EDITION OF "BRIDGING THE CONTINENTS IN
WARTIME - – IMPORTANT AIRMAIL ROUTES 1939-1945"
by Hans Aitink & Egbert Hovenkamp
Authorized reprint. 227 pages in full color, soft cover, 8½ x 11
format. Written in English, this book details the major airmail routes
between 1939 and 1945. There are 19 chapters. Covers are shown from
the various routes. The following is a summary of the major routes covered: KLM Service Amsterdam-Bandung, Imperial Airways
/BOAC/Qantas Empire Service – England-Australia, Africa, Hong
Kong-Bangkok, BOAC/Qantas Horseshoe Route, KNILM Service JavaAustralia, Tasman Empire Airways Ltd. (TEAL) Sydney-Auckland, Pan
Am Transpacific, North Atlantic, Miami-Leopoldville & San FranciscoHong Kong–Singapore Clipper Service, LATI Service – Italy-South
America
The price is US$50.00 plus postage: U.S. addresses - $4.00
media mail, Canada - $13.00 first class, other countries - $23.95 Global
Priority Mail. For orders from the U.S. & Canada, please send a U.S.$
check (drawn on a U.S. bank or U.S. branch of a bank), made payable to
Ken Sanford, to: 613 Championship Drive, Oxford, CT 06478-3128
February 2014
Page 63
A Favorite Cover
Darus Greathouse
1930 (also known as the McNary-Watres Act or just the Watres Act).
Since the post office was the primary source of revenue for the
airlines, Brown was able to take actions based on his judgment that many
considered dictatorial. His first action was to change the basis for paying
the airlines for carrying air mail from a weight to a space or volume
basis. Some carriers were found to be carrying junk mail, even freight, at
air mail rates and making large profits. His action cut the cost in half.
His decisions also encouraged airlines to fly larger, better
equipped and safer aircraft designed to carry more fare-paying passengers. Proposed route changes could serve passenger and air mail objectives. Not all agreed. Delta returned to crop dusting! Erle Halliburton
went to see President Hoover, lost and sold out to American Airways.
Brown also had the authority to force mergers. Of primary interest for this article, part of WAE would be required to merge with
Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) because it did not have enough
News of the Shows
pilots experienced in night flying. TAT offered 48-hour coast-to-coast
trips for $350. There were four segments; daytime flights on two and
overnight train travel on two, but no night flights.
The new airline, Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA), soon
became infamous when a (probably former WAE) Fokker F-10 on flight
TWA 599 lost a wing between Kansas City and Wichita on March 31,
1931. The pilots and six passengers, including University of Notre
Dame's revered football player and coach Knute Rockne, were killed.
Volunteer!
Page 64
airPoSt JourNal
February 2014
It’s good for everybody.
Page 65
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airPoSt JourNal
February 2014
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Tr easur e Hunting for
CAM Covers
Lee Downer
The condition of the mail varied. Cachets applied included "Received in
Bad Condition" to "DAMAGED BY AIR PLANE WRECK/ MAR 31
1931” (Figure 4).
Tony Fokker's original aircraft had spars made from elm wood
with no reported problems. The American Fokker F-10 in the TWA 599
accident had spars made from fir covered with plywood laminate that
had rotted due to water getting into the wing.
The Aeronautics Branch, Bureau of Air Commerce, Department
of Commerce immediately grounded all F-10, F-12 and F-32 aircraft
pending inspections and any needed maintenance. More stringent
requirements for future inspections and maintenance were also established. More important, the public and industry image of the wooden
structured aircraft suffered badly.
Other accidents during the merger with TAT included a crash
landing due to engine trouble at Alhambra, California on December 22,
1930. The mail had fire and water damage and is cacheted "DAMAGED
BY AIR PLANE WRECK/ DECEMBER 22, 1930” in purple or red. The
other crash during this period was a CAM-34 take-off accident in Pittsburgh with 736 pounds of mail. Eight different markings are listed.
A subsidiary of General Motors bought into WAE in 1931. In
1934, the association with TWA ended. The airline was briefly known as
General Air Lines and then returned to an independent Western Air
Express.
The final major accident for WAE occurred December 15, 1936,
when a flight from Los Angeles crashed into a mountain peak near Salt
Lake City, killing the two pilots and five passengers. It took six months
to find the wreckage. The covers have "AIR MAIL" in red and a cachet.
Badly damaged mail was returned in penalty envelopes with notes.
There were four types of cachets including “DAMAGE DUE TO AIR
MAIL/ INTERRUPTION NEAR/ SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH/ DEC 15,
1936” in bold and regular type.
WAE changed its name to Western Air Lines on March 11, 1941.
— To Be Continued —
I have a cover I would like to share with the members of AAMS,
although it is not quite what is mostly discussed in the AAMS journal. I
am always reading the APJ with an eye for postal labels.
The August issue was, as usual, very interesting and showed the
scope and depth of the AAMS members’ knowledge. Some of the details
were difficult to follow due to my lack of expertise, but how else is one
going to learn? I read computer books too, but it does not seem to help.
The article on China reminded me of a cover from China with an
unusual, hard-to-find air mail label. I consider it to be one of my gems.
Attached is a scan of the front and back of the cover. Alas, the stamp is
missing, but that was the way I bought it.
This label from China is illustrated in the Postal Label Study
Group catalog, 1991 edition. CHN-C-1 was issued before 1935, rated 6*
(great rarity, $30+). It has registration markings on the front and I cannot
determine any cancel dates. The user is clearly Terra-Asia, International
Exchange Club, Shanghai.
FLOREX 2013
December 6-8 - Orlando, Florida
Page 68
Figure 1
James W. Graue
airPoSt JourNal
February 2014
Reserve Grand Award
Zeppelin South America Flights 1930-1937
Page 69
Charles P. Bickle
One Frame Vermeil
Correo Aéreo Testart
CAM AMF Cover Nuggets
For CAM historians and collectors, one of the related subjects of
study is Air Mail Facilities (AMF). AMFs became one of the innovations
of the Air Mail Service that allowed the promise of speedy mail to
become a reality. They first appeared on the U.S. Government Air Mail
Service transcontinental route in 1924 to facilitate efficient processing of
the mail. The concept was to move air mail activities from the normal
surface postal system directly to the airfield where it was processed,
pouched and loaded on mail planes.
After landing, the AMF would get the mail delivered by the
arriving plane to the local post office for further
processing or delivery. The AMFs also accepted
direct mail up to take-off time. To identify mail
that had AMF service, the government issued
rubber hand stamp cancelers, identifying the
city, date and time along with the words “Air
Mail Field” or letters “AMF” (Figure 1). When
Figure 2
Contract Air Mail service began in 1926, AMFs
continued to provide the same services and added the important function of insuring efficient transfer from one CAM route to another at intersecting points along the routes. Until July 1927, there were points where
CAM routes and the transcontinental route met: New York, Cleveland,
Chicago, Cheyenne, St Lake City and Sacramento. AMFs served CAM
operations in the same way after July 1927.
Discriminating collectors began to position covers at the AMFs
as well as the destination cities along the transcontinental route. These
American Air Mail Catalogue, Sixth Edition
Publications of the American Air Mail Society
Volume 1
U.S. Pioneer Flights (Pre-1918), U.S. Government Flights (1918-1924),
U.S. Air Express, Interrupted Flights (Crash Covers), Airport Dedication
and Mexico First Flight Covers.
Volume 2
FFUS (first flights of U.S. airlines since deregulation in 1978), Glider
Mail and First Jet Flights. 588 pages.
Volume 3
FAM (Foreign Air Mail Contract Routes), Canal Zone and Alaska
Flights. 486 pages.
the airmails of Canada and Newfoundland
Comprehensive catalog of Canada and Newfoundland
airmail stamps and flight covers. 552 pages.
Hardbound Catalogues – Price $35.00 each, post paid in U.S. Special
Price to AAMS Members: $28.00 (one copy only)
Order from: Greg Schmidt, AAMS Publications Sales
Manager, 1978 Fox Burrow Court, Neenah WI 54956
[email protected]
Page 70
Figure 3
You can increase the "bottom line."
Invite a friend to join the AAMS!
airPoSt JourNal
February 2014
Page 71
are highly collectible and, in some cases, very scarce. It was natural to
continue AMF collecting when CAM routes began to appear in 1926.
Both Cleveland and Chicago provided AMF service on Routes 6 and 7
when they were inaugurated in February.
Not all the early AMFs survived the transition to Contract Mail.
A good example is Sacramento with its AMF, which could have served
as a transfer point from the Mail Service Route to CAM 8, but due to a
late change in the route, Sacramento was dropped as a main route destination. Consequently, the transfer AMF became Concord, the airfield
serving San Francisco.
Collectors missed this, so the rarest of CAM "f" varieties were
created. I've never seen one, but the American Air Mail Catalogue (AAMC)
editors knew of at least one northbound cover, CAM 8N4f, which I
believe was part of Louis Fischbach’s “Golden Keys” exhibit of CAM
covers. There is no listing for a southbound version. If you happen to
have either, you have hit pay dirt with one of the rarest CAM covers.
As the CAM system of routes began to expand, more AMFs were
created to expedite the handling of air mail to ensure customers got their
money's worth. These AMF-canceled covers have been given separate
variety treatment by the editors of the AAMC. In most cases the "f" variety commands a premium over the mail processed at city or town post
offices. The relative scarcity makes "f" varieties good targets for the CAM
treasure hunter.
From my perspective, there are five, in addition to the Concord
AMF cover, that really stand out as rare: 18 W 9f, 28 E/W 2f, 34 E/W 2f
and 1 N4f. I've described the CAM 34 and CAM 1 covers in previous
columns, so this time I'll highlight the CAM 8 Reno and the CAM 28
Kansas City AMF covers.
Only exhibits of one (1), five (5) and eight (8) frames
Reno is one of those anomalies where there are a number of
examples of eastbound mail from the AMF (Figure 1). As I write this
there are two on eBay, and I know of dealers who have others. However,
I've yet to see a westbound cover. All Reno inaugural covers were given
the same postmark at 8: 30 a.m., east or west. There are ample examples
to support that philatelic covers were properly sorted and put on the correct plane in each direction. It would be logical to conclude that the same
was true of covers posted directly at the AMF which were canceled at 8
Page 72
airPoSt JourNal
a.m., so there should be examples going either way.
I would love to see examples of 18 W 9f owned by other AAMS
members who might have these covers. Email or send an image to the
APJ editor and I'll attempt to do a census report in the future. Eastbound
examples are going for $99 on eBay, so a westbound cover should be
AEROPHILATELY 2014 has been approved by the FIP Board
of Directors as an FIP Recognized Exhibition. International qualified
exhibits, both 5 frame and 8 frame, will be judged at full FIP level.
Dr. Peter McCann will be responsible for any FIP-related
issues as a member and team leader on the jury.
A formal confirming letter from the FIP Secretary General has
well above that.
CAM 28 AMF first flight covers are also very scarce. One explanation for this is the change in AMF cancelers issued by the Post Office
Department in 1926. Rather than the standard rubber AMF hand stamp
that had identified AMF covers since Government Air Mail days, the
Kansas City Post Office was furnished with a new steel hand stamp for
the Air Mail Field operation after the inaugural of CAM 3 in May. It was
a smaller circular date stamp inscribed inside with the words, "Air Mail."
It had an oval killer containing the numeral 1. Unfortunately, between
1926 and early 1929, it was being used at both the Kansas City Post Office
and Fairfax Field AMF office, across the river, so it is now impossible to
identify covers that were processed at the AMF.
In 1929, in time for the CAM 28 inaugural, a newer hand stamp
was issued reading “Air Port” (instead of “Air Mail”) in the CDS. The
“1” in the oval killer was replaced by “Air/Mail” (Figure 2). Due to the
similarity to the older version, and the probable short notice of the
change, only a few collectors were astute enough to get their covers
processed at the at the Fairfax Field facility on May 1. When the AAMC
editors got around to establishing rules for AMFs in the 1930s, the early
version did not qualify as an AMF variety, but the one with "air port"
was given status, thereby earning the "f" variety for 28 E2 and W2 (Figure 3). The cancellations are often unclear, so, treasure hunters, look at
your CAM 28 covers again, carefully. You might be pleasantly surprised.
The next column will switch gears to the CAM pilots. Many of
their signatures bring high premiums which should be of interest to the
Treasure Hunter.
January 7, 2014
February 2014
Page 73
AEROPHILATELY 2014
September 12-14, 2014
American Philatelic Center, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Aerophilately 2014 is a special national philatelic exhibition approved by the
American Philatelic Society with FIP Recognition and world-wide participation.
Advance Bulletin
Call for Papers
The Eighth Postal History Symposium
September 12- 14, 2014
American Philatelic Center, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Development of
Transoceanic Airmail Service
Attention: Exhibitors
Sponsored by American Philatelic Society, American
Philatelic Research Library and the Smithsonian National
Postal Museum
The prospectus (Regulations) and Official Entry Form for
AEROPHILATELY 2014 are now available on both of the following sites:
American Philatelic Society website (www.stamps.org)
American Air Mail Society website (www.americanairmailsociety.org)
Alternatively, you may also request these from [email protected]
Deadline for proposals: May 1, 2014
Exhibit Application
looking for something? Check the classified ads!
Held in conjunction with
Aerophilately 2014
The symposium seeks papers that address transoceanic airmail development and services.
Possible themes:
• Competition in the South Atlantic
• Developments in the North Atlantic
• Crossing the Pacific
• World War II Effects on Transoceanic Service
Proposals for symposium papers may be submitted either as individual
papers or in panels. Proposals are limited to one page to be accompanied by a
one-page curriculum vita with contact information.
Email proposals to [email protected]
Page 74
airPoSt JourNal
February 2014
Page 75
Deadline for receipt of entries is May 1, 2014.
Exhibits
Exhibit Classes
Class 1. Aerophilately
Class 2. Astrophilately
Class 3. Traditional, limited to airmail stamp issues only.
Class 4. Airmail postal history
Class 5. Thematic, limited to airmail, aviation or astro subjects.
Class 6. Postal Stationery, limited to airmail postal stationery only
Class 7. One frame exhibits of the above classes
FIP Recognition
itive) class.
Exhibit Fees
Exhibit fees are very simple and reasonable: $50.00 Entry Fee
plus $10.00 per frame.
Single Frame = $60.00, Five Frames = $100.00, and Eight Frames =
$130.00.
No other exhibit sizes will be accepted. These fees apply to all exhibits,
whether or not FIP qualified.
AEROPHILATELY 2014 Committee
Stephen Reinhard, APS President
Ken Martin, APS Executive Director
Peter McCann, FIP Director
Jim Graue, AAMS President
Stephen Schumann
All exhibits qualified for an FIP exhibition will be awarded FIPrecognized medals.
Exhibits not qualified for FIP recognition will be awarded APSrecognized national level medals.
Future AAMS Meeting Sites
We see FIP Recognition as a major advantage in view of the
upcoming international philatelic exhibition at New York in 2016. There
is limited space at Bellefonte, so there will be no "open" (i.e., non-compet-
Portland, Oregon
May 9-11, 2014
PIPEX
AEROPHILATELY 2014
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
September 12-14, 2014
NAPEX
McLean, Virginia
June 5-7, 2015
CHICAGOPEX
Itasca, Illinois
November 19-21, 2016
Page 76
airPoSt JourNal
February 2014
Page 77
APJ Book Review
Patrick Walters
AEROPHILATELY 2014 Jury
FIP-Accredited Jury:
Stephen Reinhard, Jury President and Team Leader
Peter McCann, Team Leader
Mark Banchik
Santiago Cruz (Colombia)
Stephen Schumann
Charles Verge (Canada)
Hotel Information
Exhibition Hotel:
Best Western Plus University Park Inn & Suites
115 Premiere Dr, State College PA 16801
(814) 234-8393
Rate: $72.00 (APS rate)
Book reservations directly; do not use “Central Reservations.” Space is
limited and reservations should be made as soon as possible.
Donations Needed
It is the FIP Recognition that drives our need for donations, as
there is an FIP Recognition fee of 5,000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Coupled
with other expenses (e.g., jury) we will need $10,000, so that is the target
for donation revenue. Please send donations to AAMS Treasurer Stephen
Reinhard, Box 110, Mineola NY 11501. Donations should be made
payable to AAMS with “Aero 2014” as the designated recipient in the
memo space.
Another Source for Trans-Atlantic
Wartime Trip Summaries
Page 78
airPoSt JourNal
John Pare
Much has been written lately in the APJ regarding the challenge
associated with ascertaining trans-Atlantic flight schedules after the outbreak of World War II. The review of John Wilson’s Abstract of Pan
American Wartime Trip Summaries from the Richter Library in Miami in
the December 2013 issue is the latest effort. Although much of the discussion has centered on the long southern route across the Atlantic, a comprehensive listing of trans-Atlantic flights that passed through Bermuda
exists and this article calls attention to that source.
In 2006 The Collectors Club of Chicago published Peter A.
Flynn’s magnum opus Intercepted in Bermuda: The Censorship of Transatlantic Mail during the Second World War, with contributions by Michel
Forand and Horst Augustinovic. While the author examined and studied
thousands of covers intercepted by the British Imperial censors stationed
in Bermuda during the war and reports on every aspect of that complex
operation, the section of the book that I want to call attention to is
Appendix C, “Flying-Boat Arrivals and Departures at Bermuda During
the Second World War” compiled by Horst Augustinovic.
Table C3 lists the Clipper name, its previous stop (eastbound
and westbound) on the way to Bermuda and the date(s) it was in Bermuda. This data is provided for all flights between May 20, 1939 and
December 31, 1945 with summary data for the two years prior and the
three years after the war; in other words, for the entire span of flying
boat operations in Bermuda. The author lists 4,974 flights in a table
which covers 32 pages. It is a monumental work helpful to every collector of trans-Atlantic postal history during this time period. Many of the
listed westbound flights originated in San Juan and Port of Spain, a fact
that should interest those studying the long southern trans-Atlantic
route.
To illustrate its usefulness I have included a cover posted in
Bermuda on May 7, 1941 to Weymouth, Massachusetts. When consulting
Augustinovic’s work I find two westbound Clippers from Horta in
Bermuda around this time: the Atlantic Clipper was there the day this
cover was posted and on May 9 the Yankee Clipper was there. Since St.
George’s lies at the opposite end of the island from the flying boat base at
Darrel’s Island, it seems reasonable to think that the letter took a day to
be carried to the base and was put aboard the Yankee Clipper on the 9th as
it continued its trans-Atlantic flight to New York.
My purpose here is simply to call attention to Horst AugustiFebruary 2014
Page 79
novic’s work since it is a great source of information on flights crossing
the Atlantic. Unfortunately the book is now out-of-print and not easy to
find if you seek to purchase one.
Pan American Airways 1939-1944: Atlantic Wartime Operations Catalog by David Crotty (2013: Indicia Investigations, Ludlow, Kentucky),
soft cover, 423 pages, maps, aircraft images in black-and-white; color
illustrations of representative covers. Order from Amazon.com; price
fluctuates, shipping is free to U.S. addresses.
Review by John Wilson
(followed by a review by Ken Lawrence)
No doubt this book is an honest attempt to present an account of
Pan American Airways operations in the years given in its title, but
despite careful reading, I have difficulty in deciding what the book is
intended to be. Is it a history of Pan American Airways? Is it an aerophilatelic treatise? Could it be both of these?
If it is to be a history, then the subject has been covered by distinguished authors in the past. To be an aerophilatelic reference work, it is
important that it is accurate and well referenced. For an airmail collector
holding a cover and trying to analyze how, when and by what route it
traveled, does this book assist? No, because although there are pages and
pages of “facts” there are no attempts to explain either why the air routes
were established or what type of mail was being carried and when. So
what does this book contain?
The bedrock (by weight and volume) of the 442 pages is 350
pages of flight tables transcribed from documents held at the University
of Miami. These are the actual flight summaries prepared by Pan American Airways staff. They are the epitome of what researchers consider
“primary source documents,” that is to say, records written or compiled
at the time by people who are recording facts, with no reason to alter
them in any way. David Crotty must have taken hundreds of hours to
copy the details from these documents and transcribe them into printed
tables. The question is: why? By doing this, it immediately degrades the
data from a primary to a secondary source because of the possibility of
transcription errors. Additionally, no amount of transcription can convey
everything in the original documents, including such things as handwritten notes, comments or explanations. For any researcher, possession of a
primary source document is a pearl beyond price; it must not be degraded.
Page 80
airPoSt JourNal
Are there errors of transcription in this book? Yes, many. But
why copy all this data when the original documents are available in freeto-download format on the web site of the West Africa Study Circle
www.wasc.org.uk ? Not only there, but the Richter Library is also in possession of the scanned documents and will provide them to researchers.
Other than these pages of tables, by the author’s own statement,
much of his book is a compilation of his previously published articles, so
most of the potential readers will already have seen this content. Chapter
1, for example, is a virtual reprint of an article published in the August
2012 Postal History Journal, and Chapter 2 is a reprint of two articles published in Airpost Journal in 2007 and 2012. These and following chapters
are nothing more than padding to add weight to the flight tables.
Both chapters discuss previous sources of information and a
selection of printed wartime timetables. In the new light of the actual
flight records, the role and relevance of prior sources and the conclusions
based on them must be reexamined, reanalyzed and viewed in the context of the “new whole” rather than left standing as if the original flight
records had bever been discovered. This chapter could have explained
the development of Pan American’s Atlantic routes as shown by the
source documents, but wanders off in several directions without ever
reaching any conclusions.
Chapter 4 seems completely out of place, being a virtual transcription of a report compiled by a Pan American cargo traffic expert.
Throughout this book, there are frequent errors of both fact and
interpretation which cast a cloud of doubt on the accuracy of the entire
text. Statements are made that are totally wrong, locations of documents
are incorrect, references are given bearing no relationship to the text and
the writing style is virtually incoherent. This is repeated throughout the
entire book. In preparing this review I listed literally dozens of errors
between the Preface and page 7 (of 442). Space does not permit these to
be printed here but I am happy to provide the details on request so that
the errors can be corrected.
If a postal historian knows his subject, analysis and description
The Airpost Journal welcomes book reviews. If you recently
acquired a new book that may be of interest to other
aerophilatelists, tell us about it. Reviews can be submitted
via email, on disk as a Microsoft Word document or as
February 2014
Page 81
airmail elsewhere in Print
alan Warren
of a typical cover will indicate how far his knowledge extends. The book
illustrates some covers, but their descriptions indicate a lack of understanding.
In the section covering Route 6 (the so-called FAM-22 route), a
cover is shown on page 234 that was posted in Philadelphia on 19
December 1941 and transited Leopoldville on 14 January 1942. This is
described as a “possible Charter 8 cover.” On the same page we find the
actual flight data taken from the PanAm records and see that on 14 January the flight left Khartoum to go to Leopoldville, arriving there on the
15th. Not only does this contradict the cover’s date in Leopoldville, the
aircraft was flying in the wrong direction to have carried it!
On the book as a whole? For all the apparent time and effort
expended in its production, this book is a disaster. Virtually every page
has errors. The whole work is so confused and literally incoherent that it
is impossible to read. I can only repeat my comments on the original article that is reprinted as Chapter 2 in this book;
“Full marks to the author for enthusiasm but I personally cannot
see what has been achieved by this text. The reader has not been taken
down a path of discovery, rather has been led into a forest of repetitive
patterns and left without a guide or any exit conclusion that would cause
him or her to say, “From reading that I learned something new that will
help me in my collecting and broadened my understanding.”
My view is unchanged. This book simply makes matters worse.
This is the danger of what are known in the trade as “Vanity Publications” whereby anyone who wishes to produce a book can write whatever they wish, true or false, accurate or not, and bypass any peer review or
critical examination prior to publication.
***
Review by Ken Lawrence
Every serious collector of World War II trans-Atlantic air mail
needs this book. With the indisputably positive aspects, no one should
Page 82
airPoSt JourNal
deny the virtue of having a single-source reference book that makes it
easy to look up dates, routes and transit times for nearly every flight by
Pan American Airways Clippers over all but one of its 15 prescribed
paths over the Atlantic Ocean. Who wants to rummage through old journals in search of facts that are conveniently gathered and organized
between the covers of a single book?
Here’s how to make the best use of David Crotty’s catalog: With
your cover in hand, start with the “Chronological Atlantic Trips” chapter
near the back, locate the most likely flight, take note of the route and trip
numbers, work your way forward to the pertinent route number appendix and see if the complete tabular data in the trip summaries fit your
cover. You’ll find as much information there as your album or exhibit
page can comfortably accommodate. If you don’t think that’s handy, you
haven’t been doing air mail. In a nutshell, this is a Clipper collector’s and
exhibitor’s friend, a companion to the dog-eared postal rate books we all
curse from time to time, but that we can’t do without. In fact, page after
page of Crotty’s tabular compilations, which will bore a casual reader to
tears, are precisely what we have suffered without until now. Maybe
some day we’ll be able to snap a scan of a cover and instantly read out its
rate, route, and flight data, but I doubt I’ll be here to see it.
A secondary positive feature is that Crotty’s introductions to
each major route — all 15 of them, each one illustrated by an appropriate
map — are narrative histories that are interesting and occasionally stimulating to read even though most of us expect philatelic catalogs to be
deadly dull and are seldom surprised. Despite his restrictive title, Crotty
has also included a summary of the Imperial Airways and British Overseas Airways flights of 1939 and 1940, which means you won’t need to
search old books and journals to complete that part of the story.
That’s enough about the good parts, and ought to be reason
enough to praise the book. Let us now turn to its deficiencies. Aerophilatelic reference books are so overweight with minutia that they often
manage to examine every straw while they fail to mention the haystack
and never take us on the hayride where most of us expect to have our
YOU are the American Air Mail Society’s
most important asset.
Take an active role in the AAMS.
February 2014
Page 83
fun. In the case of wartime air
mail, the equivalent to the missing hayride is the story of the
whys and wherefores when inter-
American
Air Mail Society
Dedicated to the research, study, documentation and
preservation of aerophilately.
Organized in 1923, Incorporated in 1944 as a non-profit corporation of
the state of Ohio
IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
APS affiliate #77
PRESIDENT: Jim Graue, 11911 East Connor Road, Valleyford WA 99036
([email protected])
VICE PRESIDENT: David E. Crotty, Ph.D., PO Box 16115, Ludlow KY
41016-0115 ([email protected] )
SECRETARY: Dr. Robert Dille, 335 Merkle Drive, Norman OK 730696429 ([email protected])
TREASURER: Stephen Reinhard, P.O. Box 110, Mineola NY 11501
([email protected])
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT: Mark Banchik, P.O. Box 2125, Great
Neck NY 11022 ([email protected])
DIRECTORS AT LARGE:
Kent Kobersteen
David Ball
Steve Tucker
Pat Walters
ADVISORY EXECUTIVE BOARD (Past Presidents):
Cheryl Ganz
Jonathan L. Johnson, Jr.
Stephen Reinhard
A.D. Jones
Kendall C. Sanford
Allen Klein
Derrick Pillage
Greg Schmidt
Mark Banchik
Samuel J. Pezzillo
Andrew McFarlane
LEGAL COUNSEL:
Robert J. Horn, Jackson Lewis LLP, 10701 Parkridge Blvd., Suite
300, Reston VA 20191
Application for Membership
Applicant to provide two references, philatelic preferred.
Applicants under the age of 18 must be guaranteed by parent or guardian.
Page 84
airPoSt JourNal
American Air Mail Society
continental air mail became intertwined with global armed conflict.
The reality was that the United States Navy commanded foreign
flights domiciled at New York, and the War Department ran the Miami
and
Subscriptions
terminus. We oughtMembership
to understand
why
private carriers retained their
Annual
membership
dues
for
new
members,
includes
a subscripautonomy, or at least to realize that this was anwhich
unusual
development.
tion toBear
the Airpost
Journal
is $30 domestic,
$40civilian
Canada,
$50military
Mexico alike,
and
in mind
that nearly
every flight,
and
worldwide.
carried as much air mail as $60
available
space allowed, in the following
All foreign dues
include
airmail
order of importance:
Official
mail, first-class
V-Mail (after
Juneshipment.
15, 1942), air mail
letters up to two ounces (both military and civilian) and parcels when
Publication
allowed.
Monthly
Official
Publication:
Airpost
Journal
Finally, I must address the
controversial
aspects.
Editor Of
andthe
Advertising:
Vickie
Canfield
Peters,
11911
E.one
Connor
Road,
15 routes listed in Crotty’s catalog, only
is the
subject
Valleyford
WA 99036
([email protected])
of noteworthy
controversy
— Route
6, known to the Post Office Department and therefore to collectors as Foreign Air Mail route No. 22. Not by
Committee
coincidence, it’s the onePublications
route for which
nearly all the flight data are
Chairman:
Jim
Graue,
11911
East
Connor
Road,more
Valleyford
99036 and
missing, providing opportunities to speculate
than toWA
analyze,
([email protected])
to publish
assertions as though they were weighty deductions.
Crotty has provided factual information that he and others have
Member
Services The chapter of his catalog
been able to uncover in 70 years
of searching.
that concerns Route 6 presents an even-handed overview of the few facts
Auction
Manager:
Donsurrounding
Lussky, 1332it,
N.but
Webster
Naperville
IL 60563
and
the many
disputes
in mySt.,
opinion
still falls
short
in teaching a reader about the gallantry and heroism of the Pan Am
Publications
Sales Manager:
Greg Schmidt, 1978 Fox Burrow Court,
crews
who operated
it.
Neenah
WI 54956 column
([email protected])
(This
is an occasional
bringing attention to articles about aerophilately
that appear in other journals. Copies of the complete articles
Merchandise
Sales
Manager:
J.L.American
Johnson,Philatelic
Jr., 248 Shore
Ave.,Library
Eastern
can usually be
obtained
from the
Research
in
Point, Groton CT 06340
([email protected])
Bellefonte,
Pennsylvania.)
Historian:
Len Lukens.
4601presents
South Pacific
Highway,
OR
Christer
Brunström
a nice
overview#2,
ofPhoenix
the semi-official
97535 stamps of Canada in the December issue of Gibbons Stamp
airmail
Monthly. They began with the Laurentide Air Service in 1924 and lasted
Secretary:
Rudy
Roy, to
P.O.
Box 5367,
Virginia
Beachroutes
VA in
10Membership
years until Canada
Post
decided
finance
Canadian
airmail
23471-0367
([email protected])
1934. Examples the authors show include Northern Air Service, ElliotFairchild, Patricia Airways, Western Canada Airways, Yukon Airways
Webmaster:
David
Crotty ([email protected])
and
Exploration
Company,
Patricia Airways, British Columbia Airways,
Klondike Airways, Cherry Red Airline, Commercial Airways and CanaConvention
dian
Airways.Coordinator: Ken Sanford, 613 Championship Drive, Oxford
CT 06478-3128
Benjamin([email protected])
R. Beede continues his series on the World War II air-
mail admission stamps of Germany with part 5 in the December German
Advance
Service
Postal Specialist. He shows
someBulletin
examples
on cover to neutral countries
February 2014
Page 85
AAMS Membership Report
and a number of late uses of the stamps from 1944 and 1945.
In the September issue of The Canadian Aerophilatelist, editor
Chris Hargreaves expands on the mysterious boxed handstamp marking
containing the letters D.w. and found on Canadian airmail covers in the
period 1930-1932. He shows another dozen examples and describes features of the covers, with the hope that the reason for the marking might
be found. Thus far the explanation has eluded collectors.
In the December issue of the same journal Duff Malkin shows an
airmail QSL postal stationery card sent to him in Vancouver from the
Solomon Islands in 1992. David Reynolds reports that he recently purchased about 200 Canada first flight covers addressed to a Miss L. Gourley in Moncton, spanning the years 1929-1935. He asks if readers have
similar covers that would provide further insight as to her cover activities.
The December issue of Air Force Magazine has a brief item
about the “first official airmail flight” on September 23, 1911. Earle
Ovington received the airmail bag from NYC postmaster Edward Morgan and U.S. postmaster general Frank Hitchcock at Garden City, New
York. He flew two miles to Mineola in a Bleriot XI, descended to 500 feet
and tossed out the bag, which split open on impact. However, the letters
and cards were retrieved and delivered.
A. Don Jones raises and answers several questions in the January
U.S. Stamp News. He first asks what the official designation was for the
first six Curtiss aircraft that flew mail on May 15, 1918. They were
referred to as JN6 but were different from earlier Jennies in that they had
a modified forward cockpit in order to accommodate the mail, and they
had oil and fuel tanks added that enabled them to fly from Washington
address Changes requested
When relocating, please provide as much notice as
possible in order to keep your Airpost Journal coming in a
timely manner. Send all address changes or corrections to
Membership secretary Rudy Roy, Box 5367, Virginia
Beach VA 23471-0367 or email
Page 86
[email protected]
airPoSt JourNal
APJ ADS
All members, including Life Members, are entitled to two free 25-word
“Wanted and Exchange” notices per
year in the APJ Ads section of the
Journal.
RATES
TWENTY CENTS PER WORD.
Minimum $5 per insertion.
Remittance must accompany order
and copy. The Airpost Journal, 11911
E. Connor Road, Valleyford WA
99036. Ads can also be emailed to
[email protected].
Ads must be received by first
of the month preceding publication
date.
FOR SALE
YOU NEED? Flights: US pioneer,
crash, SH, TO, FAM, CAM,
NAMW, Jet, Deds, Canada 1926-42,
Zeppelin, glider, catapult, balloon,
rocket. Nonflight: FDC, ads, polar,
ships, WWI & II &Civil War, Wells
Fargo, Christmas. Tell me your
interests; I’ll get you my lists.
Thanks. Mike Rossman, PO Box
189, Occidental, CA 95465-0189 or
[email protected]
2/14
***
AEROGRAMMES for sale from all
over the world. More than 200 countries represented. Peter Fink, Restaurant Lowen, CH-9532 Rickenbach/Wil Switzerland. FAX: 011 41
AAMS EXCHANGE DEPARTMENT
BUY — SELL — WANT LIST
719124315, telephone 011 41
719233010
4/14
WANTED and EXCHANGE
WANTED: Buy or Trade Gov 117,
118, 119, 147, 161, 170. Pioneer 24,
71, 75 and 93. Jamie O'Bannon
[email protected] 502-8930863
2/14
***
CHRISTMAS greetings aerogrammes used by prisoners and military in World War II wanted. Peter
Fink, Restaurant Lowen, CH-9532
Rickenbach/Wil Switzerland. FAX:
011 41 719124315, telephone 011
41 719233010
6/14
***
LAST FLIGHT covers or scans from
Air Mail Route AM-49A (1949),
especially Fairmont WVA. Roger
Baldwin, [email protected]
2/14
***
PICTURE postcards carried on
Bermuda First Flights, preferably
with cachet. Especially want FAM
17 example. John Puzine, 13147
Preserve Court, Port Charlotte FL
33953 or [email protected] 2/14
People DO Read the Classifieds . . . You Are!
February 2014
Page 87
to New York
via Philadelphia.
John Johnson sent this copy of a USPOD notice with a note:
His
second
question
many #6
and #10
car”My last .02 included.”
This was
was how
the official
spelling
of covers
airmail,were
at least
according
Postmaster
General
Harry
S. New.
This
announcement
ried
on the to
January
15, 1918
Columbia
Country
Club
flight?
Most were
appeared inthe
thesmaller
July 1924
Bulletin.
apparently
sizePostal
but there
were also a few larger #10s that
have a country club cachet on the front and a Red Cross label on the
Page 88
airPoSt JourNal