SOUVENIRS OF AIR MAIL

Evening Star, Issue 22440, 10 September 1936, Page 2

SOUVENIRS OF AIR MAIL

WHAT AN EXPERT SAYS Public interest in air transport, not only in the British Isles, but throughout the Empire, is illustrated by the hobby of making souvenir collections of air mail covers carried by pioneer Empire services. A representative collection of such flown covers tells in its own fascinating way the whole story of the development of the flying mails which now connect the Homeland with Egypt, India, Africa, Malaya, Hong Kong, and Australia. Throughout the dominions and colonies, at the present time, there is a keen and growing interest in the collection of data connected with the Empire air mails. The collection of air mail stamps and covers, though a comparatively recent hobby on anything like a widespread scale, has, during the past few years, been going ahead by leaps and bounds. It was in 1925 that Messrs Harmcr, stamp auctioneers and philatelic experts, held in London a pioneer auction of air stamps and flown covers. “ Since then,” explains a member of this firm, “ Jiipre and more collectors

| have been turning their attention I to the air. There is a romance about the flying mail which appeals to the imagination. Here—just to take an example—is one of the actual letters which Harry Hawker carried with him in his aeroplane when he made the first attempt to fly non-stop across the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland. That flight, you may remember, ended in a forced descent in mid-At-lantic. Hawker and his navigator were lucky enough to be rescued by a small steamer, but their abandoned aeroplane, containing a bag of special mails, floated about derelict in the Atlantic till it was sighted and salved by another vessel. And now take another glance at this letter. You will see how it has been stained by the salt water during its immersion in the _ Atlantic—a sufficiently dramatic reminder of one of the greatest adventures of the air. “ One of the most intriguing stories of the air mail concerns a remarkable error that was made in America in 1919; They had decided to print some special stamps for the transcontinental service, and in one sheet of 100 stamps an aeroplane forming the centre of the design was inadvertantly printed upside-down. The sheet containing this error was actually issued, the stamps passing into circulation. When, however, the mistake

became apparent, the interest of collectors was naturally aroused. Some i of the stamps that had been on that particular sheet could not be traced, but those which were available soon had a value of about £SO apiece; while to-day, when any of them come into the market, they are worth approximately £6OO each. “Atlantic "flight souvenirs always prove coveted specimens in the albums of collectors. Rare and much-prized are certain covers prepared in connection with the Martinsdye Atlantic . attempt of 1919. So, too, are Alcock | and Brown and Hawker covers; also letters carried bv our Atlantic-flying British airship R 34, in 1919. Other outstanding items in the view of collectors' are stamps issued, in Newfoundland in connection with the Marquis de_ Pinedo’s world flight, and covers carried by Ross Smith and Keith Smith in their famous pioneer flight to Australia. “ Air mail experiments in England have produced souvenir letters _ and cards which collectors are increasingly keen to have in their possession. Much in demand are letters and cards carried by Mr Grahame-White when he made the first test in this country in mail transport by aeroplane. That was in 1910 A year later came the lirst officially-sanctioned air mail ex- ' perimont jn this country. This took

place between Hendon and Windsor, and a specially-prized item, among the letter and cards flown on that occasion, is a violet-coloured card which was carried in a special bag containing greetings sent by privileged participators in this Hendon-Windsor test. Other items collectors like to see in their albums are cards carried by the 1 Wake Up England * water planes which were making demonstrations at many points round Britain just before the war.”