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The Origins of Aerial Posts
The pigeon, and especially the balloon post, represent the earliest methods of mail transport by air. These methods of transportation, however, did not last long, as they were unsuitable as a reliable means of mass transportation. Airmail started to develop only after the introduction of efficient flying machines, of aeroplanes and airships.
The origins of airmail services date back to the year 1911. Mail carried on such ‘trial flights’ was either franked with normal stamps or special private labels. The letters and postcards were stamped with commemorative postmarks and cachets, and frequently signed by the pilot. For some flights, special postcards were printed, for instance for the flights from London to Windsor in 1911, or for the flights of the aeroplane Gelber Hund (Yellow Dog) in 1912 in Germany. As the aeroplanes were very fragile, only small loads could be carried.
Regular airlines were opened after the First World War. On 20 March, 1918, even before the war was over, the first regular airmail service was started on the Austrian line Vienna-Cracow-Lemberg-Proskurow-Kiev. Italy was the first in the world to produce airmail stamps. On 20 May, 1917, an express delivery stamp was issued with an overprint for the trial airline Torino-Rome. In June, another express stamp was overprinted for the trial airmail service Naples-Palermo, served by seaplanes.
More and more special flights were undertaken and regular airlines opened. The custom of issuing special stamps, often overprints, commemorative cancellations and special airmail covers and cards for first flights of new lines – and for some special flights – was kept as a tradition dating back to the times of pioneer flights.
In a special section of their own are the catapult flights of the twenties. Large transatlantic boats carried an aeroplane which took off when the boat reached a safe distance from land. The planes carried airmail which thus arrived much sooner than if it had traveled the whole way by boat. Airmail carried by catapult flights was marked by special postmarks and cachets. As planes were soon able to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, catapult mail items became obsolete.
Zeppelin posts are practically a closed sector. The slow and rather unsafe Zeppelins were soon superseded by aeroplanes although they played a significant role in the development of airmail services between the two world wars. Many countries issued special Zeppelin stamps and documentary postmarks and cachets were used for individual flights.
Helicopter mail services were originally established for special occasions, for example stamp exhibitions, and were more an attraction for visitors and acted as an additional source of income. In 1950, Belgium issued a charity stamp for the inauguration of the Helicopter Airmail Service. In 1962, Czechoslovakia issued a helicopter label on which there was no value printed. Nevertheless, it was sold at the post office counters at the World Stamp Exhibition PRAGA 1962 for fifty hellers and paid the additional postage for the transportation of mail carried by helicopter.
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