IBPOST OIJBNAL

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VOLUME 28, NO. 7 APRIL. 1957

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THE AMERICAN

AIR MAIL SOCIETY A Non-Profit Corporation

Incorporated 1944 Organized 1923 Under the Laws

of Ohio

PRESIDENT Rafael Oriol Merced 307

Habana, Cuba SECRETARY-TREASURER

John J. Smith Ferndale & Emerson Sts.

Philadelphia 11, Pa. SALES MANAGER Herman Kleinert 213 Virginia Ave.

Fullerton, Pa. VICE-PRESIDENTS

Bernard Davis Florence L. Kleinert

Robert W. Murch Perham c. Nahl

EDITOR - Other Publications L. B. Gatchell

ATTORNEY George D. Kingdom

DmECTOR OF FOREIGN RELATIONS

Dr. Max Kronstein AUCTION MANAGER Samuel S. Goldsticker

EXCHANGE DEPARTMENT Each member is entitled to two

25-word Exchange Notices per year in the Official Publication, without charge. Address direct to the publication office at Al­bion, Pennsylvania.

ADVANCE BULLETIN SERVICE Grace Conrath, Mgr.

1133 Kerry Lane, Erie, Pa. A regular service to those

members who provide a supply of self-addressed Government Postal Cards.

MEMBERSHIP DUES $3.00 PER YEAR

Dues include subscription to THE AIRPOST JOURNAL. Ap­plicants must furnish two ref­erences, philatelic preferred. At least one must reside in Appli­cant's home town. Applicants under 21 years must be guar­anteed by Parent or Guardian. Membership may be terminated by the Society in accordance with its By-Laws.

Correspondence concerning ad­vertising, subscriptions, back numbers and bound volumes, address changes and other mat­ters and all remittances should be sent to the Business Mana­ger. All general editorial copy and communications should be

sent to the Editor.

APRIL, 1957

-tie~IBPOST · ~~;;-OlJBNAL

Official Publication of the AMERICAN AIR MAIL SOCIETY

Volume 28 No. 7 Issue No. 324

CONTENTS ... for April, 1957

Articles AAMS Convention f'o be

al: United Nations ........................ .

Who Was Jacob C. Ellehammer?

Dear Editor -

Aboui Basil Rowe's "Under My Wings" ................................... .

Richard E. Byrd, U.S.N. Retired

Across The Ocean On Wings Of Sieam ·---·····

Navy Dirigible S:tays Aloft 11 Days

Regular Features Just A Minute -

C.A.M. Cover Notes

Aero Posfal Stationery Notes

U.S. Government Operated

195 198 203

205 207

211

216

206

214 219

Air Mail Service ... ,....... ........... 221

EDITOR .T oseph L. Eisendrath, Jr.

350 No. Deere Park Drive, Highland Park, ill. ASSISTANT EDITORS

Alton J. Blank Robert W. Murch Ernest A. Kehr L. B. Gatchell

BUSINESS MANAGER Grace P. Conrath

1133 Kerry Lane, Erie, Pa. DEPARTMENT AND ASSOCIATE EDITORS

R. Lee Black, Alton J. Blank, Francis J. Field, F. W. Kessler, Florence L. Kleinert, Dr. Max Kronstein. Thomas J. O'Sullivan, Richard L. Singley, William R. Ware, Sol Whitman, James

Wotherspoon, William T. Wynn

Published monthly at Albion, Erie Co., Pa.,U.S.A. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office

at Albion, Pa., February 10, 1932, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

The AIRPOST JOURNAL is not conducted for profit. The Editor, Business Manager, and all others serve without compensation. Receipts from advertising, subscriptions and contribu­tions are applied to the betterment of the magazine and the promotion of aero-philately. The Editor and Officers of The American Air Mail Society assume no responsibility for the accuracy of statements made by contributors. Every effort is mane to insure correctness of

all articles. Subscription Rates: $3.00 per year, 25c per copy

Advertising Rate Card available from Business Manager

PA:GE 193

OFFICIAL SECTION AMERICAN AIR MAIL SOCIETY

MONTHLY REPORT ...

From the Secretary John J. Smith, Ferndale & Eme:r'sO!l1, PhiJ.adelphia 11, Pa.

April 1, 1957

NEW MEMBERS

4358 Van Taunay, James, 3 East 80th Street, New York 21, N. Y.

4359 Langabeer, James S., 20 William Denny Ave .. Grey Lynn, Auckland W. 2, New Zealand

4360 Cornelius, John C., 2309 Irving Ave. So., Minneapolis, Minn..

4361 Thill, Raymond, 19 rue J. P. Bausch, Rumelange, Luxemburg

4362 Gould, Burton E. Jr., 126 West Street, Winchendon, Mass.

4363 Cole, Howard F., 4102 S. Lipton Avenue, St. Francis 7, Wis.

4364 Richroath,. Donald G., 233 Battery Avenue, Brooklyn 9, N. Y

4365 MacFarland, Hamilton, Box 13771, Dallas 24, Texas

/ NEW LIFE MEMBER

LM76 Kaufman, Harold N., Box 2506, San Juan 11, Puerto Rico

NEW APPLICATIONS

Hickersen, Alvan W. Jr., 1141 E. Broadway, Louisville 4 Ky. Age 42. storekeeper ID by John J. Smith

Rosser, Bernard S., 201 Stuart St., Boston 16, Mass. Age 38. Office Mgr. FF GF CAM FAM by John J. Smith

Holmes, D. c., 836 Marshall, 'Vebster Groves, Mo. Age 57. Postal Clerk. AM AU AS SC by John J. Smith

King, Oscar E., Box 39, Fly, Ohio. Age 52. Electrician. PC HC FF GF CAM FAM OF Z EX by George E. Myers

NEW ADDRESS

Lee, Ralph L., 2600 Pilgrim Road. Brookfield, Wis.

Bonnell, Arnold R., R. F. D. #2, Altha, Fla.

Haring, Robert E., Box 411, Waynesboro, Va.

Bowman, Bliss R., 8191 Chatham, Detroit 39, Mich.

Clark, Stewart, 15 Philip Ct., Elyria, Ohio

Dalwick, R. E. R. Dixholme, Churt, Surrey, England

DECEASED

Bloch, Max, New York, N. Y:

PAGE 194 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

Am.eriean Air ltlail Soeiety's 1957 Convention To Be Held At United Nations May 25, 26, 27 President Rafael Oriol has issued a

call for the 34th Annual Convention of the American Air iMail Society on 1Saturday, Sunday and iMonday, May 25th, 26th and 27th, 1957 to be held at the UNITIDD NATIONS, New York. In announcing .this annual conclave the points out that once again, the American Air Mail Society is adding international atmosphere to its meeting 'by centering its conven­tion program at the United Nations, having twice previously met in Can­ada and Cuba.

New UN Air Mail Sl:amp and Stationery on May 27l:h

The United Nations, ,through Reid­ar Tvedt, Chief of ,the United Na­tions -Postal Administration, have an­nounced the issuance of a ne;w four cent air mail stamp and a _new four cent air mail postal card on May 27th, the last day of the society meet­ing. Bernard Davis, Vice...President of the A. A. M. 1S., has already con­ferred with Mr. Tvedt >and has re­ceived his promise of full co-opera­tion by the United Nations with our convention program as is outlined ibelow.

Convention Commil:tee. The Convention Arrangements

Committee is ·compased of L. iB. Gat­chell, Upp€r Montclair, N. J., Ber­nard Davis, Phifadelphia, Pa., John J. Smith, iPhiladelpMa, Pa., Mrs. Lou­ise Hoffman, New York City, and George D. Kingdom, Conneaut, Ohio. The committee has made tentative plans for the convenUon program which will be >announced in detail very shortly and by direct letter to all members of the society. First Day of Convention, May 25th, Saturday.

The morning will be devoted to

APRIL, 1957

• registration of attending members and the Convention headquaDters Will ·be established in the !Hotel Lexing­ton, 48th Street and Lexington Ave., New York City. This hotel has been selected because of its proximity to the United Naitions, being within easy walking distarnce.

At two p. m. in a Conference Room at the United Nations building, the United Nations Postal Administration will officially open its special Air Mail Exhibition in connection with the American Air Mail Society Con­vention and the society will hold its opening convention ceremony which will be followed immediately 'by a business session o'f the convention.

The annual convention banquet" will be at ,the Hotel Lexington <at sev~ en p. m. Saturday evening.

Second Day of Convenl:ion, May 26l:h, Sunday.

At two p. m. there will be a spe­cially escorted four of the United Na­tions for the American Air iMail So­ciety members.

On Sunday as well as Saturday, the postal facilities of the United Naitions will be open >and also, the gift and souvenir shops and the book store. It is expected thait the most eomplete work yet published 'by the United Naitions about its various postal is­sues wiU ibe available in the book store at a nominal cost.

Third Day of Convenl:ion, May 27th, Monday.

At eleven a. m. the society will convene in one of the Cotllilcil Cham­bers at the United Nations to parti­cipate in ceremonies for ithe first day of issue of .the new four cent air mail stamp and the new four cent air mail postal card. Reidar Tvedt, Chief of the United Nations Postal Adminis-

PAGE '195

tl'ation, will arrange to have s'Ulpply of the stamps and cards available in the council chamber for those at­tending the ceremony and also, will supply a hand stamp cancellation for the postmarking of first day covers. A suitable program iwill 'be presented under the auspices of the American Air 'Mail 'Society and in co~operation with the United Naitions Postal Ad­mL'listration. It is important to stress here that admission to this ceremony, to the luncheon foll01Wi!ng, and to the opening session of the con­vention (held at the United Nations) will be effected only 'by an admis­sion card, because .these meeting places are in a· restricted area of the United Nations building. The method of securing •admission cards will be announced later; however, if you are certain that you will want an ad­nrlssion card, write Geo. D. Kingdom, P. O. Box 37, Conneaut, Ohio and your name will 1be listed for this pur­pose.

Immediately following the first day of issue ceremony, a luncheon will be held in the Delegates' Dining Area of the UniJted Nations, at approximately 12:30 p. m. This luncheon iwill be by subscription and reservations can be secured by writing to ·Mr. Kingdom.

SOUVENIR Folder of New Air Mail Issues.

Tihe United Nations Postal Admin­istratfon 1and the American Air Mail Society co-operatively iwill publish a special souvenir folder in commem­oration of .the issuance of the new four cent air mail stamp and ihe new air mail postal card. The folder will inclU:de a mint imprint block of six of the new air mail stamps as well as a mint copy of the new air mail postal card plus· pertinent data con­cerning these new issues. This !hand­some ·souvenir will be a1 lbeautimul em­.bellishment for every United Nations stamp and stationery .collection. ~he price of the folder complete will ibe one dollar ($1.00) and orders can now be sent to Mr. John J. Smith, Secy.­Treas. of the AA•MS, Ferndale and

PAGE 196

Emerson Streets, Philadelphia 11, Pa.

Unil:ed Nations Air Mail Exhibition.

Mr. Tvedt, Chief of the U. N. Post­al Administration, has announced that during ithe three days of our convention, in the lobby of the U. N. Secretariat Building, a special exhi­bition of the 1air mail issues of the United Nations will 'be displayed to­gether with other interesting collat­eral material perfaining to them.

Hotel Lexington Room Reservations.

Those desiring to stay at the Hotel Lexington can make room reserva­tions direct with the hotel, or Mr. Kingdom will mail you a hotel reser­vation card. In making direct reser­vations with the hotel ·be sure to mention the A. A. M. S. Convention a•s the hotel is .blocking out a number of rooms for us.

The Convention Committee feels_ that the many interesting philatelic activities .to be available to those attending the con¥ention, has justi­fied holding of the convention on these dates, although notice is some­what shont. Gatheri'tllg over a iweek­end Shou1d work to ,the advantage of most everyone. The oommittee has purposely left considerable free time over the week-end because of the ma!!ly other interesting activities ·availa'ble to persons visiting New Y~nk City.

The United Na,tions ·Postal Admin­istration througih iMr. Tvedt, has of­fered the ·fullest cooperation to make our convention interesting and at­tractive, and the currerut popularity of U. N. postal issues should be an extra inducement for Y·OU to make a special effort to attend this year's convention.

We repeat that anyone interested in funther details or desiring reser­vations should write Geo. D. King­dm, P. O .. Box 37, Conneaut, Ohio promptly. To order the souvenir folders, contact Mr. John J. Smith, Secy.-Treas., AAMS, .Ferndale and Emerson Streets, RhiLadelphia 11, Pa.

THE .A:IRPOST JOURNAL

Besides the direct letter you will receive very short, complete details, tha1; will be spelled out in the May issue of the Airpost Journal.

Don't forget the dates ... May 25th, 26th and 27th ... the place the UNITED NATIONS,

• Irwin Heiman Sells Angers Crash Cover Collection

A recent private sale by Irwin Heiman, well-known New York deal­er, transferred the famous crash cov­er collection of Geor.ge W. Angers, Springfield, Ma'Ss., collector, com­piled over a span of more than forty years, to the Middle ·west. This col­lection, especially strong in earlier cavers, pilot au1;ograJp1hs and collat­eral material, rwas purchased by Jo­seph L. Eisendrath, Jr. of Highland Park, Illinois and rwill greatly rein­force the latter's collection. In 193·2 Eisendrath acq~ired the collection of Frank Cost•anzo of Punxsuta1Wney, Pa. At the present time his collec­tion encompasses about 350 domestic and forei:gn crashes.

Heiman will soon dispose of An­.gers' world-renowned Balloon ·Monte cover collection, probably unequalled in this country. This collection form­ed the basis for a great deal of the material in that section of the Ameri-can Air Mail Catalogue. Announce­ment of Heima1n's sale of this mate­rial will be made shortly.

• ELECTIONS ARE COMING!

President Rafael Oriol, acting un­der the conditions of the constitu­tion of the A. A. M. S., has appointed a nominating committee to select a slate of officers and directors for the next term. This committee consists of Mrs. Grace Conrath, George W. Angers and Richard L. Singley. If you have any sugigestions to offer the committee, drop them a line.

APRIL, 1957

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F. W. KESSLER 500 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK 36, N. Y.

PAGE 197

Who Was Jacob Christian Elleham1ner? By Captain John Foltman

Secretary-General, Roy.al Danish Aero Club

A Danish artisan of genius whose mind combined imagination a'1d com­mon sense, prevision and prudence, succeeded in being one of :the first to fly in a craft heavier than air. He regarded :the proof as given on Sept. 12,1906, and so was one of the first men in Europe to produce a work­able aeroplane. (We are indebted to the Roy;al Danish Ministry for For­etgn ar:fiairs for permission to reprint this article and for the pihotograpihs which are illustrated. H appeared originally in 19.56 in "Opening To­morrow's Airways," published at Copenhagen)

Ellehammer was at home .with the wind and 1Jhe wide open spaces. Dur­ing !his boyhood Ms father, ,a contract­or, carried out a big drainage rproject, and the UillU.Sed sails of the father's wind-driven pumps made admirable playthings for young Jacob Christian. With the kites of his chiJ1dihood ibegan the interest in ,flying that was to make Jacob Christian •Ellehammer one of the pioneers of aviation.

Ellehammer built ice-sledges and sailing barges, and once even a <Wind engine to drive his mother's coffee grinder. In his memoirs Jeg Floj (1 Flew, 1931), he records how, the sec­ond day, the driving cord got en­tangled in the .grinder, :flinging grind­er and berries high into the air and scattering the coffee to the winds. The use of mechanical power for grinding coffee after that <Was ban,.. ned, Ellehaimmer and his ibro1Jher being obliged to <Work the grinder again by hand.

Ellehammer's father <Was in fact a ·former ship's carpenter; Jacob Christian was born on June 14, 1871, at Bakkebolle in South Zealand.

?AGE 198

• When the boy flew his kites flyilllg was still the great unsolved prOlblem.. Apart from airship trials, the 1gfliding experiments of Otto Lilienthal iwere almost all that resembled flying. El­lehammer was to be one of the &irsit -perhaps the first in iEurope--'-to take wing in a craft heavier than air.

S:team Engine in Thimble

•Mean<While, young Ellehammer was apprenticed to a watchmaker. In his little spare time he constructed min­iature machines, culminating in a complete steam engine in a thimble, which he gave to his fiancee. It worked when a lighted match was held under it.

After serving his time he .travelled about working at his trade, in the custom of those days. But in 1889 his interest wa'S caught lby electricity, which was just then becoming iwide­spread in 'Denmark. He got a job at Professor Jur.gensen1s mechanical es­tablishment, then the most up-to­date of its kind, and ·by theoretiical and practical studies .gradually ,gain­ed a close insight into electro-mach­•anics. With a new firm he helped make the first telephones in Copen­ha>gen, and at his -next place was ev­entually put in ch;arge of ,1Jhe entire electric arc-lamp department and had 1a share in installing the first of these lamps at the phototherapeutic insti-tute ·of .the famous physician, Niels Finsen.

After completing his national ser­vice as an electrician in the Navy,. he started up on his own in 1896. In this business he prodll_ced an ex­tremely simple automatic phono­graph for use in cafes, and construct­ed induction coils and automatic X­ray apparatus. Immediately fohlow-

THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

Ellehammer flies 140 feel ai a heigh!' of 11/2 feet on Sept. 12, 1906

ing Edison'·s · invention of moving pictures, Ellehammer designed the fiTst moving-picture apparatus in Co­penhagen . •

Royal Scooter Riders

.By this time the internal combus­tion engine was coming in, and 'be­fore long he rwas busy iat his factory at 11'9 Istedgade in Copenhagen pro­ducing the Elle·ham motor-cycle, the motor scooter of those days, 1which

. reached an output of over 1,000. Tlhe motor-cyclists included !Prince Valde­mar, Prince Geong, and Prince Axel. An Elleham Club was formed among his customers.

These successes led to a revival of Ellehammer's interest in flying at the beginning of the century. After countless 1attempts he succeeded in designing and constructing the lbr.ill­liant radial engine and aeroplane which in 1906 he used for his ex-periments on the island Of Lindholm (as described in the following article by K. G. Zeuthen), and which ended triumphantly: Ellehammer took the air.

.A.PRIL, 1957

Justified Self-confidence

While reports of the American .1 triaJls of the WTight brothers !Were scarcely credited in Europe, 1Elleham­mer knew that in France 'Santos-Du­mont was experimenting with an air­craft heavier than air, and ·felt im­pelled by friendly rivalry to see who would ibe first. On September 6 the newspapers had carried a ~port,

headed "·Problem of ·Flying Solved", a bout one of Santos-Dumont's ex­perimenits vvith an aeroplane sus­pended under a balloon.

Ellehammer meant .to fly without the air of balloons, and in an inter­view with the Copenhagen Politiken on September 16 he staJted with ·great self-confidence: "It rwill no.t he from Paris hut here from Lindholm _tha the first workable airship 'Will go, out into the world." These iwer·e prowl words; 'but after a number of short hops during August and September he flew, on September 1:2, 19'06, 42 metres (138) foet) at an altitude of 1h

metre Cl 1h feet).

As at that tim1e there was no Dan -

PAGE 199

ish organization affiliated with the '.Federation Aeronautique Internation­ale, Eliliehamm<er's .flight rwas not of­ficially controlled, as •was that of Santos-Dumont on November 12, 1906.

A Jet-Propelled Helicopter

In the following years tEllehammer improved both engines and aero­planes, and flew with .them near Co­pell'hagen. Perhaps \his igreatest t ri­umph was his '11-second .filigiht at the Kiel rally in June, 1908., which is be­Jiteved to have b:een the first engine­driven flight in Germany.

In 1909 he built his standard mon­op'lane and a flying-'boat; but failing to obtain financial support, lhe dis­conitinuied the development of aero­planes. 1But he went on rwith his heli­copter experiments, ·and in 1912 con­structed the .first helicopter to leave the ground in the presence of w it­nesses. Hie als·o continuied for some years to work •with a·eroplane engines

- still the radial type.

As late as the 19·20s !he wirus experi­menting witJh a paraffin carburetor for a:eroplane engines, and in the thirties he built a model of a jet-pro­pelled helicopter employing com­pressed air.

He also applied himself with tre­mendous energy to innumerablle oth­er problems. He made postmarking machines, cigarette-case machines, steam engines, savings boxes, pumps, and foam extinguishers. In 1:910 hre constructed a motor-car equipped with an air-cooled radial engine and hydraulic coupling. During the Sec­ond World War 'he mounted an elec­tric motor in his car and charged ac­cumulators by means of a wind mo­.tor. He built high-s:peed motor boats, and he designed and construct­ed the small compressed-air boats which sail on foe lake in the Copen­hagen Tivoli G ardens to this day. Over the years he took out 400 pat­ents.

Ellehammer flies Triplane in 1907 wiih :three-cylinder Engine

PAGE 200 THE .A!IRPOST JOURNAL

His Fly~ng Boat at Copenhagen. It is not known if it ever became airborne

During the First World War he carried ·oult negotiations aibout his in­v-entions in the United States, ,with, •among others, Ford, and he visited Orville Wright. The achievements of the Wright brothers were 'by tha t time well known, and were fully recognizied by Bllehammier, who also gave credit to Lilienthal.

Praci'ical and Jovial Craftsman

·Ellehammer worked in a marked degree by means of intuition and em­.pirically. He would be heartily a:muSed rwhen ·engineers, checking one of his inventions by mathemat­icail means, came to the conclusion that it - the ·craftsman's work w as correct.

When pondering a problem he w ould forget everyithing else. He w ould work on it not only ·by day but also subconsciously by nighlt and always had a 'Pad lying ready on his bedside ta!ble .

But as soon as the prO'blem rwas solved he would take half a day off and :rel!ax and .celebrate. A plump, jovial little man, he enjoyed the p leasures -0f the tail)le. Often he

APRIL, 1957

would take his guests out into the open and sta1"1: flying a small model aeroplane which he a1ways keplt in the back of his car along with a b oomerang .

There was a time .when ~ople made f un of E/llehammer and his .fly­ing experiments; but on the tiwenty­fifth anniversary of his success he w.as the recipient of many honors, and was made honorary ·member of the present Royal Danish Aero Club and the Association of Danish Avia­tor s.

Life What You Make of It

His memoirs hegin with the motto: "Life is worthless in .ttself; it is what you makie of it. The more you make, the more it is worth living." The hook gives ifew facts about his vari­ous machines and engines, and in­d eed throughout his life he observed an inventor's caution against giving away secrets. 'But a good: many pho­tographs and a film have been pre-served, and in 1Jhe loft of his Helle~­up laboratory (dating from 1.920),

which has been carried on by his son, there is a large colliection of his in-

PAGE 201

1909 Standard Mo~c;>plane still in flying condition

ventions and models of 1them. Of the 1906 modei only 1a few ·parts remain, !but it has been reconstructed in this jubilee year.

Long before inter-continental air travel became a realtty, he ibelileved in it, although ihe thought it would he by .flying boalt. He lived to see the realization of r.egular .A!tlantic fli.gbits, and the first jet aircraft.

Ellehammer died on May 20, 1946, in his sevenJty-fifth year. An original and r·omantic figure in the history of

aviation had passed away, 1bUtt the memory of his achievement will live on.

• PITTSBURGH USES FLOATING HELIPORT

i Pittsburgh is using a portable flQating helilport to service commut­ers in towns and factories -located on the Allegheny .and Ohio rivers.

The heliport is in six sections and can be expanded to meet increased traffic. After the heliport is towed to an anchorage, a compensating stai!lWay that allows for rise and fall of the river, connects the sta.tion and the bank.

PAGE 202

Land, Sea and Air By Helicopter

• According to ma!Ily aviation ex-

perts, the answer to congested run­ways in 1big dty airpor.ts the world over, is the shuttle service offered by helicopters.

Sabena Belgian World Airlines has started such a service between .the Alice Verte Heliport · in Brussels and the Balard Heliiport in the heart of Paris.

According to Richard W. Roney, Sa:bena representative in Philiadel­phia, a fleet of eilght Sabena Sikor­sky 12-seater helicopters participated en mass in the pioneer flight. Tthere­af.ter such shuttle fli.gihts will ·be made on a regularly scheduled basis rwith connecting links all over the world's airlines.

THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

DEAR EDITOR -Or, We Get Our Ears Pinned Back

• In February 1we changed the head

of our editor's column to "'I1he Free­dom of the Press", and felt pretty good at the unusua.1 response to our stand about flattery in a book review in exchange for a free review copi of the book. We mentioned no names, but three-fourths of those who wrote us suspected •we were referring to the '~Sanabria Air Post Catalog". The Sanabria people have also seen that article and have requested us to print their side of the story. This we are doing without further comment. Fol­lowing their letter, we are quoting e:x;cerpts from some of the other let­ters we received.

March 6, 1957 Mr. Joseph L. Eisendrath, Jr., Editor Dear Sir: ·

The new caption of your column does not change the facts. The super­ficial manner whkh you adopted for reviewing our oatalogue cannot be concealed under a different cloak. Why did you avoid telling your read­ers that you •were talking atbout the Sanabria Air Post Catalogue and the Sanabria Organization?

. .AJs you saw fit to bring this matter into print apparently in •an effor.t to wash your hands, I trust that since .both you and I cherish the same "Freedom of the Press" you •will be kind enough to print this 1.etter in full in the for.thcoming edirtiQIIl. of "our" Journal.

1 Your con'tention that compliment­~ary copies of catalogues are sent to editors ,for their inspection is a:bout the only correct thing thait I can draw from your article. You further state "then .the editor prepares a review for his readens". Yet you admit hav­ing merely added 1a few words to our press release. . Do you rea1ly think, Mr. Eisendrath, that this rwas :fair to your readers? The Amerkan Air Mail 'Society is one of rthe outstand­ing organizations in the field and in

APRIL, 1957

my opinion members deserve a more thorough review of the only up-to­date air post catalogue published in this country.

My criticism was of your obvious lack of interest. You did not even "peruse" the catalogue. iI clearJ.y wrote you in my first letter tha:t I did not expect a "banged-up" job of praise. On the contrary, one O"f your predecessors usually added caustic comments to things he did not like but he did a good job, which he could not have done without .girving the cat­alogue a thorough look-see, inde­·pendent of any press release.

Wh1le claiming "Freedom of tlhe Press" you suppress information to your readers. In the commentary you say: "we could have given this cata­logue a real panning, but actually we thought their press release covered it pretty well". How ridiculous a state­ment can you make? I cer:tainly did not pan the catalogue in my press re­lease.

Your assumption that we peillaliz­ed the Society by cutting advertising due to our not liking your review is the apex of misstatements. The fact is that we temporarily suspeinded ad­vertising in all publications at the same time, as most of the oatafogue's first printing was sold.

Sincerely yours, Nicolas Sanabria Co., iinc.

Robeli J. Lyon, Editor. Sanabria's Air Bost Catalogue.

Quotable quotes from readers: "Of course I absolutely agree with

you on your "Freedom of the Press" stand."

"Got a bang out of your editorial on the lbook review. You may get discouraged at .this type of .thing but it makes you outstandiing in your field and dealers and collectors look up 'to you all the more for taiking

PAGE 203

such a stand."

"As a m€1Ilber of the A. A. M. S. and the comm.unity of stamp collect­ors, I iwant to congratula te you on your fine article 'The ,Freedom of the Press' in the February issue. You present the situation i!n an exce1lent manner and do jus tice 1to the !honor of journalists and philatelists. l am proud to be associated with you through the Airpost Journal."

"Too long h as .the philatelic world worked on the assumption that the distribuition of a free copy automatic­ally calls for a ·big •blurb ... not ev­eryone likes to lb.ear mutual adora­tion society adulation all 1Jhe time."

• WE GOOFED!

In .the !February i!ssue rwhen we in­cluded an up-to-date supplement of air letter sheets (aerogrammes) issued to the end of 1956, we indicated re­print copies could be obtained with­out charge from Richard L. Singley, of Lancaster,. Penna. Besides Singley we should have said a pos1Jcard to Walter R. Guthrie, specialist dealer in this m aterial, addressed to him at Sea Cliff, New York, would bring a copy by return mail. Sol Whitman, who aided in the compilation of this list, whose address is 1460 Taylor Ave., New York 60, N. Y. can supply this, too.

Incidentally, if you don't have the odginal catalogue, which describes and prices all previous air letter sheets, ·any of these men can supply it ··for $3. It's worth having.

FOREIGN USED AIRMAILS The 1957 Annual Price & Check List

NOW available for 75c which 75c is de­ductible from the first order of $5.

Supplements and Philatelic Trends

FREE for 1957 with each list. £ GEORGE HERZOG INC. 68 Nassau St., N Y c 38

PAGE 204

COSTES & LEBRIX FLIGHT OF 1928

The undersigned has for sale. and solicits correspondence re 10 covers wiht 3 photos of this flight.

Costes & Lebrix flew from Parts to Paris, (exceptini:- the Pacific Ocean) stoppini:- at Caracas, (Venezuela) Sha· ron, (Pennsylvania) Detroit, Chicago,

San Francisco, Tokyo, and back Paris. I cannot say which segments were ac­

tually flown, except from Sharon, (Pa.)

to San Francisco. Some covers auto­graphed, Caracas has "Costes & Le­brix" incorporated in the postmark.

The plane was named the "Nungesser­Coli." early and well known names in

Aviation history.

Who Wants These?

PAUL P. WENTZ,

3880 Dixie canyon Ave., Sherman Oaks, Calif.

• AIRMAILS

Mint and Used and on Covers of

GREECE & Ionian· Islands

Also Errors

Wanilisis Completed

P. J. DROSSOS 1 St. Denys Place

Athens. Greece

THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

About Basil Rowe's "Under My Wings" By Richard L. Singley

• We have just read this adventur­

ous autobiography of the .foremost airline pilot in the w01~ld, Capt. !Ba­sil L. Row e (The Bobbs~Merrill Co. of New York and Indianapolis). Else­where in this issue of the Airpost Journal, Editor Joe EisendraJth has reviewed the book, but rwe would like to add our few words of praise, not only for the •book, but for the man himself,

H was the wrU.er:s good fortune to become acquainted with Capit. Rowe when he was ex1tending the airlines of Pan American Ah"Way:s from Mi­ami to Puerto Rico and beyond, and for this reason ''N€ deem it a privi­lege to write these words about the man who introduced aviation ito Lat­in America. Basil 'became one of the earliest members of ithe American Air Mail Society (membership 407) and is the type of collector who ser­vices his own covers and 1goes all out to help the other fellow. His help was invaluable when we rwere writ­ing the American Airmail Catalogue, for more .than once he ref erred to his log ·book for pertinent information which helped to make the catalogue the outstanding authentk work in our field.

APRiiL, 1957

In the first part of his book, he re­lates his early barn torming experi­ences and its :characters are a "Who's Who in Aviation". His stories of the West Indian Aerial Express Lines which he formed, and the early days of Pan American Aimvays will thri.11 every collector ·who ever sent or col­lected an F. A. M. cover. The remain­der of '.hi 'book tells of his adventures during World War II and his par­ticipaition in the Korean Air Lift.

Our friendship with iBas11 Rowe spans a period of thirty years and- in all this time, notMng was ever too much trouble for him. If you wanted co\ ers posted from some obscure place or wanted -cover·s autographed by the inaugural pilot, he w·as the man to do it. As he points out in his book, many times aifter he landed in M~ami or San Francisco · he rwould spend the next <lay fulfilling the re­quests of some person stationed on isolated outposts. Those were the days l\:vhen ocean flying meant mere­ly island hopping.

However, the tale of the exploits around Santo Domingo, ·Port-au­Prince and San Juan will ibe of great-est interest to the average collector.

PAGE .205

The .book is by no means dry read­ing, for there 1are many amusing in­cidents related iby '.Rowe. For ex­ample, lhe folls abcrut the time he once flew a rplane into a dirigible hangar, expecting to fly out .the oth­er side - and met a Navy crew bringing a blimp through the oppo­site door. He reveals the standard tricks crew members usually play on each other, •and especially on new airline hostesses.

'Basil has flown just about every­•thing with wings and :has flown ev­erytWhere i.n his forty years of flying. His .amazing and eventful life is well told in this new ·book which every collector should add to his library and which makes you feel ithat in some measure YOU added something to aero-philatelic history.

W.e 'believe we are safe in saying that this is the first book .to show a real picture of what the pilot of a big passenger airliner actually does -and to . present a dear understanding of the kind of man who makes such ;:i fine pilot.

'Happy Landings, Basil!"

• ABOUT OUR COVER

N osta1gic indeed, is this old Jenny that for so long carried our mail in the early twenties. These open bi­planes performed unbelievable ac­complishments at the infancy of our air mail system. Observe closely the 1925 transc~ntinental route with iits multitude of stops, and look at the spider web of other mail routes shortly to 'begin operation. Then com­pare this spindly netwo11k with the blanket of multitudinous routes to­day. Our illustrations come from the National Geograiphic ·Magazine in one of their summer numbers of 1925. Many issues of the Geographic con­tain amazing stories of our early air mail routes and are embellished with many contempomry photographs of scenery, planes, pilots and airports,

PAGE 206

On March 10th we had the privi­'lege of attendim.g a meeting of offi­cers and directors of ·our Society in New York. Fourteen of your elected officials, 1headed by President Oriol, who came from Havana, Cuba, for this meeting, spent .their time and money to tend the affairs of our So­ciety. Vile were much impressed at the earnestness and thoughtful dis­cussion on the many topics brought up - and our reaction is that our Society is in good hands.

Much time was spent on the fin­ancing prdblems that face us. Vari­ous suggestions were advanced, but the most equitable method of proper fund r.aising seems to 1be to naise our dues, which are now $3.00. The de­cision was made to have .the mem-. bership vote at the time of the com­ing annual meeting to esta1blish the dues at $4.00 per year. This slight increase will enable the Ai.rpost Journal to maintain its present size and readability. About .two~.thirds of the income of the sqciety is used for the Journal - and we call your par­ticular attention to the statement on the masthead pa•ge that "The Airpost Journal is not conducted for profit. The editor, business mana.ger and all others serve without compensation." Furthermore, many who attended this meeting came long distances and gave of their .time, ar.nd will not be reimbursed for their expenses.

Of importance among other busi­ness matters taken up, were diccus­sions a'bout the time and iplace of the coming convention, appointment of a nominating committee to pick candi­dates for our official :£amily for the next two years, and the probable date of issuance of the new catalogue sup­plement. Look for information in these columns on these matters with­in a short time.

THE .Ai!RPOST JOURNAL

Richard Evelyn Byrd, USN Retired •

It is •with a great deal of sadness that we r.ecovd the passing of Ad­miral Byrd on 'MaTch nth, the result of a .heart attaiok, at the age of 68. Not only was he a .greait polar explor­er and adventurer, buit he contdbuted much to aerophilately. A list of his accomplishments is .the story of an amazing man. To cite only ·a few -not the first man to reach either pole, but the first to fly over both Norith and South Poles; one of the firs:t t o attempt a non-stop tr.ans.aHantic fl1ght the moillth after Lindbergh's solo mgM in 1927 - a flight that ended on the beach of the English Channel on the French .coast; leader of seve1..,al Arctic and ~ntarctic ex­peditions during one of rwhich he spent severa-1 months alane in the icy wastes, recording scientific darta and ohse!'."ying .the endumnce of the human •body under such desolate conditions.

Few knew that in 1'921 he ·was ito have accompanied the English dir­igible ZR-2 to the United 'States, and that he arrived on the field just as the airship took o.f.f on 1What was to be its 1as.t trngic flight. He also !be­lieved that under the great glacial ice of Antar.ctica will be found traces of an unknown civilizaltion and sug;gest­ed .an atomic bomb ibe dropped to dis­sipate the ice foT exploring pur-poses.

He .was a good and kindly man -very friendly with a .good sense of humor. He rwas always car.dial •and cooper.aitive to stamp collectors and without hesitation auto.graphed cov ­ers he had carried for this writer. His trips to rt:he polar regions were airways followed avidly by stamp collectors, and the issuance of a special stamp and commemorative sheet 1by the United !States Government was in­deed a -compliment to his accomp­lishments.

It will be a long time uTIJtil another sudh man comes along!

APRlL, 1957

Be Sure

To Attend

The A.A.M.S.

CONVENTION

At The United

Nations, May

25th To 27th,

See Page 197 For

Information

PAGE 297

Around The World Where Do You Live?

All around :the world, s:tamp collectors, philatelists, cover collect­ors and just plain old fashioned hobbyists look to Long 1·0 supply :their needs.

By mail, we can furnish your needs in albums, books, Catalogs, and supplies •.• and in many cases can help you build your collectio~ :too. Specializing in airmail covers for more than 30 years, for in­stance, we have a large and varied stock and while we can't always dig up that one tlone cover you've been hunting since boyhood, we can undoubtedly help you if you have an aciive int·erest in actually building a collection!

Mention your AAMS number and ask for your require­ments "on approval". True, we have a few lists of such things as mint US stamps, albums, supplies, etc., but as a general rule, lists of covers are not helpful as most covers must be seen to be appreciated • • .and many are .unique or at least . not available in quantifies!

In addition ......... we handle many fine collections, slocks and estates each month in our Monthly Mail Auction Sales. More than 290 of these monthly sales assure you :that you may look for accurat·e descriptions, careful cataloguing and complete satis­faction in your dealings with "The Department St'ore of Philately".

Aak for the current Auction Catalogue if you think you would be interested (assuming you're not on our regular mailing list for these Sales). Loads of airpost items appear in every sale!

So, no matter where you live, you will .receive prompt and care­ful attention to your inquiries!

11THE DEPARTMENT STORE OF PHILATELY"

IELlUER Ro LO~G PAGE 208 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

A Home For Your Covers We carry a complete line of available Albums suitable for the

mouniing of vour covers.

Included in this field is :the Elbe line of Scrap Book type albums as well as pocket envelope types. In the lai'ter field, we meniion these three popular styles: Elbe #270 Complete 4 inch post mechanism wi:th 100 "crystal-clear" envelopes (acetate) 4 x BV:z inches each, holding 1 :to 2 covers

$4.00

Elbe #272 Complete as above bu:t with black leaves along with the "crystal-clear" 200 envelopes, capacity 200 to 400 covers $11.00

Elbe #273 Complete as above, with 300 "crystal-clear" (acetate) envelopes holding 300 to 600 standard size (or smaller)

$15.00

We also have the very popular "Allsyte" Cover Album made by White Ace. These are very sturdy, offer an excellen.f way of displaying your first day or flight covers and have proven very popular with many collectors.

Each album holds 100 covers in "crystal-clear" protective acetate pages which operate on a "flip over" style and make an a:l::l:ractive and beautiful display. Gold stamped cover $8.25

Matching "Dust Case" for :this album $1.65 Well, you· may wish to keep your cover collection in a shoe box,

and maybe that's all right. But, sometimes ~ is nice :to show, display or handle your covers and when that time comes, you want to arrange :them in an album. The above listed albums will afford you excellent protection for your favorite covers and will let others share in the pleasure of examining them. All prices "postfree" anywhere in the U.S. A.

1111 2 ~DA\R.IKE1r S1r o' llA\IRURBSJRlUR<G, IP A\o

APRIL, 1957

Life Member: AAMS APS SPA

PAGE 209'

Pilot Rube Walker Receives High Award

• The highest honor United Air Lines can pay to any of its 2-0,000 ·employ­ees has been given to Capt. R. L. <Rube) Wagner -of Ather.ton (Ca1if.) in the for.m of the "·President's Aw­ard". The presen!tart:ion rw.as made re­cently iby President W. A . ·Patterson.

This award was established in 1956 to honor the emplo)'1ee iwtho surpass­ed all others in service over and .above the requirements of his imme­diate job. Captain Wagner was cited for his "outstanding contributi-0ns and pioneering efforits in rthe field of ·Commercial aviation."

Presently the number-one pilot on UnMed's seniority list, Captain Wag­ner 'learned to fly in HH'9 with the U. S. Army and has actiV!ely partid­pated in the entire development of air transportation since that .ti:me.

He served ·as ·a pilot with the Post Office Departmenrt from 19'23 to 1927 .and suibsequently flew with BoeinO' Air Tr.anspor.t, a United predecessor -company. In 1931, when BAT Jbe-

PAGE 210

came part of United's coast-to-coast system, Wagner remained as ipilot in the Western Division. His name ap­pears as pilot on many ·first flight covers.

Durirng World War .II, he rw.as as­si.gned to 1the company's military con­tract operatians for the Air Trans­port Command, :!!lying !between San Francisco and isl.ands in 1the Pacific. When United .began its scheduled op­era!tions to 1Hacwaii in 1·947, Wagner was one of tt'he first pilots assigned to the run - an a:ssignmenrt; the still holds. More than 30,000 hours are recorded in Captain Wagner's fUg'.ht log - equa11 to nearly 3112 years aloft .

• Airport Dedication Covers

By WILLIAM T. WYNN 13537 Rockdale, Detroit 23, Mich.

'Send covers to G. Richard Challin­or, Chamber of Commerce, 1030 Bail­timore Ave., Kansas City 5, Mo. for airport dedicatfon on April 27. Those Wiho have cards with the editor o'f this column for 1th is type of news have been notified ·and 'have had time to cover this even}. There is no charge for this servke. Why not .send in some cards if you 1ar.e interested in ail'port dedication news of future events?

Since our last oolumn ewe find that Riverside, Calif. did dediicaite on Nov. 13 with a fe\v covers mailed with typed inscription 'by tthe Mayor .. . About 5•00 covers were mailed on Dec. 7 for the Myrtle Beach, Va. AFIB dedication, with .a num'ber of differ­ent inscriptions and autographs used to mark the covers. . . The reported dedication of Dyess .A!FB on Dec. 1 or Dec. 8 is still not clear at .this 1time, as the name was ·changed on Dec. 1 and the memorial rwas held on Dec. 8. Help is needed ,to know just cwhich day cwas the rededication date. . . If you know of a future airport ded-ication planned in your section of the country, pl!ease inform rthe editor of this column directly.

THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

Across The Ocean On Wings Of Steam Bv Hans Christian Andersen

A New Translation by Reginald •Spink

(Editor's Nole: "In Thousands of Years" was the title Hans Andersen gave to his prophesy about future air travel, first printed in the Copenha­gen daily newspaper "Faedrelandet° on January 26, 1852. Andersen prov· ed astonishingly correct, except that a century was more than enough for the prophesy's fulfilment. Incident· ally, the story is 20 years older than

Jules Verne's "Round the World in Eighty Days". It is tempting to think

that Verne had taken a look al the story, especially in view of Ander· sen's last" sentence. This is reprinted from "Opening Tomorrow's Air·

ways", published in 1956 by the Roy­

al Danish Ministry for Foreign Af· fairs, and is used with their permis­sion.)

Yes, in thousands of years they will come flying across the ocean on wings of steaml The young peop1e of Am­erica will visit old 'Europe. They will come to .see the ancient monuments and the crumbling ruins, as we in our time •tmvel to !the mouldering

APRIL, 1957

• glories of the south of Asia.

In thousands of years they rwfill come!

The Thames, the Danube, the Rhine will roll on still; !Mont tBlanc will stand capped rwith snow, the Northern Lights will shine out across the Northern lands; bult .generation after .genera1tion will be dust, succes­sions of the mighty of thleir day for­gotten, like those now slumbering in the mound wherie the wealthy flour merchant, on whose 1ground it stands, makes himself a seast to silt on and look out across the lev;el, rwarving corn. "To Europe!" s-ounds the cry of young America. "To th1e 'land of our fathers, the splendid land of memory and romance - .Europe!"

The airship comes; it is ;packed with travelleTs, for its speed is r:flaster than sea travel. T~,e e1ectro-magnetic wire beneaith the ocean lhas already telegraphed the size of the aerial oar­a van. Already Europe is in sight. It i:t the coast of Ireland, hut the pas­sengers a re still asleep ; they were

PAGE 211

not to be ealled till they were over England. Ther.e they set foot on Eur­opBan soil, in the land of Shakes­peare, as t he learned say; the land of Parliament, the land of machinery, others ·call it. A whole day is spent 'here; so much •time have these busy

people for Great Britain and Scot­land.

They continue their journey under the Channel Tunnel ito France, the l a111d of Char lemagne and Napoleon. Jv1:oliere's name is mentioned; schol­ars talk ·of a Cliassical and a Roman­t~~ school in the distant past, and homage is paid to her·oes, poets, and cientists our time never knew, but

who were to 'be born on he crater of Europe - Paris. The air steamer crosses the country from which Co­lumbus set out, where Cortez was .born, and where Calderon sang dra­mas in 1billowing verse. Lovely, ·black-eyed women la'bour and live on in the flourishing valleys, and an­cient song tell of t he Cid and Al­ham bra .

PA.GE 212

Through the air across the sea to Italy, to the place where stood an­cient, eternal Rome. It is gone now> the Campagna a desert; of St. Peter's they shov.r a solitary ruined wall, bm its genuineness is doubt>ed.

To Greece, to spend a night in the rich hotel at the top of Mount Olym-pus, so they can say ;they have lbe€Il

there. Then on to the ·Bosphorus, to resit there for a few hours and see the site of Byzantium, rwhere poor fishermen spread their nets on the spot where according to legend mood the hare·m garden in t he time of thie

Turks.

Remains of mighty cities on the swift-flowing Danube, dties our time never knew, are crossed in fliight; but occasiona1lly, at historic places -places yet to comie, places still un­born -- the aerial caravan descends and takes ·off again. Down there lies Germany - once girdled by the clos­est network of railways and canals -the land ·where Luther preached and Goethe sang, and w h€r e ·Mozart once

THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

wielded the sceptre of music. Great names shine out in science and art: names Wle never knew. One day's stop for Germany and· one day for Scandinavia, for 1the countries of Or­sted and Linnaeus, and Novway, land of ancient heroes and young Norwe­gians. Iceland is called at on the way home: the Geysir !has grown cold, Hekla is extinct; 'but likle the ever­lasting :Sagas the rocky island stands firm in the foaming ocean.

"There's plenty to see in .Europe!" says the young American. "And rwe sarw it in a week, which can easily 'be done. as the great traveller" men­tioning a contemporary name) "has shown, in his famous work, 'Europe Seen in Eight Days'."

• BOOK REVIEW -SHIPS IN THE SKY­

By John Toland

Published by Henry Holt and Com­.... pany, New York, 1957, pp. 352,

$4.95 Of special interest to aerophi1atel­

ists is this well-told tale of the great dirigibles, most of which have car­ried mail and which take prominent places in our hobby. Mr. Toland, well-known as a contr1butor of ar­ticles to major magazines, has pro­duced an interesting account of the lighter-than-air rigid craft after hav­ing conducted painstaking research over a long period of time. He begins back during the Civil War, follow~ flights of Dr. Solomon Andrews over New York City in 1'86·5, spins a fas­cinating yarn about the dapper Bra­zilian pioneer, Santos-Dumont, fol­lows other flights through the years, 'and devotes a good deal of space to the Hindenburg disaster. He takes us afong on the ,Akron and the !Macon, flies into the Arctic rwiith Nobile, Joins the crerw on the Shenandoah, cruises on the old faithful "Queen of the Skies," the indestructible Graf Zeppelin, and dwells at length on the other famous ships.

It is true ,tJhat other books have been written 1about airsMps, and Mr.

APRIL, 1957

Toland refers frequently -to his use of prior works, but he implements his research with accounts of personal visit to survivors of various disasters and through the tales of these eye­witnesses, has produced a .beautifully written 'book tha.t rwill hold your in­terest. Many unusual photographs are used, ,with an amazing picture of the Los Angeles standing on her nose at the Lakehurst moormg mast.

This book is a recommended "must" to complement any aerophilatelic Ubrnry.

• American Air Mail Society To

Hold Donation Auction The next regular ·auction sale of

the American Airmail Society will be a donation auction. This will be a mail sale, and all proceeds wiill be earmarked to our Ca'talogue Fund (or any other .need which the officers may 'Consider more important) .

We must 'havle donations from our members ito make this sale a success. W·e do nott need odds and ends, but prefer material which rwould bring at least '$2.50 per lot when auctioned. This includes all kinds of airmail stamps and covers. Look ovier your duplicates and send all you can spare; Rememlber, whaJt <We accomplish ir~ this auction d!epends on the type of maiterial we ofrer, and that in turn is . up 1to you - our members. So p1easle be as liberal as you can!

1If you feel your material rwouJ.d bring less than $2.50, send it along

· anyway, and it will be consolidated with other material. Let's all get to­gether and support l!Jhis auction now

.. by donating material liberally.

All material should be sent to SAMUEL S. GOIJDSTICKER, JR. AAMS A:UC'DION MANAGER 70-D FREMONT 1STREET BLOOMFIELD, NEW JERSEY WE WOULD APPRECIATE RE­

CEIVING MATERIAL BY MON­DAY, APRIL 2·2, 1957.

PAGE 2'13

P. O. Box 595, Malden. Mo .

• ALLEGHENY · AIRLINES, INC.,

operator of Route #97, will inaugur­ate service to Hazleton, Pa. in the very near fUJture. Although the aw­ard 'for service to Hazleiton was made effective April 22nd, rwe do not know the status of the airport 'at this point. Assuming they !havie adequate land­ing facirrities, we should expect ser­vice to stant shortly a:fiter April 22nd. Incidellltally, this point has 'been aw­arded service on both Segments # 3 and #6 of AM Route #97 'and assum­ing that service will be inaugurated at Hazleton via 'both se.gments on the inauguTal day, rthere rwill be four di­rections (two on each segment) to cover. NORTH CENTRAL AIR­LINES: the new segmernt between Grand Forks, N. D. and Omaha, N~b., recently recommended for this car­rier and mentioned in our recent notes has been awarded to North Centrnl. In addition, Bureau Counsel has recommended the addition of 'flwelve cities to this route. While nothing is definite at this time, it is pro'bable that several cities recom­mended for service will be given fav~ orable consideration by the CAB.

TRANS-TEXAS AIRWAY'S continues to press for extensions ,to Rourte #82. Additional applications before 1the .CAB involve l'equests for new seg­ments from Memphis, Tenn., to Jiack­son, Miss., via Oxford and Green­wood, Miss., another from Oklahoma City to !Memphis via Fo:rt Smith and

PAGE 214

Jonesboro, .Arkansas and still anoth­er from Oklahoma City to New Or­leans vila Ada, Okla., Texarikana, Ark.-Texas, Shreveport, Alexandria and Baton Rouge, La. WiESTERJN AIR LI1NES in applying for permis­sion to s'ervice Phoenix, Ariz., has r.e­quested an exitension of their route fr.om San Diego to Denver via Phoen­ix. This carrier ·also desires to par­ticipate in the traffic moving into and out of Dallas, Texas via a pro­posed route or segment to their ex­isting rouite from San Francisco to Dallas via several cities en route.

Still to be decided by the C:AB are six local service cases. These involive the Great Lakes Local Service Case, Pacific Northwest Service Case, !Mon­tana Local Service Case, Northeast­ern States Area Case, Southeastern Area Local Case and the Seven States Area Case. Although April 16th was set for the hearing in the Great Lakes Case, decisions in the other cases are months away. Horw­ever, due to the scope of these hear­ings and the many cities inwlved which no doubt will resu1t in numer­ous additions to existing rouJtes, ;the outcome of the various hearings will be closely watched.

CHRONICLE -

A!M .. ROU'J1E.. #39.. EXTENSION mw ORLEANS TO HOUSTON -

To improive service from Tampa and Miami to Houston and the West Ooast, National Airlines, Inc., has

THE AIR.POST JOURN!AL

been awarded an e~tension to AM #3'9 beyond New Orleans, La. to Houston, Texas.

Inttial flighlts ,were made on Nov. 20, 1956. Westbound flight #309 from New Orleans to Houston was flown by Capt. Gerald 0. White and hand­led 65 pcs. of mail from New Orleans and approximately 125 pcs. from New Orleans AMF cancelled 7:30 and 8:00 AM respectively. Philatelic mail ad­dressed to Houston was backstamped at 1'2 noon. The inaugural Eastbound flight from Houston rwas made via Flight #562 flown by Capt. H. H. Clark with 75 pcs. of mail from Houston AMF canceled Nov. 20th., but without hour o'f cancel. Philatelic mail addressed to New Orleans back­stamped there at 10 AM. No official cachets rwere provided for First Flight mail on this occasion.

AM ROUTE #88 EXTENSION TO ERIE, PA. - On January 1, 1957, the segment of this route flown by Lake Central Airlines, formerly terminat­ing at Youngstown-Warren, Ohio­Sharon, Pa., was extended to Erie, Pa.

The initial flight into Erie was made via Trip #385 flown by Capt. Jerry H. Haas carrying 116 pcs. of mail from Youngstown C'ancelled at 11 AM and 150 pcs. of mail from Warren cancelled at 9:30 AM. Phila­telic mail addressed to Erie rwas backstamped at 3 PM, same date. Al­though 'Sharon, 1Pa. is also served by this route using the same airport as Youngstown and Warren, no dispatch was made from Sharon to Erie via the first flight. Capt. Haas in charge of Trip #81'6 made the inaugural flight from Erie to Youngstown-War­ren sending l3111cs. of philatelic mail cancelled alt Erie at 1 'BM. This mail was backsrtamped ·at Youngstown at 5 PM, same daite. No official cachets were provided for first flight mail :f<lown via this service.

AM ROU'l\E #81, SEGMENTS #8 & 9 - On December 3, 1956, Central Airlines, Inc., expanded service through two new segments to AM Route #81.

APRIL, 1957

Segment #8 operating from Amar­illo, Texas to Wichita. Kansas via Borger, Texas, and Libera.I, Kansas involved cities previously served by Route #81 with 1the exception of Lib­eral, Kansas and as such, only cov­ers from Liberal are eligible for list­ing. The initial Eastbound flight from Liiberal via Segment #8 was made via Trip #23 flown by Capt. W. L. Lasseter with a total of 21,707 pcs. of mail postmarked at 6:30 AM and backstamped at Tulsa at 12:30 PM, same date. The hea,vy dispatch via this flight from Li:bernl was due. to several thousand pieces of mail dispatched by the Liberal Chamber of Commerce. The initial Westbound dispatch via Segment #8 was made via Trip #24 flown .by Capt. J. L. 'Moss. There 1were 1528 pcs of mail postmarked at 8 PM and backstamp­ed at Amarillo at 6 AM, Dec. 4, 1956.

Segment #9 operates from Orola­homa City to Denver, Colo., via Enid, Okla., L1beral, Kansas and Colorado Springs, Colo. However this involves service to Oklahoma City and Enid which had previously been served by Route #81 and as such, only that part of this segment from Enid to Denver will warrant catalog status. The initial Nor.thbouoo flight to Denver rwas made via Trip #90 flown by Capt. John W. Wright. 95 pieces of mail rwere dispatched from Enid postmarked 5:30 AM, ·2005 pcs from Li'beral postmarked 7:30 AM and 232 pcs from Colorado Springs post­marked 8:30 AM. All philatelic mail from this flight was backstamped at Denver at 10 AM. The initial flight from Denver to Enid was made via Trip #95 flown by Capit. Robert Brooks with 412 pcs of mail from Denver .A!M'F postmarked 5:30 PM, 178 pieces from Colorado Springs postmarked •5:30 PM and 16'84 pieces from Liberal postmarked 8 PM. AiJl mail from this .flight rwas backstamp­ed at Enid at 11:30 \PM if addressed to General Delivery at Enid ~ at 1:30 AM, Dec. 4, 1956 if addressed to other points.

PAGE 215

In this connection, there was no disipafoh from the Denver City office via the :First Flight of tMs service. As was the case with the First Flight of AM #35 from Denver fo San Fran­cisco by Western Airlines on May 1, 1956, the Postmaster at Denver City office sent collectors' mail Ito the .A!MF for handling. Since Liberal was the only city involved that had not previously had air mail service, it was the only city recognized .with an official cachet in green, consisting of a map of the .territory inv:olved with appropriaJte •wording. We cannot re­frain from complimenting the force in the Uberal Post Office under the supervision of ;Mr. W. F. Carpenter, Air Transportation Officer, Wichita Region. The service from Liiberal in­volved flights in four directions and as is usually the case, collectors' mail for the various flights is sometimes confusing and is frequently mis-rout­ed. It appears that all collector mail was dispatched in the direction in­tended, indicating that the routing of collector mail through •the Liberal Post Office was •given o1ose aittention.

• BOOK REVIEW -UNDER MY WINGS, Sy . Captain

Basil L. Rowe.

The Bobbs- Merrill Company, Inc., Indianapolis- New York 1'956 pp 2·56, $4.00. ' ' It is a rare event when a book is

written by a pilot, and a particularly pleasurable occasion when written by one so closely related to our hobby: Basil· Rowe's name is so familiar to F. A. •M. collectors that you suspect this autobiography is aimed at aero­philatelists. Capt. Rowe, now retired from Pan American, is an early memiber of the A. A. M. S. (His mem­bership number is 407).

This reada·ble odyssey is the story of forty years ·Of flying, by a man who probatbly has flown more than any other man, who has been all over

(continued on page 220)

PAGE 216

Navy Dirigible Stays Aloft Eleven Days To Set Distance

And Time Records According to the Associated Press

on 'March 15, the Navy blimp ZPG-2 landed 1at Key West, Florida ·with two new dirigible records - eleven days and 14 minutes for endurance fligiht, nonrefueled, and over 8,000 miles for distance. It far surpassed the Ger­man diri.gible GI'.af Zeppelin's dist­ance mark of 61980 miles established in 19'29.

Flight Is Demonstration The ZPG-2 left the South Wey­

mouth, 'Miass. naval air station at 6:32 p. m., March 4, on a flight across the­Atlantic to demonstrate ".the all­weather capability of airships for use in airborne-early warning and sub­marine-defense systems."

Attached to the South Weymouth naval air development unit, the ship was commanded by Comdr. Jack R. Hunt of Rolling Hills, Cal., and car­ried a crew of M men.

When .the airship broke the record for nonre:£ueled flight, she w.as off the Vir.gin islands after crossing the Atlantic and passing J;>ortugal, the Canary islands and the A:frican coast.

Time Mark .Set in '54 The old endurance record 'Wlas set

in 1'954 hy an airship of the same ty.pe .. That craft took off from Lake­hurst CN. J.) Naval Air station May 17, 1954, .flew out into the Atlantic •an dover the Bermuda-Nassau-Miami area and landed at Key West, Fla-., May 25.

The Graf Zeppelin's old unofficial distance record was estalblished on a flight from Friedrichshafen, Germany to Tokyo, the first leg of a round the world trip during the period Aug. 14 to Sept. 4, 1929.

The na'Vy said the ZPG-2, 1built by Goodyear Aircraft company, Akron, 0., can .attain •a ground speed of 71 knots on her two gasoline engines. Her .li~t is ach~eved by approximately a million cu.b1c feet of helium.

It is probable that covers for col­lectors iwere carried.

THE Al'RPOST JOURNAL

Alert Collectors Include Anchorage On S.A.S. Inaugural

The inaugmal flights of the Scan­dinavian Airlines System covering 1Jhe .first commercial route over the North Pole between Europe and Asia, which occurred late in Febru­ary, affor.ded a n opportunity previ­iously unannounced, for collectors to include unscheduled covers on the flights.

Two DC 7Cs, one from Copenhagen and the other from Tokyo, flying in opposite directions, refuel€d at An­chora;ge, Alaska. Sol Whitman, who .guessed that covers would be picked up at Anchora1ge, sent severial to .that place on the chance that such ser­vke would be prov1ded. A recent note from the Anc'hora.ge postmaster tells us that while no actual count was kept by that office, they esti­mated that there were about 3·(}0 .covers for Copenhagen and 200 for Tokyo. One of the latter is illustrat­ed herewith.

Both planes crossed the North Pole six minutes apart, and a1though they did not sight eaah other, b oth participated in radio 1broadcasts from

that region. The new rouite reduces

APRIL, 19.57

the distance previously flown from 10,300 miles to 8,000 miles, and the time from 52 hours to 30 'hours .

• $93,000 Realized In Auction Of Famed Lieb Airpost Collection

The thr.ee-day sale of the famous airoost collection of the late Dr. Oh~rles C. Lieb realized mor~ than $93,000. It was conducted by John A. Fox, New York dealer and auction­eer on 'February 25th, 26.th and 27th and was extremely w ell a>ttended on all three days. Geor.ge B . Sloane, ap­praiser 'for the Lieb esta,te, expressed great satisfaction with the resu:.1.ts which exceeded his estimate of ihe v.alue of the collection, one of the most valuable and important airpost collections offered in many years.

The outstanding item in the sale and one that created tremendous in­terest was the Newfoundland, · 60c

black De Pinedo hlock, one of the only two know n 'blocks of this stamp. It brought $16,500. The purc:hasec was a "Mr. X".

Exceptional prices ,for the follow­ing items were realized: The United

PAGE 211

.Staites, 24c carmine rose and b1ue with canter inverted brought $2,500. Australia: 1920 Ross Smilth dark blue miniature sheet, one of t en recorded, $540. Columbia: 2c carmine rose, horizontal strip df four , $2,300. Dom­inican Republic: 119'310, lOc light blue pair, $575. France: 192·8, 10 fr. on 90c, block of four, and 10 fr. on 1.50 fr., the two blocks realized $875 .

Honduras items brought 'high prices thr·oughout. The 5c light blue, one of seven copies known, $2,000 . 20c red 'brown, block of twelve, w:iith two 1pairs of the "Afro Error", $7'00. Italy: 1932, 5.25L plus 1'9.75L, red, .green and ultramarine, Halbo, iblock of five, stamps a1t left rwiithout overprint, $2,400. Mexico: '1927, 50c dark blue and red brown, vertical strip of six, includes three stamps imperforate between, $1,400. Newfoundland: 1919 Hawker, 3c red brown, $1,500. The same s<tamp on first .transatlarutiic fHght .cover, tied by first day cancel­lation, .brought $1,000. The 1927 De .J>inedo, 60c black, superb copy, real­ized $3,600, a new record .for this stamp.

O ther ·airmail stamps that 'brought . good prices included Germany, Greece, Iceland, Papua, Philippines, Salvador, Syria, and Uiiugiuay.

This sale confirms the ·popularity of airpost collecting ais a source of 'enjoyment and investment.

Be With Us

At The A.A.M.S.

CONVENTION

May 25th To 27th

At The United

Nations,

See Page 195

PAGE 218

NEW UNITED NATIONS AIR STAMP

This illustration of the projected 4c airmail stamp of the United Nations was recel1Jtly released. Scheduled for issue on May 27, 1'957, ·the stamp also is to be used on a 4c .airmail posital card, to be issued at the same time.

The committee chose this design, submitted by W . W. Wind of Israel, who received first prize in the U. N. Stamp Design contest in 1952, in competition with many other artists .

The design contains' the usual U. N . emblem, inscription in five lan­guage, and expresses a concept of fHg.ht, showing an aeroplane iwing which encompasses a globe. The color for the stamp will ·be maroon, and probably the postal card will 'be in the same color. This will be the first airmail postal card to be issued by the U. N.

• PLANE SLATED AS SHRINE

Adelaide, Austiialia (Reuters) -The first airplane to fly from Britain to Australia is .to be preserved in Adelaide as a monument to its pilots, Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith, and their crew.

The plane, a Vickers Viking, made the flight in 1919 in 218 days.

'!'HE AIRPOST JOURNAL

= =

:;;• rr == = A·E~R·0 - -~-=. -~

POSTAL STATIONERY NOTES ~11

BY SOL WHITMAN 1462 Taylor Ave., Bronx 60. N. Y .

In connection with the first air let­ter issued 1which came with overlays on different papers, a letter written by 1the Pu'blic PriIJJter on January 7th, 1951 to the Assistant Postmaster General says:

"In the production of Air Mail Let­ter sheets four lots of paper !have been uSed. The light-:blue safety de­sign covering the enJtire surface is prinlted by an aniline process at the mill. The !;heet descri:bed as being daited May 5, 1949 was printed from the third issue of paper. The third lot was indeed more 1grayish in color than the other mill runs, due to a sligM difference in tonal quaJliity or co1or of the 1ba'Se stock and possibly in its absorptive characteristics. The iillk color was presumably the same in all cases."

The current sheet #4 LS has been found :with tiwo different spacings of overlay on the same sheet. Inside, the overlay is spaced wider and :has sev­en lines rto the inch. On the outside of 1Jhe sheet, the lines measure 8 to the inch, which we have found on almost all sheets examined on both sides. CANADA

A letter fron:i the Philatelic Agen­cy dated August 22, 1952 referring to the Canadian Air Letters >that had been issued duri:ng 1950 at which time both nl'bber ,and steel plates were being used, is quoted:

"We have ·aJttempted to locate some Air Letters thalt vary from those originaUy printed in 1950 in accordlance with the dimensions you described, without success. In 1950,

APRJTL, 1957

• and until approximately February 1951, the manufacture of Air Letter Forms used rubber printing plates. Rubber plaJtes stretch and wear and result in a considerable variaition, within limits, in the dimensions of the printed matter. In !May, 1951 the same manufacturer l'estored to the use of steel plates for the printing of these forms. The s'!Jeel plates re­sulted in a much more distinct print­ing but did not show variations in dimensions as mentioned .aibove.

All Air Letter Forms printed since April, 1951, to th'e present time were done from steel plates." The aibove sheets mentioned a1bove refer to nos. 10 & 11 LS. GERMANY

Wiho could show this column an aerogramme recently issued from the EAST ZONE of Germany? It is 20ipf denomination. The above sheet has .been reported but we have not seen it. GREAT BRITAIN

Persian Gulf Agencies Thanks to our good friend, Mr. P.

H. Robbs of England .Who reports that the current sheets of Bahrain and Kuwait, Nos. 4 LS have been ,overprinted on sheets wtih line of instructions on the back measuring 95 mm. When first issued in 1955 the line measured 1'02 mm. V'ENEZUELA

The current 40 centimos sheet has appeared in two different printings.

Sheet 1. The stamp, :paraUel:ogmms and Aerograma are ·printed in a dark blue. The sealing instructions on the inside flap are printed in larger type.

PAGE 2'19'

The first line measures 77 mm while the second line measures 84 mm.

Sheet 2. The stamp similarly is printed in ligiht blue, while the lines on the fliap measµ:re 76mm and 80 mm. The lines are printed in small­er type and on a thinner stock of paper. BURMA

The 15p sheet •with rubber stamped AIR LETTER I AEROGRAMME in purple is definitely a local air letter. This item •was mentioned in the No­vember column. CEYLON

The local 20c sheet of this colony, #LS6, has been reissued on thin paper. The ·Color is ·a br1ghter blue. The 40c value of 19-54, #LS8, has also been reissued with a new die cUJtting the form. The sealing flap corners are now rounded and a heavier qual­ity paper is used. FIJI - The new 7 pence sheet has just ar­

rived. Lt is printed in red violet on blue paper and makes a very color­ful sheet. The stamp has a portrait of Queen Elizabeth facing le:£t. On che 'back are spaces for return ad­Jress, as well as three lines of mail­ing instructions. INDIA

Our member in India, Mr. Shavak Mistry, supplies us rwith this infor­mation:

Bet\v:een September and Novem­ber, 1956, India reissued the 8 and 12 annas sheets, Nos. 12 and 14. The new sheets are folded differently with only one sealing flap on the top of sheet. An ungummed flap, Ih inch wide on the right side is the second fold inside of the form. The earlier sheets •were folded in the same manner.

Further, as India changed over to Decimal currency (100 Naya Paise equals 1 Rupee) on April 1st, all the postal issues prior to that date were withdrawn. No old issues with the old currency are obtainable from the Post Offices, but they still may 'be used up by the public. 'Dhe values of the three new Aerogrammes is-

PAG E 220

sued on April 1st are: 20NP, 50NP, and 75 NP. These sheets ·will be de­scribed as soon as rwe see them.

ISR~EL

Two new sheets will 1be released in ·the near future. The denomina­tions are ·150 and 250 Prutas.

SPAIN Various color proofs of the 4.00

PTS, CLS66) have 'been passing through the mails from Madrid and flown to the United States.

Thanks to the following incopora­tors: Messrs Doemick, Robbs & Sing­ley.

The new American Air Letter Sheet Supplement is now ready •and any reader enclosing a stamped ad­dressed envelope, will receive a copy.

• UNDER MY WINGS -

(continued from page 216) the world except to the polar regions. It's a saga of a <barnstorming kid who flew througih two world wars, flying all kinds of aircraft under all kinds of experiences.

He puts the reader along stde in the co-pHot's seat as he goes through many harrowing experiences aloft, and shares many a chuckle with you as he tells of tricks played on .green­horn stewardesses and "unsuspect­ing" pHots. You flyrwith him through a dirigible hangar, only to encounter a 1blimp coming in the bac~door! You puzzle OV!:!r the flying saucer that turns .out to be an im'.Prisoned firefly. You suffer with the evacuated wounded in the mercy flights, crowd over the famous Hump, see the Saha­ra deser.t 500 miles at sea, fly in crates without air brakes, and non­functioning landing gear, and go through many events that only a seasoned adventurer like Captain Rowe could enjoy.

This fascinating book is a wonder­ful account of a great air pioneer, and certainly deserves a place in your aerophilatelic library!

THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

HISTORY OF THE

U.S. GOVERNMENT OPERATED AIR MAIL SERVICE

1918-1928

b y K A R L B. WE B E R

CHAPTER XII (continued)

• {I~ e~ror, Chapter XV was pu:t in:to oflficials and ·civilians prominent in prm:t m :the March, 1957 issue, where- aviation. Included in the .group ob­as Chapter XII was unfinished, and serving the tests and receiving re­XIII a~d XIV wer~ omiUed. We re- ports were Dr. George W. Lewis, of grei :this. We conbnue chapter XII) the National Adcvisory Committee for

Nigiht Flying Tests

At first, the .plans of the Depart­ment to attempt night flying were not neceived :with enthUJsi:asm by the pilot personnel, However 1a1J\ter the extensive 'preparations were ob­served, opinion veered, and several 1pilots even volunteered to make the test flights. The Post Office Depart­ment announced about the middle of August that all preparations had •been completed for the lighted air­way and planes had ;been put in shape for the transcontinental air mail service including night flying 1and that test flights were to be made for five days commencing August 21, 1923.

As dusk covered the 885 mile stretch between Chicago and Chey­enne on Tuesday, August 21, IHum­ination of the first night airway in the history of the world became a fact.

Col. Paul Henderson, .Second Asst. Postmaster General under whose di­rection preparations :J1or night flying were made, personnally took charge at Fort Crook, Neb. where :the Omaha control of the Air 'Mail was located. With him were General Superint­endent Carl F. 'Egge and Division Superintendent Colver.

With Col. Henderson and Supt. Egge at the Omaha control on the first night of the test were several

APRIL, 1957

Aeronautics; Charles (F. 1Redden, Pre­sident, Aeromarine Ai11ways; J. G. Hall of the Cur.tiss Aeroplane and Motor Company; Glenn L. 'Martin, President of the Glenn L. Martin Company; N. J. Boots of the Ameri­can Gas Ace<umulator Company; :J.VI. L. Patterson, Illuminating Engineer .for the Sperry Gyroscope Company; and Luther K. Bell, Secretary of the Aeronaiutical Chamber of Commerce.

The ten pilots chosen to fly the planes •over the night route were: F. R. · Ya•ger, Jack Kn]ght, J. F. Moore, E. M. Allison, E. F. White, H. T. Lewis, .R. G. 1Page, L. H. Gar­rison, W. L. Hopson and D. C. Smith. All of these pilots had flown their courses at night, and had made suc­cessful emergency landings with no other assistance than that provided by special flood lights installed be­neath the ~ower wings. These pilots had· already flown over 25,000 miles at ni:ght. The pilots who covered the daylight portions of the flights were C. H. Ames, William B~anch­field, Henry G. Boonstra, .Paul P. Collins, H. A. Collison, Robert Ellis, C. Eugene Johnson, Paul Scott, J. W. Sharpnack, Art .Smith, Dean Smith, Wesley L . .Smith, C. K. Vance and Burr H. Winslow.

By Saturday, August 215, the United States Air Mail .Service concluded a wonderfully successful four-day dem­onstration of the practicability of 2·8

PAGE 221

hour air communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts lby rel:ays of mail planes flying day and night.

Particularly impressive were the night fUghts over the lighted airiway between Chicago and Cheyenne. On this part of the route the pilots prov­ed to the satisfa!ction of the most skeptical that, barring impenetrable fog or unusual storms night planes could ;be flown with the almost clock­like precision maintained lby the ser­vice for over two and one-half years in its regular daylight flights be­tween New York and San Francisco. This splendid demonstration of night flying had been made with the regu­lar day flying equipment - the re­built DH's, even with their high land­ing speed and other undesira;ble features should an emergency fond­ing be needed.

Under the conditions imposed up­on the air mail officials and 1 pilots tJhrough lack of planes especially 'built for night flying, the average time for the three westward and three eastward flights on Aug. 22, 23, and 24 exceeded the expectations of everyone unfamiliar with the splend­id spirit and efficiency of the air mail organizatton, officfals, pilots and me­chanics.

After the Central Division organiza­tion had worked for four nights and

days without rest, Postmaster Gen­eral New issued instructions cancel­ling the fifth test originally planned, believing that the results needed n'O further emphasis.

Omitting the ea.st and westbound trips of the first day, .A!ugust 21, dur­ing which the planes encountered ex­ceptional delays due to fog beyond the night flying area the remaining three .west and three eastbound trips were flown in the average elapsed time of 2'8.·25 hr., a remarlmible ap­proximation of the scheduled time of 28 hours. The degree to iwhiich the .A!rnerican public had taken for granted exceptional ·performance by the Air !Mail Service is sh1own by the fact that in reporting these eight ex­perimental fliights through four nights and days over 1a route 268{) miles long, the press had !barely mentioned the entire absence of in­jury to pilot or machine.

The demonstration of practical night flying by the Air Mail Service proved of inestimable valJUe to com-mercial aviation in the United States, as it was realized that in night fly­ing would lie the future of financial­ly prof1talble passenger and express business.

The actual schedule accomplished by the air mail pilots was:

ACTUAL SCHEDULE

EASTBOUND

Aug. 21.. 22. 23. 24. Left 5.59A 5.26A 6.00A 5.28A San Francisco, Calif. Arrived 7.46A 7.07A 8.00A 7.19A Reno, Nev. Arrived HU4A 9.24A 10.29A 9.37A Elko, Nev. Arrived 12.13P ll.15A 12.26P ll.28A Salt Lake City, Utah Arrived 3.00P l.51P 3.0lP l.54P Rock Springs.Wyo. MT Left 8.34P 4.20P 5.27P 4.05P Cheyenne, Wyo. Arrived 12.02A 7.26P 8.39P 7.09P North Platte, Neb. Arrived 3.16A 10.21P ll.27P 10.29P Omaha, Neb. Arrived 6.22A 12.50A 1.44A 12.35A Iowa City, Ia. CT Arrived 8.40A 3.00A 3.50A 2.28A Chicago, Ill. Arrived * Bryan, Ohio Arrived 12.50P 8.27A 7.46A 8.lOA Cleveland, Ohio Arrived * 10.19A • * Bellefonte, Pa. ET Arrived 4.14P 12.21P ll.14A 11.17A New York, N. Y. Elapsed Trip 27.55 25.14 26.49 Time: Incomplete

PAGE 222 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

WFSTBOUND

Aug. 21 .. 22. 23. Left 11.0lA 11.0lA 10.56A Arrived 1.23P 1.27P 1.16P Arrived 4.14P 3.53P 3.34P Arrived 5.05P • Arrived 6.50P 6.09P 5.59P Arrived 8.47P 8.07P 8.05P Arrived ll.02P 10.45P 10.50P Arrived l.29A l.22A 1.40A Arrived 2.50A 2.54A 3.34A Arrived ll.16A 7.00A 6.46A Arrived 12.53P 8.33A 8.24A Arrived 2.00P 9.33A 9.30A Arrived 4.32P 11.48A 11.46A Arrived 6.24P l.45P 1.34P Elapsed Time 34.23 29.44 29.38

* No Stop

Looking at the test from the point of view of transcontinental mail ser­vice, there was but one interruption to a 100 per cent achievement. That occurred on the afternoon of the 21st, just west of Cheyenne, on that part of the course which is flown over in the day time., The eastbound ship was forced to land at Laramie, Wyo. ab­out five o'c]lock in the ,afternoon, be­cause of an unus'l.J)ally heavy fog. All e:liforts of the pilot to penetrate this fog failed until the morning follow­ing.

In order that the night flying might continue for the entire test, rwihen it ibecame apparent that this pilot could not come through from Laramie to Cheyenne, Col. Henderson broke his connection by starting his relay out of Cheyenne at 8:34 P . .M.

The mail on the ship held in the fog at Laramie came through on the next ship 24 hrs. later. The best time eastbound was 26

hours and 14 minutes. The best time westbound was 29 hours and 38 min­utes.

Col. Henderson issued the follow­ing statement on the evening of the first night flight:

24. 11.04A New York, N. Y.

1.17P Bellefonte, Pa. ET 3.41P Cleveland, Ohio

• Bryan, Ohio 6.17P Chicago, 111. 8.26P Iowa City, Ia. CT

11.12P Omaha, Neb. 1.47A North Platte, Neb. 3.38A Cheyenne, Wyo. 6.52A . Rock Springs.Wyo. MT 8.31A Salt Lake City, Utah 9.37A Elko, Nev.

ll.52A Reno( Nev. WT 1.44P San Francisco, Calif.

29.40

believe that it is not improper to say that the air mail experiments have the sympathetic support of the Administration. Certainly they have the interest of Congress and they should command the con­structive curiosity of the country.

"We hope ,that this five-day trial will lead directly to authorization for a •continuous 2·8-30 ihour night mail service between the Atlantic and the Pacific Coasts. We are hopeful that the demonstration of efficiency, time saving and patron­age, as evinced by the thousands of letters carried will result in more substantial financial assistance for aviation from the Government.

"With the operation of a regular night air mail, we are hopeful that the Department .can ,get proper au­thority to let 'contracts for the pri­vate transportation of the mail be­tween important centers of ;popula­tion more than 500 miles apart.

"But most of all we hope that this experiment ,will emphasize the im­pemtive necessity for Congress to enact ·proper legislation governing civilian aviation and es·tablishing adequate authority for the ligihti,ng and control of airways by day and by night for use, not only iby the air mail, but by ;private operators." On August 24, the Omaha Cham-

"The Post Office Department be­lieves that the air mail is putting the airplane to work. Lt believes that aircraft are primarily useful vehicles and that when they are so regarded the acceptance of com­mercial flying will be universal. I

ber of Commerce tendered a lunch­eon in honor of Col. Henderson.

"Although," Col. Henderson re-

APRIL, 1957 :PAGE 223

plied to the congratul:ations of the toastmaster in part, "the third day of our ·four day test has resulted in the rather spectacular connecting up of San iFmncisco with New York 1by air mail in an elapsed time of 26 'hrs. and 14 minutes, the true significance of these tests should not be lost sight of.

"Our real purpose in these tests was to find an affirmative answer to the question as to whether or not aircraft might .be successfully oper­ated at nigiht. Our success is defin­ite. Air cl'aft may be operated at night, with certainty, safety, and regularity.

"Much remains to be learned as to the cost of such a promised ser­vice and I believe that we now ill.ave enough accul'ate data on cost to warrant us in saying that with postage rates well within reason, service such ·as is ·suggested may be made practically, i;f not wholly, self supporting.

"I hope that what we have done and what we may be able to do will appeal to the imagination of the American business man, because we need - from this date forward - the active, energetic cooperation of the American business men, first, because it is the American !business man that we are attempting to serve. Second, the American busi­ness man will be ·aible· to help us 1greatly in procuring from Congress the moral and fanancial support necessary to a .continued successful development of this new angle of our attempt to adapt the airplane to peace-time pursiuits.

"Incidentally, if our dreaim for the future may be made into real­ity, we cannot help but automatic­·ally create 1a v;al:uable air reserve in the shape of aircraft and trained e:x;perienced pilots, mechanics and operators."

In a statement prepared by Col. Henderson for the magazine "A via­fion" he wrote as fol101Ws:

"Too much credit may not be given to the pilots and mechanics of

PAGE 224

the entire service, and particularly of the Central Division, for their enthusiasm, ·industry and intelli­gent cooperation during all four days of this test.

"Mr. Egge, the General Superin­tendent of the service, has been un• tiring in his application to this per­·formance, and he has been ably assisted on the questtons of the many complex ·and details by Su­·perintendent D. ·B. Colyer of the Central Division. The ground forces of the Central 1Division en­tered into the work of preparation and of actual operation during the test with remarkalble enthusiasm, and to them is due much of the credit for the successful carrying out of our plans."

Col. Henderson was jubilant over the success of these test flights. In one interview, ihe recommended that a regular night air mail service over this route .be opened, SUJbject to recess should difficulties arise; and though he foresaw the immediate demand of the American public for many su:ch routes, he .counselled slow expansion so that success might •be more cer­tain.

He stated that several improve­ments should be made; among them should 1be the ,adoption of a plane w:ith all the advantages of the D. H. but capable of a lesser landing speed, a safety device to iwarn in case of failure of .any three mile beacon light, worka'ble radio-telephone out­fits for .pilots, better headlights for the planes, all tending toward the .greater safety of pilot and ship.

Covers carried on these test flights bear the ordinary cancellation of the different cities. Some have the Air Mail Servke hand stamp. No offic1al cachets were used iby .the Post Office Department. Cachets on covers read­ing 'Night Air iMail San Francisco­Chicago" or similar, were privately applied.

(To Be Continued)

THE .MRPOST JOURNAL

APJ ADS· R,\TES: "

THREE CENTS .PER WORD per in­sen10n. Minimum charge 50 cents. Re­mittance must accompany· order and copy. 'rhe AIRPOST J°OURNAL, AP.J Ads., Al­m.on, Penn'a.

COMPARE and Save. Want good stamp3 at prices less than you are paying now? Try our New Cost Plus Plan. Compare our prices with other dealers. You'll be back, time and time again. There's a reason. Richard Heffner, 2012 Spring St., West Lawn, Penna. 320-6t*

\Y ANTED - United States covers with fancy cnacels before 1877. Fair and Ex­position advertising covers and postals before 191G. Pictorial advertising covers before 1911. 19th Century United States postal cards wanted. First Flights with Lindbergh CIO stamp and booklets want­ed. United States used air mails Cl to C31 wanted in quantity. Charles .J. Mol­nar, 1246 Summit Drive, Cleveland 24, Ohio. 321-12t*

HEADQUARTERS for rare covers: Early Balloon Posters, Balloon Posts; Zeppelins (also Count Zeppelin manuscripts)fi semi­ofricials ( Scadtas, etc.): Pioneer Flights; Rockets; Philippines; outstanding North and South Pole items including Operation Deepfreeze. Belham Exchange, Box 119, Ridgewood 27, N. Y. 322-6t

AIRMAILS singles, short and complete sets on and off cover .. Wholesale price list free. Harry Reichenthal, Box 73, New York 60, N. Y. 323-3t*

TRANSOCEANIC Airplane mail from flown, attempted and intended flights. Krinsky, 250 E. 96th St., Brooklyn 10, N. Y.

Ex324-2t

WANTED - Better grade air letter sheets, mint or used. Highest prices paid. Walter R. Guthrie, Sea Cliff, New York.

SCANDINAVIAN FDC, First Flights, Bal­loonflights, directly addressed. Price on­ly postage plus 15 cents for souvenir cov­er. Send two dollars and I send deduc­tion in. each cover. Approvals on covers 1954,11957 postpaid. Nils Ekstrom, Anger­mannagatan 176, Vallingby, Sweden (AA MS 4331).

AUSTRIA: First and Special Flights, Air­post stationery, Balloon mail, etc, on ap­proval. References please. Eva Fuchs, .Jo­hann Straussgasse 28, Vienna IV., Austria.

AAM~ EXCHANGE ADS

EXCHANGE of Used Airmails wanted with advanced collector. Walter R. An­derson. 453 Snyder, San .Jose, Calif.

MARCH, 1957

AAMS EXCHANGE DEPARTMENT BUY SELL - WANT LISTS.

WANTED - U. N .. Stamps and FDC Give: Scandinavian FDC, First Flights, Balloonflights, mint stamps etc. Nils Ek­strom, Angermannagatan 176, Vallingby, Sweden. ----------------AT TENT 10 N Collectors - Dealers: I need Feb. 2, 1954 USAF F-84 Thunderjets Good­will tour of Latin America by Gen. Hood. Will buy or swap. Baxter, 17 Roy, E. Ha­ven, Ct.

-----·------WESTERN Covers before 1895, will buy or exchange for what you want. Also large fancy valentines and Lincoln material. Dolores Hertz, 429 E. 85th St., New York 28, N. Y.

NEW GUINEA 1939 £ Airmail unhinged mint corner block for exchange or best offer in Canadiana material. .J. Barchino, Box 133, Brantford, Ont., Canada. 2t

EXCHANGE world wide mint airmail stamps and air letter sheets . .Jim Moxley, R. R. 2, Box 65, Greentown, Indiana.

WANTED - Airletter sheets and aero­post.al stationery. Will trade for your needs in airmail stamps and fight covers; U. S. plate blocks; United Nations. Bill Simon, 0-101 Midland, Fair Lawn, N . .J.

WANT Official Airletter sheets Bahrain, Hong Kong, Malaya, Nigeria. Exchange Australia 1 OLS for above. Mrs. I. T. Haines, New Tripoli, Pa.

------NEED United Nations imprint blox of 6; exchange Reunion C39-41 for 29-30 above. Warren Treichler, New Tripoli, Pa.

AIRPORT Dedications for same or Polar flight covers. Daniel Armstrong, 876 Hon­eysuckle Way, Louisville 13, Ky. -·--- ~-- - -WILL EXCHANGE Philippines & Other Far Eastern countries for rest of the world in complete mint or used sets -Basis Scott. .John D. Young, P. O. Box 233, Cebu City, Philippines.

EARLY Aviation post cards wanted, be­fore 1915. Can offer same or fine auto­graphs, or Zepps. Roy Votaw, 5806 Twin Gardens, Carmichael, Calif.

\V ANTED - German Zepp covers. Please write before sending material to .John .J. Capaldi. 6261 Limekiln Pike, Philadelphia U, h. b

WILL EXCHANGE Foreign F. Days for Used British Colonies in wholesale lots. Sam S. Beck,. 3300 Horton, Ferndale 20, Mich. 2t

Sta01ps for Sale?? 9 •

WE CAN BE OF SERVICE

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IF YOU WANT TO SELL AT PUBLIC AUCTION we can offer early dates and attractive terms. Expert supervis­ion of all material by an experienced Philatelic ~uctioneer.

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