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Copyright. Thompson Ramo \\' ooldridge, Inc.-Permission Granted.

Volume 32 Number 12 September, 1961

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SEPTEMBER, 1961

The Am.erican Air Mail Society

A Non-Profit Corporation Incorporated 1944

Organized 1923 Under the Laws of Ohio

PRESIDENT Robert W. Murch

9560 Litzinger Road St. Louis 24, Mo.

SECRETARY Ruth T. Smith

102 Arbor Road Riverton, New Jersey

TREASURER John J. Smith

102 Arbor Road Riverton, New Jersey

VICE-PRESIDENTS Joseph L. Eisendrath Louise S. Hoffman

Florence L. Kleinert Dr. Southgate Leigh, Jr.

EDITOR - Other Publications L. B. Gatchell

ATTORNEY George D. Kingdom

DIRECTOR OF FOREIGN RELATIONS

Dr. Max Kronstein AUCTION MANAGER

Samuel S. Goldsticker, Jr.

DIRECTORS Alton J. Blank

Herbert Brandner Samuel S. Goldsticker, Jr.

Lester S. Manning Dr. Tomas Terry Earl H. Wellman

Horace D. Westbrooks ADVANCE BULLETIN SERVICE

Herbert Brandner 4038 Forest Ave., Brookfield, lll.

SALES MANAGER Herman Kleinert

213 Virginia Ave., Fullerton, Pa.

MEMBERS.U:IP DUES $4.00 PER YEAR

Dues include subscription to THE AIRPOST JOURNAL. Ap-plicants must furnish two ref-erences, philatelic preferred. At least one must reside in Appli-cants home town. Applicants under 21 years must be guar-anteed by Parent or Guardian. Membership may be terminated by the Society in accordance with its By-Laws.

Correspondence concerning sub-scriptions, back numbers and bound volumes, address changes and other matters and all re-mittances should be sent to the Treasurer. All general commun-ications and advertising should be sent to the Editor.

SEPTEMBER, 1961

~·~'~ ',2psr ..Jaurn1:11

\i ------Official Publication of the

AMERICAN AIR MAIL SOCIETY

VOL. 32 No. 12 ISSUE No. 376

Contents ........ for September, 1961 38th Annual Convention Story and

Program . . . . . . .. 366 1931 Celebration of Ovington's 1911

Flight .... ...... ....... ........... 368 An On-the-Scene Report ... . ...... 371 A 1911 Report on Transcontinental Flight

Plans ........ . ........... 374 · Society Donation Auction .... ---- ............... 376 Heiman Sale Brings Surprises .. ·-----···· 382 P. 0. Department to Provide Golden

Jubilee Cachet ................. ---- 383 Foreign Pioneer Airpost Flights,

1909-14 ·········· 384 The DC-3-There Never Was Another

Airplane Like It! ........ . ----····· 388 Airs of the Month ...................................... 390 Official Section ............ 391 After Cal Rodgers Crashed .................... 392 T1he U.S. Pioneer Section of the Truby

Sale ................ 394 Airport Dedications ................................ 396

EDITOR Joseph L. Eisendraih

350 No. Deere· Park Drive, Hi~hland Park, nL ASSISTANT EDITORS

Robert W. Murch Ernest A. Kehr L. B. Gatchell

DEPARTMENT AND ASSOCIATE EDITORS R. Lee Black, N. Pelletier, Florence L. Kleinert, Dr. Max Kronstein, Richard L. Singley, William R. Ware, Julius Weiss, James Wotherspoon. John Watson, William T. Wynn, Frank Blumenthal, Samuel S. - Goldsticker, Jr., J. S. Langabeer. Publis)1ed monthly at Albion, Erie Co., Pa .. U.S.A. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office

at' Albion, Pa., Februarv 10, 1932, under tne Act of March 3, 1879. "

The AffiPOST JOURNAL is not conducted for profit. The Editor, and all others, serve without compensation. Receipts from advertising, sub-scriptions and contributions are applied to the betterment of the magazine and the promotion of aero-p1".ilately. · The Editor and Officers of The American Air Mail Society assume no responsibility for the accuracy of statements made by contributors. Every effort is made to insure correctness of

all articles. Subscription Rates: $4.00 per year, 35c per copy. Advertising Rate Card available from the Editor

PAGE 365

• La~t month, the Airpost Journal listed a tentative schedule for the 38th Annual

Convention in N'ew York City on Sept. 23rd-25th. We now present the final pro-gram.

The Hotel Lexington at 48th St. and Lexington Ave. will serve as convention headquarters.

The three day convention program is scheduled to include on Friday, September 23rd, a business session in the morning, a visit to Idlewild Airport in the afternoon and a social gathering in the evening at the hotel. The evening session will feature a donation auction of airpost stamps and covers under the direction of Samuel S. Goldsticker, Jr.

Saturday, September 23rd during the day will be devoted to a pilgrimage by bus to Garden City to commemorate the first official air mail flight. The United States Post Office Dept. has authorized a souvenir historical commemorative cachet for a flight on this day to be re-enacted by helicopter through the cooperation of the New York Airways. Projected plans call for the mail to be picked up at Garden City flown over the original first flight route and thence to Idlewild Airport. for the dispatch of the mail.

A luncheon will be held at the Garden City Hotel and an appropriate program celebrating this fiftieth anniversary will be presented.

L. B. Gatchell is preparing a special souvenir program for the Society and it will be available to all collectors by mail order from Ruth T. Smith, ··102 Arbor Road, Riverton, N. J. at one dollar per copy.

Saturday evening will be the Annual Banquet at the Hotel Lexington and many entertainment features will be provided including the installation of the new society President, Dr. James J. Matejka, Jr.

Sunday, September 24, will be devoted to special sight-seeing trips to the United Nations, around Manhattan Island and such other places in New York as are attractive to those attending the Convention.

Serving on the Convention Committee are Geo. D. Kingdom, L. B. Gatchell, Robert W. Murch, Harold J. Frankel, William Alley, Samuel S. Goldsticker, John J. Smith, George W. Angers, Joseph L. Eisendrath, Dr. James Matejka, Jr., Florence Kleinert, George Lee, Arthur Schmidt, Robert Haring, Grace Conrath,• Louise Hoff-man, Ruth T. Smith, Harry Gordon and Richard Singley. '

All interested collectors are inVlited to attend any and all the convention activi-ties and functions. Reservations for the Luncheon at Garden City Hotel, the Banquet at Hotel Lexington and orders for the special Garden City Souvenir Folder should 'be sent to Ruth T. Smith, 102 Arbor Road, Riverton, New Jersey. President Robert W. Murch would like to know if you are planning to attend the convention so that satisfactory arrangements can be made.

Hotel reservations should be made direct with the Hotel Lexington, 48th St. and Lexington Ave., New York, N. Y.

PAGE 366 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

OFFICIAL CONVENTION SCHEDULE 38TH ANNUAL CONVElJTION, AMERICAN AIR MAIL SOCIETY . Friday. ~ahird~y and Sunday. September 22nd. 23rd. arid 24th, l961 · Hotel Lexington. 48th and Lexington: Ave .. New York City

In Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the First Official Air Mail Flight from Aeropostal Station No. 1, Garden City Estates, Garden City, Long Island, Inaugurated on September 23rd, 1911.

FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 22, 1961 ll.0:00 A.M.

AAMS Convention Registration in Advertising Suite, Room 303, Hotel Lex-ington, 48th St. and Lexington Ave.

H:OO A.M. Opening Business Session, AAMS Convention. Florentine Room, Hotel Lexington.

12:30 P. M. · Informal Dutch Treat Luncheon.

2:00 P.M. Visit to Idlewild International Airport by Chartered Bus (air-conditioned) Departs from Hotel Lexington.

7:00 P.M. AAMS Convention Reception and Hospitality Hour .

. New England Room, Hotel Lexington. 8:30 P.M.

Auction of Airpost stamps and COV'ers. All lots donated. 9:30 P.M.

Annual AAMS Jamboree, New England Room, Hotel Lexington.

SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 23. 1961 9:00 .. A.M.

Registration in Advertisjng Suite continues until 10:00 A.M. iO:OO A.M. · Pilgrimage to Garden City, Long Island, Site of 1911 Pioneer Air Mail

flight. Air-conditioned chartered bus will transport convention registrants and leave from Hotel Lexington.

12:30 P.M. Fiftieth Anniversary Luncheon at Garden City Hotel. Convention regis-trants and guests are invited. Presentation of Special Souvenir Folder by AAMS.

2:30 P.M. Re-enactment of Garden City First Official Air Mail Flight vlia helicopter by New York Airways.

6:00 P.M. Reception and Cocktail Party, New England Room, Hotel Lexington .

. 7:30 P •. M. 38th Annual Convention )'lan,quet, American Air Mail Society, Empire Room, Hotel Lexington .. Installation of newly elected officers, headed by Dr. James J. Matejka, Jr., Presid~nt 1961-1963.

SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 24. 1961 Adjourned Business Session of Convention, if required. Officers and Advisory Board Meeting. Sightseeing trips to United Nations, Around Manhattan Island by Boat, and

other places of interest to the convention registrants. Adjournment.

SEPTEMBER, 1961 PAGE 367

The . 19~1 Celebration of Ovington's 1911 Flight

On September 23rd, 1931, Earle Ov-ington, Airmail Pilot, at the controls, and Frank Hitchcock, Postmaster-General in 1911, seated at hi ide, took off in a modern airmail plane from Los Angeles bound for Tucson. The purpose of the flight was to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Fir t Air Mail Flight in the United States under the supervi-sion of the Postal Department. This first flight was from Garden City to Mineola, Long Island, N. Y., on September 23, 1911, during the International A iation Meet being held on Long Island.

As most prominent among his recol-lections of the 1911 flight, Mr. Hitch-cock says, "Throughout the preliminary period during which I ' a making ar-rangements for the initial airmail flight I expected to accompany the pilot on that Qccasion and carry the first pouch of airmail. Having previously flown in Bleriot monoplanes of the standard type I took -it for granted that Earle Oving-ton's ship was a two-seater like the one with which I was familiar.

"Not until I arrived at the field at Nassau Boulevard did I learn that hi Bleriot was of a smaller pattern and not capable of carrying more than one per-son .. Not wishing to surrender distinction of being the firs t airmail carrier in his-tory, I immediately decided to po tpone the ilight until a two-seated plane could be procured. I was dissuaded from this purpose, however, by the appeal of Earle Ovington himself, supplemented by the urging of others who felt it was a pity to disappoint the throncrs of people there assembled to witness the event. So I handed the pouch to Mr. Ovington, whom I had commissioned as the fir t airmail pilot, and permitted him to pro-ceed on the first flight alone. Meanwhile I arranged to have an Army biplane brought over from Wa. hington and so was able, a couple of day later" to fly the course myself with a pouch of airmail and deliver it to Mineola.

PAGE 368

"For a time I felt rather deeply disap-poin ted of thus failina in my ambition to be the first airmail carrier of record. Afterwards, when I became better ac-quainted '' ith Earle Ovington and began to appreciate more fully his fine quali-ties, I cea ·ed to begrudge h im the honor he wrested from me in the manner de-scribed." No such deficiency in the de-sign of the 1931 style plane prevented Mr. Hitchcock from fully participating in this Anniversary Flight upon which official airmail was carried via Route No. 33 from Los Ancreles east a_ far as Tuc-son.

Accompanyina Ovington and Hitch-cock on this Anniversary Flight was "Treize," a rag doll of a French Gen-darme, which was hi mascot on the ini-tial airmail flight. "Treize" means "13" in French; the number of Ovington's plane was also 13.

The first airmail flight in the United States wa founded on the conviction of Po tma ter Gener· 1 Hitchcock that the flying machine could be used as a more efficient and s eedier form of mail car-

THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

rier. Thus, during this International Aviation Meet on Long Island, Hitchcock wired a proposal to carry mail to the of-ficial in charge of. the field, not as an experiment, but as proof of his convic-tion. Earle Ovington wa selected as the pilot and on September 23, 1911 Hitch-cock arrived at the field ready to pro-ceed with the flight.

The pouch of mail, containing 640 let-ters and 1280 postcards, was handed to Pilot Ovington. This mail bearing regu-lar postage bears a special cancellation . Within the circle is "Aeroplane Station No. 1 Sept. 23, 1911 P.M., Garden City Estates, N. Y." To the right of the circle of the cancelling device are four heavy cancelling bars. In addition, a one line b1ack cachet was applied reading "AER-IAL SPECIAL DESPATCH." The pouch of mail was carried on the lap of the pilot which made the flying of the plane a very difficult task because both hands were required to control the stick and keep the plane upright. However, Ovington succes fully made the trip without a mishap. On each uccessive day up to and including the 30th of Sep-tember, 1911, mail wa carried by plane over this seven-mile route.

The flight of the 29th of September was postponed because of the weather and this mail was carried on the 30th. Some mail has been found bearing date

SEPTEMBER, 1961

of October 1st. This mail was not car-ried because of adverse weather condi-tions. The last actual flight was made September 30, 1911. On September 27, 1911 with Capt. Paul Beck as the pilot, Postmaster General Hitchcock and At-torney General Wickersham accompanied him as passengers and on this flight Hitchcock carried the mail. Other pilots to fly the mail over this route during the meet were Lieutenants Henry H. Arnold, T. G. Ellyson, Eugene Ely, Thomas De-Witt, Edward Lee Hammond and George W. Beatty. 43,247 pieces of mail were dispatched during the seven-day meet.

It is interesting to note that at no time since 1911 had Ovington acted as an air-mail pilot although he held his pilot li-cense as an airmail carrier until this twentieth anniversary flight which car-ried 575 pounds of mail from Los An-geles. The majority of this mail was dis-patched in honor of this historic airmail flight. This airmail bore a special purple cachet provided by the Postal Depart-ment. In the design there is a winged circle and within the circle is an early type of plane. It is not the type which Ovington flew, however, as his plane was a monoplane while the plane depict-ed is a biplane. Within the design of the cachet is the wording: "1911-1931, Twentieth Anniversary First Air Mail

PAGE 369

Flight P. 0. Department, September Twenty-third. Los Angeles, California."

The P.O. Department also sponsored an official cachet applied to airmail dis-patched from Mineola, L. I. on Septem-ber 23rd, as a commemorative cachet. This marking was applied in purple. The design is two circles; within one circle is a 1931 type of mail plane and within the other, the 1911 type. This is word-ed: "Twentieth Anniversary, September 23, 1931 P.0.D. First Flight Airmail Mineola, N. Y. September 23, 1911."

A special plane was dispatched to Mineola to pick up this mail and deliver it to Newark, N. J. for distribution over the regular operated chain of airlines. Pilot Dean Smith, a pioneer airmail pi-lot was at the controls of the Mineola plane. Several other cities commemor-ated this event with unofficial cachets. At Tucson, Ariz. a cachet depicting a desert scene was applied to about 500 covei:s in red, the Chamber of Commerce providing the cachet. At Newark, N. J. a cachet in blue was printed on 4967 covers, flown by Bob Buck, junior pilot, from Newark to Roosevelt Field and then carried to Mineola, N. Y., where the of-ficial cachet was applied and the covers mailed. At Pittsburgh a red and black cachet was applied to about 450 covers by the Chamber of Commerce. At Co-lumbus, Ohio, the American Legion pro-vided a blue and magenta cachet in the shape of a postal cancellation to about 29 covers. Chicago and Homestead, Pa. also provided similar cachets.

Earle Ovington, in 1931, was an en-gineer, located in Santa Barbara. He maintained his interest in flying as a hobby. He owned a plane and flew mainly for his own pleasure. He flew the mail unofficially every three weeks from Santa Barbara, California to Santa Cruz Island, about 30 miles from the shore. His keen interest in the develop-ment of the various lines over the coun-try c.aused him to join the ranks of the airmail cover collectors. He afforded many collectors the opportunity to ser.ure his autograph, but if you sent him five covers, he would keep one as his fee. He was the President of the "Early Birds"

PAGE 37'0

P ostmaster -Genera l Hitchcock and P ilot Paul Beck

( 1931 ), an organization of fliers who flew planes prior to 1918.

To former Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock should go the praise and credit for having the conviction that in the near future the flying machine was to become the fastest means of trans-portation of the mails. Also he had the perseverance to go ahead against odds and carry out the first flight which was the beginning of airmail in the United States. Little did Mr. Hitchcock believe, however, that in only 20 years, he would see this entire country covered with air-lines carrying millions of letters millions of miles every year. He foresaw the air lines extending into neighboring coun-tries and continents and flying on regular schedules.

WHO NEEDS THIS?

J. M. Jensen, 712 Campbell Ave., Wa-terloo, Ia., has a nice copy of the 1940 Edition of the American Air Mail Cata-logue. As he no longer collects, he is willing to dispose of it at a reasonable price. If interested, get in touch with him.

THE AIRPOS'Ti JOURNAL

An On-the-Scene Report . .. The most interesting feature of the in-

ternational aviation meet which was held at Nassau Boulevard, Long Island, from September 23 to October 2, was the first dispatch of letters by aerial post in this country. On the opening day of the meet the first bag of mail bearing the official stamp of the Government, and transport-ed under the auspices of the Postal De-partment, was carried by Earl L. Oving-ton in a Bleriot monoplane from the avia-tion field to Garden City, a distance of five miles. Mr. Ovington took only one bag of mail, a sack containing about twenty-five pounds of letters and postal cards. This he held between his knees and dropped at the signal of a flagman when he was passing over Garden City. Here it was consigned to the regular mail service for transportation in the usual way.

The honor of inaugurating the service was to have fallen to Captain Paul Beck, United States Army, but when the first trip of the aeroplane mail delivery had been delayed from two o'clock until nearly four by the captain's inability to get his motor to work properly, it was decided that Mr. Ovington should make the trip for that day.

The mail service by the air route was, after that, a regular feature of the in-

SEPTEMBER, 1961

ternational tournament. A government branch post office, with regulation boxes and a number of clerks, was established on the field, and the department had de-signed a new postmark stamp which was placed on each letter. This postmark announces that the letter is transported by "special aerial service" from "Aerial Station No. 1, Garden City, L. I."

On Monday, Postmaster General Hitch-cock was present to witne s the aerial mail delivered and give the project the official sanction of the Post Office De-partment. The chief interest of the early part of the afternoon centered on the flight of Lieutenant T . DeWitt Milling, a fledgling aviator of less than two months' experience, who, by flying con-tinuously for l hour 54 minutes 42 3-5 seconds with two soldiers of the United States Army tucked away in the spare

seats of his aeroplane, captured for the United States and an American-made bi-plane the world's record for the longest two-passenger flight.

At 4:30 o'clock, when it wa announc-ed that Aerial Postman Ovington would leave with the day's mail, it was found that there were thirty pounds on hand, while Ovington did not care to take in his speedy monoplane more than fifteen pound .

PAGE 371

The Po tmaster General volunteered to carry the remaining package which was just then augmented by 100 po tal card . Captain Beck brought out his Curti s bi-plane, equipped with a 75-horsepower motor, and announced that he was ready to accommodate Mr. Hitchcock as far as Mineola· and return. Attorney General Wickersham walked out on the field to bid h is as ociate Cabinet Member fare-well.

"Have you made your peace with the publishers?" asked Mr: Wickersham.

"No, I haven't," Mr. Hitchcock replied, "and what is more, there is _ no second-class mail on this aeroplane. It costs too much to carry it this way."

The machine, upon its release, shot high up in the air and speeded directly

tJ;:

PAGE 372

into the path which Ovington had taken a moment before. A ribbon of vapor from the encrine unraveled itself far out behind the machine and caused some uneasiness, as it was a phenomenon which had not been previously observed during the meet.

Ovington' s monoplane acted as a scout car for the biplane, and headed toward the field with the biplane not far behind it. The spectators saw, during the latter part of the journey, a biplane perform-ing the unusual feat of overhauling a monoplane. The machj.nes landed almost simultaneously.

The Postmaster-General has conferred upon Mr. Ovington, who has carried the mail every day from the aerodrome to Mineola, the honor of the first official

THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

appointment as an aerial mail carrier in the United States service. The time is not far away when mails from incoming transatlantic liners will be transferred by aeroplane to the New York postoffice, in the opinion of the Postmaster-General. Mr. Hitchcock declared that while there was no immediate prospect of installing such service, it would come in the course of time.

"I am very much pleased with the re-sults of the experiment in carrying mails by aeroplane at the aviation meet at Nassau Boulevard," he said. "It would seem that aeroplane mail service is prac-ticable.

"The day has not yet arrived, how-ever, when such service can be relied upon, and, of course, its permanent es-tablishment will have to he delayed un-til aeroplanes have been made more per-fect."

All through the meet the post boxes of the new service were filled to capacity. Almost every one who went to see the performance of the aviators mailed a let-ter or a card to a friend or to himself. This utilization of the aeroplane for the transportation of mail is the first step in the adaption of the new invention to the purposes pf regul~r comfllerce.

(From the Christian Herald, issued a few days after Ovirigton"s flight.) '

BOOK REVIEW Fifty Years of British Air Mails 1911-

1960, ,compiled by N. C. Baldwin, Published by Francis J . Fiel

A 1911 Report on Transcontinental Flight Plans

In spite of the fact that the last few months have seen the death roll of avia-tors draw perilously near the century mark those same months have witnessed probably the greatest deve1opments in the art which tend to its final usefulness and success. Harry N. Atwood of Boston as he voyaged above the country with his handbags strapped beside him on his aeroplane P1ade us begin to feel that the day when the airship would be a vehicle of far more general use might soon be expected. Man's ambition to learn the paths of the air and turn them to his ser-r.ri.ce seems to be indomitable.

At Atlantic City Arthur Vaniman, in spite of the keen disappointment which he ·experienced when he assisted Arthur .Wellman in a similar experiment last year, is constru_cting a dirigible balloon

.. ~~ which he plans to cross the Atlantic. ·_From Paris comes the announcement" that

. M. Mamet, a French aviator, is about to . start upon an attempt to encircle the globe with a Bleriot monoplane, carrying a passenger, whi~e from England the dis-patqJi.e_s tell of the inauguration on Sep-tember 9 of the first regular government mail service by aeroplane. A few days ago a group of notables gathered at the Hendon Ae:r:odrome to witness the start of the young aviator who was to carry from there to Windsor, a distance of about twenty miles, the first bag of of-ficial mail which had ever been trans-ported by the airline.

1 Here in America almost nation-wide attention is being devoted to the . adven-tures of three young aviators who are competing in an attempt to cross · the con-tinent , for a prize of $50,000 which was offered by William Randolph Hearst, the publisher of ·several newspapers in dif-ferent parts of the country. Two of these young aviators, Calbraith P. Rodgers and James J. Ward, are making the attempt to fly from the Atlantic to the Pacific, :while Robert G. Fowle:r: commenced his

:'journey from Los Angeles and has New York for his .g

running out of Jersey City he lost his way and spent most of his first day in the air in searching for the route he had chosen for himself. After he had spent the first night at Paterson, N. J., he flew on to Callicoon in Sullivan County, N. Y. There night overtook him and he de-cided to stop. On the following day he reached Corning, N. Y~, where he was compelled to lose a day on account of trouble with his engine. Only twelve miles were added· to his total the next day, for he was again brought down by a balky motor.

All along the route of his flight whole villages and towns turned out their popu-lation to see the first aeroplane which had ever visited that part of the country.

' While he was still at Addison, N. Y., his last stop, he received a telegram of sympathy for his misfortune and best wishes for the future from his · fellow crintestant, C. P. Rodgers. Mr. Rodgers had started from the midst of a dense throng at Sheepshead Bay; N. \'., on the afternoon of the seventeenth and in one

; '

AIR POST NEW ISSUES

OF THE ENTIRE

WORLD

PAMPIWET UPON, REQUEST ·

Nicolas Sanabria Co. Inc. A. MEDAWAR, PRESIDENT

521 Fifth Ave., New York 17, N. Y.

SEPTEMBER, 1961

successful flight reached his first intend-ed goal, Middletowu, N. Y. All through the late afternoon his crane-like machine could be seen moving at great speed about two thousand feet in the air against a background of gray clouds or sunset gold. Mr. Rodgers was delayed in Middletown by the non-arrival of the chief mechanician from the Wright Brothers' factory at Dayton, 0., by whom he wished to have his machine examined and put in perfect condition. ·

(From The. Christian Herald, Oct; 4, 1911.)

B.A.M.S. TO COMMEMORATE· FIRST UNITED KINGDOM FLIGHT.

The first official aerial post ill; Jpe United Kingdom was planned to run;for the week of 9-16 September, 1911, but public response was so overwhelming (over 100,000 letters and cards . were posted) that the service had to be 'ex-tended to a fortnight - a unique event in those days. This was the famous London-Windsor Coronation Aerial Post, so named in honor of the Coronation of H. M. King George V.

To commemorate this important phila-telic event, a Golden Jubilee Celebra-tion Exhibition and Dinner is being or-ganzed by the British Air Mail Society, to take place in the Guildhall of the Roy-al Borough of New Windsor on 9 Septem-ber, 1961. This will be officially opened by the Mayor of Windsor (Alderman Frances Burton) at 11:00 a.m. Among the souvenirs to be seen will .be the original post box used at Windsor for the 1911 service, as well as a number of relics of the late Patrick Alexander who was then a resident there and who was connected with areonautics for over fifty years.

The philatelic section will consist of hundreds of flown souvenirs and docu-ments and will include selected items from dozens of specialized air post his-tory collections.

The Celebration Dinner will be . held at the Thames Hotel, Windsor, at ·7:00 p.m. on the same day.

PAGE 375

Society Donation· Auction There will be an auction at the Society's 38th annual conventio~, on Friday

evening, September 22nd, 8 PM, in Hotel Lexington, Lexington Avenue and 48th Street, New York City. This is a 100% donation sale, with material donated by members for the benefit of the organization.

Contributors include G. Angers, S. Barrett, H. Brandner, H. Brooks, A. Brown, L. Charlat, M. Codd, E. Fast, R. Fox, H. Frankel, B. Gatchell, S. Goldsticker, H. Gordon, W. Guthrie, R. Haring, H. Held, G. Herzog, W. Kaufmann, G. Kingdom, H. Kleinert, H. Lewandowski, S. Malkin, R. Murch, P. Nahl, H. Parke, Capt. H. Peters, B. Rowe, R. Schoendorf, A. Schmidt, J. Smith, and H. Westbrooks. · As this is a combined mail and floor sale, mail bids are encouraged. Usual auction rules prevail. All Catalogue listings are from volumes 1, 2, and 3, of the American Airmail Catalogue; the 1940 American Airmail Catalogue (where noted); and Scott's Postage Stamp Catalogue.. The condition of all material can be considered as de.: · sirable and collectable. Any lot improperly described may be returned, provided it k returned within three days of receipt. No charge is made for executing mail bi(ts; but a small fee to cover postage, handling, and insurance, is charged each successful bidder. The minimum charge is 25c per bidder. All lots must be paid for in full within seven days of receipt of material. Of course, all bids are treated confidentially. The deadline for receiving mail bids will be Tuesday, Sept. 19th. Send bids to

· 1 2,58a 2 RACBa

3 4 UC16e

5 617-619

6 ClO 7 C21 8 C51

9 C51

10 C51

Samuel S. Goldsticker, Jr., AAMS Auction Manager 70-D Fremont Street, Bloomfield, New Jersey

STAMPS • Australia - Complete booklet of 12 with both front and back covers $ 2.00 Dominican Republic - 2c Postal Tax Airpost, with double overprint. (T. Champion guaranteed) .................................................................................... 10.00

U.S. AIR POSTAL STATIONERY 9 different mint U.S. Airmail Envelopes .................................. ,..................... 2.50 U.S. Air Letter Sheet (2nd issue) with reverse cut. Cut ·an bottom instead of top. Also has imprinted sheet number ( 56) in black. Very, very rare ......................................... : .................................................................. 40.00

U.S. FIRST DAY COVERS April 4, 1925. Complete set of 3 singles (le, 2c, 5c) Lexington -Con-cord on one cover from Lexington, Mass ......................................................... 10.00 June 18, 1927. lOc Lindbergh, St. Louis, Mo. Cacheted. ........................ 3.50 Feb. 15, 1937. · 20c TransPacific Airmail. Washington. ............................ 1.50 July 31, 1958. 7c Blue Airmail. Philadelphia. Cacheted. Official "First Day of Issue" handstamp applied in red instead of black. Un-common. .. ...................................................................................................................... 2.00 July 31, 1958. 7c Blue Airmail. Philadelphia. Autographed by Post-master-General Arthur Summerfield, William H. Buckley (designer of stamp), R. A. Thomas (Philadelphia Postmaster), and other digni-taries. .............................................................................................................................. 5.00 July 31, 1958. 7c Blue Airmail. Philadelphia. 2 stamps and post-marks on one cover. One postmark is AAMS CONVENTION STA-TION. Other postmark is official FIRST DAY OF ISSUE, but ap-plied in red instead of black. Very rare, , .................................. , .. 1................. 7.50

FOREIGN FIRST DAY COVERS 11 Cl22-Cl25 CUBA - Nov. 12, 1955. Complete set of 5 airmail stamps on 4 1st

12 13

day covers (Sc & 12c on same cover) commemorating 32nd AAMS Convention & International Philatelic Exhibit. .......................................... 5.00 20 Different Asia and Europe 1st Day covers ............................................ . 25 Different Latin America 1st Day covers. . .............................................. .

LINDBERGH COVERS . (Catalogue Numbers in this section are from AAMS 1940 Catalogue)

14 140-143 Nov. 20, 1931. Set of 4 covers from Miami (to Cienfuegos, Kingston, Barranquilla, Cristobal) on PAA American Clipper, piloted by Lind-bergh. .. ................................................................................................................................ 21.00

15 147, 148, Nov. 23, 1931. 3 covers from Kingston, Jamaica, (to Barranquilla,

16

PAGE 376.

Cristobal, and Miami) on same flight ............................................................. 40.00 Feb. 21, 1926. 1VIilwaukee, Wisc. Souvenir card flown on special con-necting flight to CAM #2S7, then onward to St. Louis on "Lind-bergh Flies the Mail" flight. Neatly cacheted and backstamped. Has message on reverse· side, signed "Lindbergh", and donor claims this

THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

. 17 162i

.18 175a

19 687e

20 688

21 1068a

was signed by Lindbergh himself. However, we will not guarantee this to be an authentic Lindbergh autograph ............................................. 25.00

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENTAL FLIGHTS . August 23, 1923. San Francisco to New York, Forerunner test flight

involving night flying. Scarce ............................................................................. 7.50 July 1, 1925. San Francisco, Calif. First flight into Sacramento on Transcontinental Airmail Route. Not listed in Catalogue. Backstamp authenticates cover was flown. . ........................................................................... 10.00

SOUVENIR HISTORICAL FLIGHTS .. August 3, 1934. Baltimore, Md. Lustig Sky Train Glider - Baltimore to Washington. Unofficial cachet. Also has numerous newspaper clippings of event. ...................................................................................................... 5.00 Dec. 17, 1934. Oakland, Calif. National Aviation Day. ............................ 5.00

TRANS-OCEANIC FLIGHTS Feb. 18, 1928. Santo Domingo. 1st flight to Havana (flown by Lind- . bergh). Cacheted and backstamped. Good copy of El. ............................ 17.00

22 1178/ll78b June 12, 1933. Boyd and Lyon 1st nonstop flight, New York to Haiti,.• .. properly postmarked, cacheted, and backstamped.. Also postmarked

23 1191a

24 1217f

25 1243d

26 1276

27 1280

28 1393

Port-au-Prince July 6, 1933, so could be a round-trip cover. Scarce. ~~ .. 00 Dec. 27, 1933. Special return Christmas Flight, Netherlands East In- -dies to Holland via "Pelikaan'', with special postmark and back- ~ stamp. . ........................................................................................................................... 10.00 Oct. 20, 1934. McRobertson, England to Australia Air Race. Flown by Turner and Pangborn. Autographed by Roscoe Turner. Cacheted. 15;00 Oct. 10, 1935. PAA Survey Flight. Honolulu to Guam and return to San Francisco. 2 cachets. Backstamped. . ........................................................ 25.00 Jan. 28, 1937. First Navy Mass Flight from .San Diego to Pearl Har-bor. Cacheted. Backstamped. Autographed by most of crew ......... ·5.00 May 8, 1937. Dick Merrill's Anglo-American Coronation Flight.,. Round Trip. Cacheted. Autographed by D. Merrill. ............................ 7.50 June 17, 1947. Pre-Regular Press Trial Flight of regular PAA = Round-The World service. Postmarked at New York, Calcutta, Is-tanbul, Shanghai, Tokio, Karachi, Guam. Autographed by entire · crew. Very, very scarce ........................................................................................... 10.00

FOREIGN PIONEER FLIGHTS

29 (Catalogue numbers of lots #33-37 are from 1940 AAMS Catalogue)

Colombia, Sept. 12, 1929. First Scadta Flight from Buenaventura to Balboa. Stamp could be Kessler Cat. #19 (worth $10.00) but not

30 2

31 4c

32 7 33 8 •

34 Ba* 35 25 • 36 27 * 37 24 •

38

39 20a

40

41 2S7f-b

42 CAM-3 43 3S7a 44 6E2

45 8Sl0f 46 8N20 47 9W62-

9NE64 48 13N3 &

13N4

49 13N3b

certain. . ......................................................................................................................... 10.00 Costa Rica, January 7, 1924. Emergency flight by U.S. Army Pilot from San Jose to Limon ......................................................................................... 3.00 Cuba, Feb. 25, 1928. Experimental flight, Santiago to Havana. Special cachet. . .................. :............................................................................................ 3.00 Hungary, May 1, 1924. Budapest to Vienna. Registered ......................... 3.00 India, Feb. 5, 1925. Sir Alan Cobham's Anglo-Indian Survey Flight, Calcutta to Akyab. Only 34 flown ................................. ; ................................... 40.00 India, Feb. 7, 1925. Same flight, Akyab to Rangoon ................................. 40.00 Italy, Oct. 3, 1925. Special flight. Milan to Geneva. ................................ 6.00 Italy, Mar. 19, 1926. Balloon meet at Verona. Cover flown in Balloon #7 "Pallone Volpe". Special envelope ........................................................... 10.00 Mexico, Nov. 13, 1929. Experimental flight - Cozumel to Merida. Autographed by Pilot B. L .. Rowe. Only 30 flown ..................................... 10.00 Netherlands East Indies - Could be. return flight of Netherlands #6. Postmarked Weltevrlula Oct. 14, 1927 and also postmarked Batavia Oct. 17, 1927. Stamped AANGETEEKEND and Pilot Autographed. Very good ......................................................................................................................... 22.50 Philippines, Jan. 28, 1928. 1st U.S. Army Air Service, Manila to San Jose. Cacheted and Backstamped ..................................................................... 15.00 Syria, July 16, 1938, 1st flight,· Syria to France. Good. (Has pair of Syria C88, cat. $1.00 each) ...................................................................................... 2.50 Feb. 21, 1928. Chicago to St. Louis. Postmarked CHICAGO AND AIR.MAIL FIELD MOTOR TRUCK. Cacheted and backstamped. This is the 1st Highway Postoffice ever to be operated in the United States. A very scarce cover ................................................................................... 25.00 )Vlay 12, 1928. 10 caGheted covers on Chicago-Dallas inaugural. ........ 7.50

May 12, 1928. Fort Worth to Dallas. Magenta cachet. ............................ 7.50 Feb. 12, 1926. Dearborn to Detroit. Autographed by Pilot L. G. ._

Fritz. . ...................................................................................... ,...................................... 6.00 Feb. 1, 1928. Oakland Air Mail Field to Los Angeles. Very rare ..... 10.00 Feb. 2, 1933. San Francisco to Medford. ........................................................ 5.00 Sept. 15, 1935. Complete set of 5. Helena, Mont. Addition ................ . All pilot autographed and backstamped ......................................................... 15.00 Sept. 4, 1926. Sesquicentennial Route. 2 covers. Philadelphia to New York and New York to Philadelphia. Each cacheted and back-stamped. Both covers have good copy of C-4 (Cat. $2.25) .................... 10.00 Sept. 4, 1926. Sesquicentennial Route. Philadelphia to New York with scarce black cachet. . ....................................................................................... 15.00

50 1681- August 1, 1928. 29 point-to-point covers on Cleveland-Louisville 16N6 route inauguration. Very good matched set ................................................. 20.00

·51 34W22 & Feb. 1, 1933. Set of 2 Fort Wayne to Chicago and Chicago to Colum- · -· 34E23 . bus .. Unoffii.c_ial, cacl,let, .bl,!t ,ng back~tp.mp_s ...... .,";'.l··············tiifJ ................... ·5 .. 50

52 AM-40· d Jan . .V~· '19~1i' Si!t'·(iJ''i!/(400

-53 46Sl

6N3f 54 48Sl-

48N9 55 AM-53

56 '53S6f 53NlO

57 73E34-73E42

58 AM-77

. 5!! ... AM-82

60 94N22 & 94N23

6, 98S39-. \98N41

62

63

64 AM-111

· 65. AM-94

66

67 68

. 69

70

71

72 N55-N56

73 R3a

74 74 R-8 . 75 s_-66

76 77

78

79

80 F5-7 81 F5-8a

F5-8c 82 F5-9

83 F5-25

84 F5-44a 85 F5-44

86 F5-47 87 F5-48 . 88 F5-50 89 F5-86 90 FAM-5

PAGE 378

Huntsville, Al:;i.. Huntsville to Tampa and Nashville, Nashville and Memphis· to Huntsville. Very good. .................................................................. 5.00 Oct. 15, 1940. Complete set of 6. Buffalo - Erie - Pittsburgh route. Unofficial cachets. ........................................................................................................ 8.01) Nov. 1, 1940. 17 different matched covers on Minneapolis-Kansas City - St. Louis route. A very good set ............................................................. 21.00 Mar. 1, 1943. Addition of Little Rock, Ark. Complete set of 4 (53N4, 53S4, R53S5, R53N5) ..................................................................................... 6.00 May 20, 1945. 8 different covers on Detroit-Memphis inaugural. Includes very scarce Indianapolis Post Office N & S dispatches ....... 15.00 Oct. & Nov., 1958. Complete set of 17 covers on Casper-Omaha seg-ment. . ............................................................................................................................... 13.50 Sept.-Oct., 1959. Five covers (Burley-Ogden, Kalispell-Great Falls, CutBank-Spokane, CutBank-Great Falls, Great Falls-CutBank. Very good. . ............................................................................................................................... 7.60 June 15 & 22, 1959. Addition of A1exandria and Alexandria-Natchez-.Jackson extension. 6 very neat covers .................................................... !........ 5.10 .July 12, 1952. Rome-Watert(}wn and Utica-Watertown. No cachets, but backstamped. ................................................................................ 5.50 .June 29, 1958. Set of 4 Columbus-Dothan-Panama City ext .

10 different 01ci .. cA.~: .. ;;:;;.;:;;g;:;;p-h~ct··b";; .. J;ii:;;t~··:··:···:·'~ii:h··~;:it;;g-;:;;j;;h~d 5.40 photographs of pilots accompanying covers. . ....................................... Est. 10.00 A similar type lot, but 10 different items.

HELICOPTER COVERS June 7, 1956. Complete set of 16 New York Airways New Jersey seg-ment; all on matched cacheted cards. ................................................................ '3.50 June 7, 1954. Mohawk Airlines - 1st helicopter flight from Newark to Liberty and Newark to Monticello. .............................................................. 2.00 August 1, 1946. New Haven, Con'n. Special helicopter flight from New Haven Green to Municipal Airport. Cacheted. .................................... 1.50 25 miscellaneous domestic and PAA jet flights with official cachets. 7.50 8 different jet flights from United Nations, with official cachets. .... 4.00 Jan. 3, 1961. PAA 1st .Jet Flight United Nations (N.Y.) to Dakar, Senegal . Cacheted and backstamped. Short-Notice flight. Scarce. .... 3.00 .Jan. 3, 1961. PAA 1st Jet Flight, United Nations (N.Y.) to .Johannes-burg, South Africa. Cacheted and backstamped. Scarce. .................... 3.00 Dec. 16, 1953. Special flight of British Canberra Jet from London to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Powered Flight. Cacheted and backstamped at Kitty Hawk. Only 100 flown, of which 50 were available to philatelists. This is the only one which has been autographed by both the Pilot and Navigator. Story of Flight inside cover. . ............................................................................... to.oo

AIRPORT DEDICATION COVERS May 17 & 18, 1941. Stamford, Texas. Two covers from two-day af-fair. Cacheted. .............................................................................................................. 6.50 Feb. 13, 1945. Purchase, N.Y. Westchester County Airpbrt. Only 35 known from Purchase, closest postoffice to airport. ............................ 4.00 April 1, 1945. Tonawanda, New York. .............................................................. 4.50 .June 16, 1946. Belmar, N . .J. Monmouth County Airport ..................... 5.00

AIR LABELS Wisconsin Central Airlines. First issue, embossed. ·Very rare ............. 15.00 100 different miscellaneous air labels. .................................................... Est. 3.00

SPECIAL AAMS LUNCHEON PROGRAMS 7c Blue Airmail Stamp, .July 1, 1958. Stamp on front of program has official 1st day cancellation. Autographed by Postmaster-General Arthur Summerfield, designer William H. Buckley, and many other postal dignitaries. . ...................................................................................................... . 30c United Nations, .June 5, 1961. First Day Luncheon Program with single 30c stamp postmarked "First Day of Issue". Program auto-graphed by all United Nations, U.S. Postoffice, and officials present at the ceremony ............................................................................................................ .

UNITED STATES FAMs May 15, 1929. Managua to Miami. Black cachet. Pilot Autograph. .... 5.00 May 21, 1929. Cristobal-Managua and Cristobal-Belize. Cacheted. Each cover has good copy of Canal Zone C-1 (Cat. $1.25 each). 5.00 May 22, 1929. 5 covers (F5-9, F5-9a, F5-9b, F5-9c, F5-9d). Panama City to: Miami, Managua, Tela, Belize, and Havana ............. 20.50 Sept. 25, 1929. Tela to Miami. Autographed by Pilot S. J. Williamson. Good copy of C-14 for postage (Cat. 4.50) ..................................................... 8.00 April 26, 1930. Miami to Havana. Only 50 flown. ...................................... 5.00

April 26, 1930. Miami-Cristobal. Cacheted and postmarked at Miami and again at Cristobal, and then flown to Maracaibo (flight F5-55). A scarce combination flight cover. .................................................................... 4.00 May 2, 1930. Puerto Cabezas to Miami. ............................................................ 7.50 May 1, 1930. Cristobal to Miami on special envelope. . ....... ,................... 3.00 April 30, 1930. Colon to Miami. Scarce. ............................................................ 5.00 Feb. 12, 1931. Cristobal to Port-of- Spain, Trinidad. ................................ 2.25 Nov. 1931. Four covers. Cienfuegos to: Miami, Cristobal, Kingston, and Barranquilla. (F5-112, F5-113, F5-113a, F5-113b). 3 unlisted color varieties. Southbound covers have cachet in black instead of viOlet as listed in catalogue; .. : .. : .. ::: ............. :c .... , ...... ::.: ........................................... 11.00

THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

91 F5-115 F5-115a

92 FAM-6

93 FAM-6

94 FAM-6

95 F6-17d

96 F6-27f 97. F6-51c

96 FAM-9

99 F9-12 100 F9-25 101 FAM-14

102 FAM-14

103 FlB-6a

104 Fl6-56 & Fl6-60

105 F16-59a 106

107 F16-60

106 FAM-18

109 F16-l66f

110 F24-46 111 F27-le

112 F27-102

113 F27-103 lli4 F27-117 115 FAM-27

116 F26-60f 117 Wl-5

116 WIAE

119 120

121 122

123

124

125

December 4, 1931. Two covers. Miami-Merida and Miami-Puerto Barrios. Have inbound as well as outbound cachets. ................................ -1~5 Jan. 9. 1929. Four covers. Miami-Havana, Havana-Miami, Miami-Santo Domingo, and Miami-San Juan (F6-l, F6-la, F6-lb, F6-2) ..... 6.00 Jan. 9, 1929. Three covers. San Juan-Miami, San Juan-Havana, and San Juan-Port-Au-Prince (F6-7, F6-7a, F6-7b). All covers auto graphed by Pilot Basil Rowe. These are not on ordinary envelopes, but on special first flight envelopes and have a map of the Caribbean Area, with the route of FAM-6 drawn in.· Very unique. ........................ 6.()() Sept., 1929. 3 covers. Miami-Georgetown, San Juan-Georgetown, and St. Thomas-Georgetown (F6-12d, F6-15e, F6-16d). ............................ 4.75 Sept. 26, 1929. St. Thomas-Havana. Autographed by Pilot John H. Tilton. Good lOc Lindbergh Airmail used as postage. ............................ 3.50

Sept. 25, 1929. Paramaribo-San, Juan. Pilot au~ographed. .................... 2.50 Nov. 25, 1929. San Juan to Natal. Purple cachet. Only 59 known. Has pair of 20c map airmail and good single of lOc Lindbergh Air-mail for postage ........................................................................................................... · 4.oo·' May 17, 1929. 3 covers. Cristobal-Mollendo, Cristobal-Esmeraldas, and Cristobal-Lima (F9-2, F9-2a, F9-2e). All autographed by Pilot Frank E. Ormsbee. Two covers have pair of Canal·Zone Cl (Cat. .-$1.25 each, Third cover has single). .................................................................... 5'.'50 May 18, 1929. Guayaquil-Cristobal. Pilot autographed. .......................... 2.00 July 12; 1926. Miami to Santiago ....................................................... ~................. 3.50 April, 1937. Transpacific Route - 4 covers. San Francisco'-Macao, Macao-Hong Kong, Macao-San Francisco, Hong Kong-San Francis-co. On special envelopes showing picture of China Clipper. ................ 9.50 April, 1937. Three covers. Hong Kong-San Francisco, Hong-Kong Honolulu, and Hong-Kong-Guam (F14-16, F14-16b, F14-16c). AU. autographed by Capt. A. E. LaPorte and other pilots on the flight. 9-;50 · May 24, 1939. Marseilles to Lisbon. Mailed and postmarked at Gen-eva. Cacheted and backstamped at Marseilles and backstamped again at Lisbon. Very neat. .................................................................................... 3.00

~"fr~1!'. 19~~: .... ~ ... :~~=~~: .... ~~.~.~~.~=~~.~~~~: ... :~.~ ... :!..~~~~~~-~~.~=~~~~::~.:: 7.on March 29, 1947. Washington-Gander. Scarce. ................................................ 4.00 July, 1947. PAA Round-The-World flight. 6 covers. Limerick-Cal-cutta, Istanbul-Calcutta, Calcutta-Istanbul, Calcutta-London, Cal-cutta-Shannon, and Calcutta-Gander (FlB-73, FlB-74, FlB-75a, F18-75b, F18-75c, F18-75d) .................... : ............................................................................ 10.25 June 27, 1947. New York & New York AMF to San Francisco via Calcutta. ........................................................................................................................ 2.75 Nov. 1946. 3 covers. New York-Barcelona, Boston-Barcelona, and Barcelona-New York. .................................................................................................. 5.75 Dec. 17, 1950. Boston-Paris. Autographed by Capt. L. c. Emerson and entire crew ............................................................................... :............................. 4.t)O June 21, 1947. Helsinki to New York on special registered env. ........ 5JJO Mar. 31; 1946. Washington-Athens. Has 8 different pilot autographs (Pilot on each segment of flight signed cover). 6 different 5c Flags used for postage .... ,...................................................................................................... 2.00

Oct. 2, 1950. London-New York. Unofficial cachet. No backstamp. Rare. . ............................................................................................................................... 7.50 Oct. 2. 1950. Frankfort to New York. Scarce. .............................................. 5.00 June 1, 1951. Detroit to London. No backstamp. Only 107 known. .... 3.00 June 3, 1951. London via Idlewild to Detroit. No listed. Unofficial cachet. On special West German Aerogramme ................................. Est. 2.00 June 3, 1950. Minneapolis AMF-Tianan, Formosa. Special env ............. 2.5() Dec. 13, 1927. West l!ldian Aerial Express. 2 covers. Port-Au-Prince to Santo Domingo and Port-Au-Prince to San Juan. Autographed by Capt. Basil Rowe. Cacheted. . .............................................................. :·········· 4.50 Feb., 1926. West Indian Aerial Express. 5 covers. Santo Dom1ngo-Santiago De Cuba; Port-Au-Prince-Santiago. Santiago-San Juan; Santiago-Port-Au-Prince; Santiago-Santo Domingo (Wl-6, Wl-7, Wl-8, Wl-8a, Wl-8b). Autographed by Capt. Basil Rowe. Cacheted. 7.50

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

American Airmail Catalogue - 1940 Edition. Good condition ....................... : Card carried by balloon in Laclede Balloon Derby from Alton, Illin-ois, to Indianapolis, Indiana. Also a descriptive folder regarding this Balloon Derby. . ............................................................................................................ . Autograph of Lt. Walter Hinton on cover of AAMS 1931 Convention .......... . "Lucky Lindy" Medal and ribbon, issued in 1927 to commmeorate Lindbergh's flight. Very unusual. ............................................................................. . 4 airmail covers from APO 970 with 4 different and unusual cachets and markings. . ....... ; ................... , ........................................................................................... .. Cover from USS Seadragon submerged in Polar Northwest Passage. Postmarked Nome, Alaska, Sept. 5, 196.0 ....................... , ................................. ......... : .. 2 covers from "Operation DeepFreeze" in Antarctic. One cover postmarked June 22, 1958 Pole Station Antarctic, USN. The other ... . covers postmarked USS Edisto Dec. 27, 1960 ............................................. ........ :.

SEPTEMBER, 1961 PAGE 379:

~'

I,.

THE DEPARTMENT. STORE OF PHILATELY

May We Delp Yoo? Regardless of whether you are buying or

·selling, you will likely find The Depart·

ment Store of Philately able and willing

to help you.

Your inquiries coupled with your A.A.M.S.

membership number will he welcomed.

A large and varied stock of stamps, seals

and covers will he found as close to you as

your mailbox. A complete line of albums,

catalogs and supplements is maintained in

the Elbe, Scott, Minkus and White Ace .

line. You may send your orders for

prompt attention: all ordem:-s of $2.00 or

more sent Postfree anywhere in The U.S.A.

Interesting covers are always available on

approval. As you know, you can't buy

covers from a price; list! You'll find un-

usual and even unique covers in Long's

stock, available to you on approval on

request. Write today!

Cover Special of the Month

20 different U!Naval Covers, each bearing postmark of a different .S.S., showing name of ship i cancel, between dates of 1927 and 1932 on #10 U.S. Navy Dept. franked "Pen-alty" envelopes. Ships such as the old U.S.S. Houston, Sara-toga, etc. included

These 20 scarce covers as a unit, only .... ····-·················· $8.50

Action in Auctions For more than a quarter of a century we

have held monthly Mail Auction Sales

whereby fine and unusual philatelic ma·

terial is sold by mail to collectors and

dealers in all parts of the world. If you

receive our cat~logs, he sure to send your

hid sheet in the current auction. If you

do not receive these catalogs monthly, ask

for the current one!

These auctions contain almost anything

philatelic, ranging from rarities to entire

collections and accumulations. Every sale

features a special section on COVERS,

usually running into several hundred sep-

arate lots. This may he a grand oppor·

tunity for you, whether you are buying or

selling!

There is always plenty of action in a Long

Sale! All bidding is done via mail and if

you're interested, we will he glad to hear

from you!

Life Member:

IEILWIER Ro LO~G 22 NORTH 2:NID> STo, HA\RRISBlUR

Heiman Sale Brings Surprises By Jesse G. Johnson

There were many surprises in the Harry Truby Collection sale by Irwin Heiman in New York, May 10th and 11th. All of l!hem were pleasant; some wholly unexpected. Airpost collectors in general will be glad to learn that our early airpDst stamps are rapidly coming into the classic status. Fine copies are making their way to much higher prices. What is most pleasant to see is that there are fewer stamps removed from cover than formerly.

Under the classification of United States Airposts on and off cover our first six airmail stamps C-1 to C-6 brought $17.00. Scott's No. C-1 in fine condition on a first flight from Philadelphia to New York went at $67.00, catalogued at $50.00. Our second airmail: stamp C-2 cm a first flight from Philadelphia to Washington went for one dollar less than the catalogue figure of $49.00. A block of twelve of the 24c C-3 with red and blue top, plate number blocks listed at $140.00 went for $130.00. This 24c stamp on cover on first flight New York to Washington via Philadelphia, listed at $50.00, sold at $41.00. This same 24c stamp in a plate block of six stamps .combination listed at $120.00, brought $96.00.

The ever-popular booklet pane of three ten cent Lindbergh C-lOa on a Cleveland first day of issue cover, listed at $75.00, went for $80.00. The Zep-pelins in mint condition; 65c, C-13 went for $26.00; $1.30, C-14 $44.00, and a . $2.60 blue C-14, on a Zeppelin cover,

• The U.S. Government Flight Covers of the 22 lots listed went from $4.50 to $30.00 and none exceeded the retail price listed by the auctioneer in the catalogue. The U.S. Souvenir Historical Flight cov-ers ranged from $5.50 to $36.00.

Trans-Ocean Flight Covers had many bargains among l!he listing. There were many pleasant surprises (not to me be-cause I did not bid high enough on some items I need for my own collection). In-cluded in these were the dirigible "R34" return to England flight from New York July 9, 1919 priced at $150.00, selling at $110.00; one of the Amundson North Pole Maud Expedition covers went above catalogue at $44.00; Admiral Mac-Millan's Arctic Expedition August 1, 1928 catalogued at $125.00 fetched $110.00; the Admiral Byrd North Pole Flight May 9, 1926, $117.00 which was more than the $100.00 catalogued price, Jimmie Mattern attempted round-the-world flight June 3, 1933 listed at $100.00 brought $48.00 which I j:hink is a very good price for this cover. Two covers on the Balbo Flight from Shediac to Chicago and Montre.al to Chicago priced at $30.00 went for $52.00.

The Wiley Post round-the-world flight July 15, 1933 priced at $175.00 went for $140.00. He was, in Amelia Earhart's opinion, our greatest aviator. Balbo's re-turn flight to Italy, all five sets, brought more than double what Mr. Heiman had estimated them at, running from $72.00 to $85.00 .

went for $41.00. A pair of the 50c green The Codos & Rossi Flight New York C-18 in very fine mint condition brought to Syria August 5, 1933. priced at $13.50 while a top margin plate block $100.00, brought $62.50. The Solberg .of 6 brought $95.00. The 16c special New York to Norway via Greenland (8 ·delivery airmail CE-1 seemed to be a copies) listed at $120.00 brought $96.00 . . drug on the market. Three sheets of One of Balbo' s trans-Atlantic Flights with fifty of these stamps only brought the special Italian air mail stamps on it $22.00. Perhaps the Post Office Depart- was priced at $175.00, sold at $92.50. ment will allow us to use them some day The Amundson Ellsworth Nobile Trans-ou regular Special delivery mail with a Polar Flight by the Dirigible Norge list-14c stamp added. ed at $15.00, brought $38.00. A 1933

The U.S. Pioneer Flight Cover section Balbo Trans-Atlantic Flight with 5.25L ·Of the ~ale was. cov~r~d ii1-. \mother article .. anc;l, 19.75L green, red and blue gray in, a!;:P,~~wlffls~,j~l!etl!i 1.'i'.W

Flight Cover listed at $350.00, went for $250.00.

Under the Newfoundland section of the sale we find the greatest value and highest prices. A DePinedo 60c Black C4, Sanabria 11, · $850.00 tied to a spec-ial flight cover, priced off cover at '$700.00, brought $550.00. A Martin-Handley Page Attempted Trans-Atlantic Flight cover $1.15 scarlet, C2 cover priced at $250.00, brought $150.00. A Handley Page Aternpted Trans-Atlantic Flight Cover with a C2 stamp quoted at $200,00, brought $87.50. The Alcock Brown flight cover went for about half price at $140.00.

Before I tell you about the highest priced item in Mr. Heirnan's sale I would like to say that pilot autographs are also corning back into their own. Charles Lindbergh's went for $34.00; Amelia Earhart's for $17.00. One item in the sale shows how collectors are beginning to value out-of-print catalogues. The first two volumes of the American Air Mail Society's great catalogue went for $31.00.

Now for the big item, the 1919 "Hawker" 3c red brown Newfoundland Cl, tied to the special Trans-Atlantic Flight cover quoted off cover at $1,660.00 went for $1,300.00.

P. 0. Department to Provide Golden Jubilee Uauhet

As we go to press, we are advised by Franklin R. Bruns, Jr.~ Direc-

tor, Division of Philately that the Post Office Department will supply

special cachets on September 23rd to mail commemorating Earle Oving-

ton's flight and one also to mark the flight of Calhraith Perry Rodgers.

New York Airways will provide a helicopter to retrace Ovington's ..

historic route of fifty years ago. The special cachet will he applied

both at the Garden City and Mineola post offices. Mail received by the

Garden City postmaster will he carried on this flight.

The program of the A.A.M.S. convention is geared to this flight.

Members attending will he present at this event.

We feel certain the Society will provide coverage and special en- •

velopes, although at this time we have no definite information. We

suggest that those interested might contact Ruth T. Smith, Secretary,

at 102 Arbor Road, Riverton, N. J. for information.

Undoubtedly before this appears in print, the official Post Office

Department release with instructions for dispatch of mail, will have

appeared in the general philatelic press.

SEPTEMBER, 1961 i:. PAGE 383

Foreign Pioneer Airpost Flights 1909-1914 B. The Air Stationery for :the Pioneer Airpos:t of :the World (1909-191"') VI. The First Postal Stationery on Board :the Zeppelin Airships - 1912

By Dr. Max Krons:tein

• The earliest communication from any airship in the air to the people on the ground was generally carried out by dropping messages. To make them actually fall in a certain area, the message was attached to some heavy object or was included in some form of weighted bag, to which was tied a colored ribbon or flag, to make it visible during the fall and later on the ground. After the airship had further de-veloped so that it carried passengers, it became feasible to establish a postal despatch office aboard the airship.

In the early period of the Zeppelin airship, the first forms of dispatches were dropped messages, which were made up quite informally. As long distance flights be~ came more and more frequent, and the need for despatches increased, ·the first prepared forms for these despatches were colored cards issued in summer, 1909. These had sections appealing in the name of the "Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Inc. Friedrichshafen" to ' the, finder to detach one section of the card and drop it in a mail box, filling in the questionnaire on the form. The rest of the card was to be kept as a souvenir, the finder being promised a thank-you-note from Graf Zeppelin for his efforts of mailing. (The text of one such form was. previously described in the article on the ILA stationery as part of this series. ) · . ,

Shortly thereafter the handling of passenger flights by Zeppelin airships was taken from the construction company - the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin - and given to a special operating company, the "Deutsche Luftschiffahrts Aktien Gesellschaft (Ger-man Airship Navigation Incorporated) - DELAG". This was organized in Frank-furt (Main) jointly with the Hamburg-Amerika Line, a well known shipping company. .

In 1910 this company began to undertake passenger flights. Souvenir card forms ( without imprinted postal stamp) were provided for use of passengers on flight. In cooperation with the publishing house of Schreiber Incorporated in Stuttgart, the first card forms were prepared for use on board of the airship "Zeppelin", showing on the picture side a view from the airship over the Rhine-Falls at Schaff-hausen a:t the Swiss-German border with the inscription "DELAG TRIPS WITH ZEPPELIN AIRSHIPS". On the address side was the inscription "German Airship Navigation Inc. - On board of the Airship "Deutschland" on flight from . . . to . . . The airship presently over . . . The finder is requested to drop this card in the next mail box". The rest of the space was for message and address and the postal stamp. The Berezowski Handbook of 1930 reported that in 1910 the Delag requested the postal authorities to imprint the official 5 pfennig postal stamp in these cards. However, the request was denied.

There was no chance to actually use the cards on board the particular airship for which they were issued, because this ship made only four trial flights (June 19/21, 1910), was delivered to the Delag on June 22 and crashed on its last flight in the hills of the Teutoburger Forest on June 28.

To resume passenger operation the Delag took over a· smaller airship, the L.Z.6, and continued to use the prepared cards by overstamping the airship name "Deutsch-land" with a heavy bar with the letters L.Z.6. (on one flight on September 4, 1910 the passengers prepared a special souvenir c_ard imprinted I. German Airship Post-card", whi:!::h V\1

t his writing and dropping of passenger cards, the company prepared a special bag, made from coated fabrics or from oiled paper, to which was attached a sand ballast. This bag carried a 2 yard-long flag in black, white and red and was marked "From the Zeppelin Airship - The finder of this airship mail is sincerely requested to turn the content of this bag immediately over to the next post office. F or h is efforts he finds 50 p fennigs enclosed ." ( 50 pfennigs were about 12 US .cents). Sometimes these bags carried the blue and white flag of the Hapag shipping .company as an additional marker.

In the followin g year the cards were marked on board the airship with a circu-lar cachet "On Board the ZEPPELIN . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . ( date) AIRSHIP

... ...... .... ... . .. ..... (Name of the airship )". This practice and type of cachet w ere continued throughout the· passenger services of all subsequent Zeppelin airships. This cachet was first used on board the airship L. Z. 8, the "Deutschland-Replace-ment." The cachet simply read "Deutschland", although it was a second ship of t his name and not that one for which the first cards had been issued. This cachet probably was first introduced in April, 1911 , but it is best known from unaddressed .cards issued for a special flight for the benefit of a "Flower Day" at Dusseldorf on May 7, 1911.

The Zeppelin passenger flights, their cards and postal transportation came to a new stage with the next airship, the L.Z. 10, or the "Schwaben", which began p assenger operations on July 16, 1911. This craft flew 219 flights before it crashed

. 'in a windstorm on June 28, 1912.. During this period quite a few new card issues were published , ,. partially for use on the airship and for . its successors, and partially for use at the "Station - and Landing Place of the Zeppelin Airship . .... " These were manufactured at different printing houses. Those to be used on board received the circular board cadrnt marking already mentioned, with the name of the airship and the date of the flight. These cards were used also on board the L. 1Z. 11 "Vik-t oria Luise", L.Z. 13, "Hansa'', and L.Z. 17, "Sacbsen". 1 ,

. In July, 1912 the German Postal Administration agreed to set1 up special Postal S tations on board the airships. The first of these started on July 17, 1912 on board the airship "Viktoria Luise". Our illustration shows a card posted that day, hand-

SEPTEMBER, 1961 PAGE 385

inscribed "For friendly remembrance of the first trip of a Zeppelin Airship having on board post station, signed by chief postal inspector Lindemann and the airship captain and leader of the postal station "Blew". The card is addressed to this captain. The author saw this card about 25 years ago and received permission to take a photo of it, but does not know where it is today. .

This card is from the same series of airship cards used later for the imprinting of postage stamps. This first day card has no imprinted stamp. It shows the first day application of the new oval-shaped official postal cancellation by the I.. Board-post Station "Airpost - Zeppelin Ship - Viktoria Luise - Date". This kind of postal cancellation was soon introduced on board the Hansa and Sachsen Airships.

The official announcement of these new postal stations did not appear before August 21, 1912, when. it was published in the Amtsblatt (Announcements) of the Reichspostamt No. 50 as Decree No. 118. It stated: "On board the airships of the German Airship Navigation Inc., Frankfurt M. (with branch office in Friedrichshafen, Bodensee) postal stations for the acceptance and despatch of letters and cards s~nt by passengers of the airship, are in operation during the flights within the borders of Germany. They have been established according to postal regulations and they are revocable. Despatches which carry the required postage will be cancelled with ::i,n ·oval-shaped cancellation, which carries the inscription "Luftpost - the name of the airship and the date (without indication of the hour of the day)". All des-patches must be paid according to the postal tariff for long distance despatches with no reservations for local or short distance or border transportation."

On flights within the borders of the activity of the Reichspost Administration and of Wurttemberg only stamps can be used with the inscription "Deutoches Reich". On flights over Bavaria only Bavarian postage stamps can be used. When the airpost flights take place between the Reichs area, Wurttemberg and Bavaria, the st~mps which are valid at the places of departure and of intermediate landing pTaces 'of the airship must be used. If despatches are handed over in area where Bavahan sfathjJs' a~e valid, the Reichspost Office will accept these stamps as valid on such flights. . If is not permitted to mix the stamps of both services on one des-patch. Any such despatches will be treated as non-franked, even when it might not be poss1ble to return them to the sender."

"The despatches which have been accepted by the postoffice on board the air-ship and which have been cancelled accordingly, will be turned over by the per-sonnel of the airships to the post office of the landing place as quickly as possible. From then on their redespatch will take place in regular service. To insert such despatches with board post cancellation into local mail boxes is not permitted, nor is it possibl~ to cancel despatches on board and then drop them from the airship. The local postoffices, where the redespatch of these postal despatches takes place, are responsible for checking the franking, the markings of unstamped or incompletely stamped p,espatch11s, for a\id~ti9n;il ,taxing and for .the redespatch of the despatches."

The Royal B.avarian Minister of State.for Tran~por~ation, Mr. Seidlein, approved this German Decree with the sta.tement, "I agree to. the planned extensipn of the airpost-flights over Bavarian territory on a revocable basis and under the same terms established by the Reichpost Authorities. I also agree that postal service stations operate on board the airship exclusively for the acceptanc~ and the hapdling of despatches, which are posted by persons traveling on the airships and posted during .the flight. But I do not oppose certain despatches, to be handed to the airship per-sonnel before the departure of the airship, so that they can be despatched by this airpost service."

With all these provisions in operation there was no longer any reason to hold up

PAGE 386 THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

imprinting of the official 5 pfennig postal stamp on the special airship cards when submitted for such imprint. It is surprising that from all the many cards issued for the Zeppelin operations and for the various landing ports, only six different cards were submitted for imprinting the official stamp, to turn them into postal stationery issues. All these were illustrated cards, printed in several colors and showing on the picture side either ) 1 a Zeppelin over . a Swiss mountain valley (inscribed "Schwei-zerfahrt"), 2) a Zeppelin over a wide view of countryside with Lake CRnst~nce and the Alps in the background (inscribed "Above the Earth"), ) the Zeppelin above its first construction halls at Manzell on the Lac of Constance (inscribed "Manzell"), ) 4 the 'airship on a flight through a thunderstorm ( "In a thunders.torm"), 5) the airship at the ground with a military crew holding the ship and the gondola, with the crew visible in the gondola (inscribed "Landing"), · or finally 6) the air-ship over the port of Lindau at Lake_ Constance with the Austrian Alps in the ·background, foscribed "The Flight of the Memb~rs of the German Reichstag over

Lake of Constance", an event which aroused considerable interest at the time.

Our other illustration shows one of these air stationery cards with the postal

cancellation of the station on board the airship HANSA, December 5, 1912. The

first line at the left half of the card reads "Landung". The rest of the inscription

-Of this Luftschiff Postka'rte is to be found on the illustration. The number of cards issued with this imprinted p ostage stamp is ·not known to' this revi~~er, 'bul the cards. are considerably scarcer than appears, ~ven from present day 6~rman catalogues. Efforts to assemble one set of the cards have been unsuccessful, even though this.

col1ecto; has been at it for quite some time.

Since ~11 airship passenger services were discontinued late in July 1914, because

of the coming of the first world war, the cards could not possibly have been in use

longer than two years. Mint cards without imprinted stamp were frequently found

after the first war in the hands of col1ectors. The cards wi.th impri~ted stamps

have been scarce, even in mint condition, for quite a long time.

SEPTEMBER, 1961 PAGE 387

The DC-3 -There Never Was Another· Airplane Like It!

• Twenty-five years ago last June the wing airliners, tihe type which have dom-airplane destined to transform the strug- inated the transport field ever since. gling infant airline business into the ro- Only a prototype DC-1 was built and the bust and vital industry we know today handful of DC-2s that were constructed made its debut as a passenger transport. for the airlines had marginal perform-

It was on June 25, 1936 that the ance capability. world-famous DC-3 was introduced into scheduled service by American Airlines between Chicago and New York (New-ark Airport). As subsequent events con-firmed, on that date the DC-3 started on its way to aviation immortality.

It was the "perfect transport" of its time, an enormous improvement over airliners it replaced, and the first cap-able of returning a profit to the hard-pressed airlines. Within a relatively short time after introduction, it became the standard air transport around the world.

Eventually, 12,000 DC-3s were con-structed in Douglas Aircraft plants at Santa Monica, Long Beach and Oklaho-ma City. His estimated that nearly half this mrlnber still are in operation today around tihe globe. And even in this age of jets, at last count'' 150 scheduled air-lines in 70 countries still use it.

Upwards of 400,000,000 passengers have flown in DC-3s in the past 25 years. And this does not include the mil-lions who flew the military version of the airplane (C-47) during World War II, and beyond. The oldest of the DC-3s believed still to be flying (for a local service airline in the Chicago area) has more. than 75,000 hours on it, or about 12 million miles of flying.

American Airlines alone flew more than 10.5 million passengers from its intro-duction in 1936 until American retired its last one in March, 1949. (Much to the dismay of its principal competitors still flying DC-3s at that time, American offered its final one to a museum. ) The airline at one time flew DC-3s exclusive-ly and owned 94 of them.

The DC-3 was an outgrowth of the DC-1 and DC-2 models which marked Douglas' entry into the commercial field. All were multi-engine, all metal, low-

PAGE 388

American in the mid-thirties, only, re-cently reorganized and with a young management team headed by its new president. C. R. Smith, began seeking ways to improve the DC-2. The airl,ine's engineering chief - William Littlewood -often termed the "Father of the DC-3" set down the specifications from which Douglas built the airplane.

Size and weight were increased over the earlier Douglas model and, signifi-cantly, passenger capacity was increased 50 percent (from 14 in the DC-2 to 21 in the DC-3) with a very small increase in ·airplane mile cost. A deluxe sleeper version with 14 berths also was' built to specifications advanced by rAmerican.

The sleeper, or DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport) as it was often. called, was in-troduced over the route of the "Mere cury"-American's crack transcontinental flight which linked Los Angeles and New York overnight with stops at Tucson, Dallas and Memphis. The Mercury flight took 18 hours.

One of the first "flexible wing" de-sign airplanes-an excellent engineering principle now applied to all airliners-the DC-3 awed pilots because of the un-usual wing bending in rough air and the "massive" size of the aircraft. One. of the early pilots commented that he didn't mind when tihe wings bent up and down, but when the wing tips "clapped hands" over the fuselage he 'lowed as he didn't like that!

So superior was the 180 mile-an-hour DC-3 over competing airliners of the mid-thirties that it soon carried Ameri-can, up to that time a perennial also-ran in the industry, to a position of leader-ship it has maintained to this day.

THE AIRPOST JOURNAL

Although no rnatoh in speed, size or comfort to present-day airliners, the DC-3 has a special place all its own among air transport pioneers-passengers and industry members. And the affec-tion grows with the passing years. 'J;'he DC-3 is credited with converting more land-locked travelers to air transportation than any other airliner.

It introduced standards of safety and dependability not known before. And the DC-3 built public confidence in a business that has made immense strides in the quarter century since its debut.

There never was and never will be another airplane like it.

SEPTEMBER, 1961

Al R MAIL ENTIRES envelopes

postal cards leiiersheeis

Finest Stock In the W orl.d

THE NEW ISSUE SERVICE PLUS the out standing specials that

characterize this service

ATTRACTIVE lfAGES FOR MOUNTING

THE AIRMAIL ENTIRE TRUTH newsletter. Send as many 8c stamped & addressed No. 10 en-velopes for as many copies as you •

wish to receive.

AUTHORIZED AGENT FOR THE GODINAS CATALOGUE

LAVA The Distribut or of the Barbados Error Box 186 New York 59

PAGE 389

AirS of 'he Monlh Described and Illustrated through courtesy of Nicolas Sanabria Co., Inc.

521 Fifth Avenue, New York 17, N. Y.

AUSTRIA: Albatross Military Biplane is shown on stamp publicizing Luposta Air-mail Exhibition ( #67)

BOLIVIA: Two Airport tax stamps - proceeds from the sales of these stamps cro to-wards the construction of new airports. ( #256-7)

BULGARIA: Russian Space Flight by Yuri Gargarin is marked ( #81 )

·COSTA RICA: Lawyers Conference ( #346-9) ECUADOR : Founder of the Red Cross movement and the new Red Cross building

in Quito are shown ( #459) Third National Philatelic Exhibition is marked by a poorly centered set showing previous Ecuadorian tamp ( #460-462) 20th Anniver ary of the death of Ortiz Carces, a national Hero ( #463-4) Centenary of founding of Los Rio Province ( #465 )

'P AGE 390 THE AIRPOS'D JOURNAL

GABON REPUBLIC: Definitive value, bird. ( #4) HAITI: The re-election of President Duvalier is marked by overprint set on #127,

#140, and #241 ( #268-270) LEBANON: Three provisional values show the Bay of Maameltein ( #438-440) LIBERIA: United Nations Security Council ( #188)

Souvenir sheet ( # 189 ) PANAMA. The imperforate sheetlet which was issued to mark the 15th Anniversary

of the United Nations has been overprinted to commemorate Refugee Year (#296)

ROMANIA: The Winter Sports set has now been issued in different colors im· perforate ( #170-176)

U. A. R. Egypt - Tower ( #43) URUGUAY: Definitive set depicts

Syria - Palestine Day 1961 ( #44) National Airport at Carrasco ( #243-249)

OFFICIAL S~CTI ON AMERICAN AIR MAIL SOCIETY

MONTHLY REPORT From the Secretaey Ruth T. Smith, 102 Arbor Road, Riverton, New Jersey

September 1, 1961 NEW MEMB;ERS

4839 Whiteley, Pllilip w., 1245 E. Colfax Ave., Denver 18, Colo. 4840 Robbins, Marvin H., 4246 Wyncote Rd., So. Euclid 21, Ohio 4841 Rood. David V., 4535 Douglas Ave., So., Minneapolis 16, Minn. 4842 Deterling, Eddie, Jr., PO Box 326, Schulenburg, Texas 4843 Steinschulte, Thilo, 5515 North Dr., Alexandria, La.

NEW APPLICATIONS Potts, George H., Halfmoon Bay, B. C., Canada. Lighthse. Keeper. Age: 54.

APS X By: W.R. Guthrie Clarno, John c. (Dr.), 1101 Main St., Peoria, Ill. Dentist: Age 35. By P. A. Ksycki Whiting, James W., 1961 Talmadge St., Los Angeles 27, Calif. Engineer. Age: 45.

AM DC lD By: R. T. Smith Oshima, Bill Y., 1717 - 6th Ave., Los Angeles 19, Calif. Elec. Tech. Age: 35.

By: R. T. Smith Silhanek, Arthur J., 526 Willow Ave., N. Brunswick, (Knollwood), N. J. Roofer. Age: 44.

All categories - X By: W. T. Wynn Jr, Kirtland, Eldon B., Maple Shade Farm, Chester, Conn. Retired. Age: 77. ·

UC CAM X By: R. T. Smith Robinson, Ward M., 936 Sea Sage Dr., Delray Beach, Fla. Retired. Age: 64.

.... .... By: R. T. Smith Hughes, William K., 4 E. 88th St., New York 28, N. Y. Stocks. Age:: 53.

By: R. T. Smith Halmstad, David G., Box 205, Madison Sq. Stat., New York 10, N. Y. Actuary. Age: 24.

FF GF CAM FAM CC By: R. T. Smith Westfall, John E., 5917 Sonoma Rd., Bethesda 14, Md. Architect. Age: 44.

AM UC HC FF Z lD By: R. T. Smith Rovner, Jerry, 283 North Bay, Manchester, N. H. Student. Age: 14.

AM U20 UC HC lF of US RP lD APS X By: R. T. Smith Stewart, Gilbert, 103 S. Brown St., Gloucester City, N. J. Refinery Oper. Age: 49.

AU X By: R. T. Smith NEW LIFE MEMBER

LM #103 Blazewski, Stanley J., 519 w. Second Ave., Roselle, N. J. CHANGE OF ADDRESS

330 Matejka, J"ames Jr., (Dr.), 216, Suite 216, Hotel LaSalle, 10 N. LaSalle St., Chicago 2, Illinois.

3937 Valier, Robert, P.O. Box 96, Jupiter, Fla. LM35 Bayer, Sam, P.O. Box 57, Dumont, N. J. 4634 Haas, Elmer J., Jr., 154 Northrup Rd., Elma, N. Y.

420 Wight, Royce A., 708 - 14th St., Alexandria, Va. 2941 Reichenthal, Harry, P.O. Box 876, Miami Beach 39, Fla. 4,825 Quackenbush, James T .. 4300 Erie Ave., Cincinnati 26, Ohio 4771 Ledoux, R. A. (T/Sgt.), 7272nd AB Wg. Material, Box 128, A.P.O. 231, N. Y., N. Y. 2182 Stead, Theodore H., 3220 N.E. 9th Ave., Pompano Beach, Fla. 4S59 Bykovetz, Dmytro, Jr., care Mrs. E. Moon, 514 Crown St., Morrisville, Pa. 4832 De Mars, Lawrence, 501 - 10th Ave., W., Spencer, Iowa

SEPTEMBER, 1961 PAGE 391

After Cal Rodgers Crashed By Charles Wiggin

After my good friend and ho· , Calbraith Perr Rodger , completed his 4,231 mile cro -country flight in 1911,

· he made many other flight ub equent-ly. Unfortunately, on t he aft rnoon of April 3, 1912, he crashed in the ocean just off the beach at Long Beach, Cali-forn ia.

On that afternoon I at outside on the c irb on a Long Beach street, and leanad against the wicker basket that held the crushed body of my beloved pal-Ca1. The basket was much too hort for thi taH man. The cops of Long Beach knew him and me and told the crowd of thousands to stand back · and let Wigcrie The Kid be with his beloved pal for the last time.

Shortly after, Commander Tohn Rod-gers got me by the ear and we hiked off to San Diego. "You're in the Navy now", said John but, somehO\v, I never really igned up and I stayed with ome of my

friends for many weeks . I recail whj)e at San Diego going into John's bungalow and reading the headlines-"Titanic Sunk, 1300 Souls Go Down ." I aroused the Commander. We walked from the bunga-low on Coronado Boulevard to the Navy tent which was a quarter mile away. Things then happened quickly.

I can recall that the Navy plane, The "B Right" was sunk and thus the Navy Jo t one-third of its aerial strength. I re-member the two Curtiss planes were al-most u eless. Holden (Mo by Dick) Rich-ard on was flvin!! the lead. Vic Herb-ster, an ensig~ a~d naval aviator No. 4, wa kind of excited about some news from Washington which demanded a re-port on how the pontoon idea was com-ing alon g and it seemed, suddenly, that W a hington seemed to be getting bit by bit into evervthing-flving, pontoons, me-chanicaJJv and other things. This is the way I remember Naval Aviation of fifty years ago.

I al o remember the time when