US Air : On Steiner Pages.

I have two you can choose from. The first is from the Nassau Boulevard air show in 1911 which is considered the first time US mail was officially carried by aeroplane:


For regular scheduled service, it doesn't get any earlier than this:


Basil

wow Basil, very nice indeed, I can't see a year on the second cover?

Lawrence,
I am a newbie regarding US,
my guess is your PB = Pitney Bowes Meter, is a general usage franking,
could be used on mail taken by air, but not designated specifically.
The Eagle appears on hosts of Pitney Bowes Meters.

Still is a cracker Meter... very nice... Looks like an H2



Later, Meters became more sophisticated, and there are some with Air Thematics.

I have quite a few ww2 patriotic meter cancels I think, a few envelopes full of cut outs. I'll dig around a bit

It is 1918, clearly marked so by the backstamp. But the May 15 date and "First Trip" clearly imply it as well: May 15, 1918 was the first day of regularly scheduled airmail service in the U.S. Technically, this might be called a "crash cover." The pilot carrying the mail from Washington, D.C. soon got lost, set down in a field, and nosed over his aircraft, rendering it inoperable. The mail was carted by truck back to D.C. and flown out the next day.

As for metered mail, I'm unaware of any that were specifically for airmail. But a lot were used for airmail, but back in the day the envelope either had to be approved for airmail and marked so, or the mail was otherwise hand stamped or hand written "Air Mail" on it. Just yesterday I purchased a cover like Rod222's with the "Keep 'Em Flying" logo that was popular during WWII:

This caught my eye because Intercontinent Aircraft Corporation was owned by William Pawley who played a part in forming the American Volunteer Group -- aka the Flying Tigers -- in China during WWII. It is a long and convoluted story, but it boils down to the fact that after Chiang Kaishek's brother in law, T.V. Soong arranged for the sale of 100 Curtis Wright P-40's to China, Pawley stepped in demanding 10 percent as Curtis Wright's representative in China. After extensive negotioations -- which Pawley was good at -- he negotiated a deal to train and supply pilots and mechanics and to assemble the P-40's in Burma, fronted through Intercontinent Aircraft Corporation. There were other facets of the arrangment in which Intercontinent Aircraft Corporation served as a shell for U.S. dealings with CAMCO in China at a time the U.S. was still technically neutral, making the whole thing a kind of precursor to the later "Air America."

Covers can spark a lot of history, which adds to the fascination in collecting them.

Basil

So said Rod222 in the OP. So we started with stamps, and have branched out into covers, metered postage, etiquettes...what's next?

I'm enjoying the thread.

Lawrence, how long have you been collecting? You have quite a wide variety of excellent material in your collection.

Basil

Nice meter cover there, Basil.

Hand made Indicia:



Indicia : Air Mail : Label 19-B June 1990



Baggage Label TWA = Trans World Airlines.
The most beautiful Lockheed Constellation

Thank you Basil, I've been collecting for about 5 years now, I enjoy it very much!
What about you and Rod?

Lawrence.
Started collecting at around 6yo.
At 20, had my entire collection stolen from the trunk of my Jaguar in Sydney.
Took it up again in my 50's.

NAPEX '73

I was collecting when I was young too... But I didnt count that as it was a father son thing and not very regular then life, girls and drinking got in the way!
Happily retired and took the hobby up again! Oh my other hobby is building boats! Lol
Basil's jenny cover is a ripper, I must search for one!

Some airmail parcel cancels, condition isn't the best though! These stamps were used postally, on bulky items.

Just rummaging through my stuff and I noticed this cover, something odd about the date of cancel, and inside was a letter!

check it out...is this something Scott would be interested in?
pardon the bad condition, its been through a housefire so its pretty brittle



Read the letter carefully

Lawrence.
As Basil said, you have a wide range of material.

To prevent neck ache.........

now, why couldn't I do that?

Lawrence, that "pre-first day" C11 cover is fantastic. Too bad it wasn't actually flown airmail.

Like many others, I dabbled at collecting in my youth, and then left it behind as I got older. Returned to it in 2003, acquired a lot of material, all US Airmail or aviation topical, but didn't start organizing it until I retired in 2010.