A Couple Of Old Ffc (New To Me) : 1919 And 1947

Here are two first flight covers, to share.

FF3 the Alcock Brown first transatlantic flight. one of 196 covers + 1 packet in existence.

Came with interesting personal note. Anybody have information on Hawthorndell and Margaret Carter? Might be James Baird or descendant.

The 2nd is NSSC-FF55, on American Airlines.

Enjoy! I welcome any comments.

I'm working slowly through my goal of acquiring every Newfoundland FFC. About 30 to go...

To be valid would FF3 not have had to be carried transatlantic?

Great question--which I nailed down before buying.

Yes, this cover was mailed from St Johns to London and carried on the flight, then returned back to St Johns...as the back stamp on the back shows.

Yes, there is no backstamp in London, but both Bogg's history of Newfoundland and Dalwick & Harmer's book on the Newfoundland Airmails clearly cite that only mail destined for London was backstamped June 17, although there are rare exceptions.

What pins this as an Alcock Brown cover (and was carried on the transatlantic flight) is the use of the special $1 stamp (created just for this flight)--meaning only stamps with this overprint got this treatment. plus the cancel on that date and time) is listed as associated with the flight in the books above. plus the provence for good measure (the BNAPS dealer I bought it from and the note inside).

Great question.

Does anyone who lives in or knows Newfoundland now what

"HAWTHORNDELL" refers to?

An estate? An area? A neighborhood?

I could find nothing from 1919 Google searches

I don't know if this helps, but the following is an excerpt taken from an 1890 City Directory for St. John's, Newfoundland. It sounds to me like "Hawthorndell" is (or was) a "country residence" for the well-to-do businessman:

Interesting and this might be a connection, if it continued to 1919.

I'll investigate what the "197 and 217 Water e Freshwater rd" means. I'm guessing that was the address...

And maybe James Baird was the grandfather

Thank you