First Flight Cover

So here is a cover I picked up recently.. Google tells me they are quite common but I am hoping, as always, that this is not necessarily the case. This seems to have a few nice extras .. any ideas?

If the franking is correct for the mail service used, it may be a scarce usage. You don't see stamps tied by cachet all that often (may reduce appeal for some). Also, they typed on the stamp (may reduce appeal for some). Someone used a philatelically sensitive cancel for the stamps not cancelled by the machine cancel, which is nice.

Hi. maybe you could please explain a Little about what you mean by the 'Franking'.

and am I right in presuming that 'first flight' means exactaly that, the first time it was done.. and how many letters may one plane have carried?

Oh, sure. By franking I mean the amount of postage on the envelope. So we know that 30 cents (transatlantic stamp) was used to pay the airmail to England. And a certain amount was used to pay for registration (15 cents?). If the postage paid by the stamps (or franking) is equal to the exact cost for transatlantic registered airmail, then it makes it a more interesting cover, rather than one on which the stamps were placed only for philatelic effect.

To answer your second question: Yes, this is the first transatlantic airmail flight from US (New York) to Europe (Southhampton, UK). As to how many were carried on the first flight, I have no idea.

oh. very interesting. Thanks.

Hmm. my new Hobby is turning me into someone I never thought I could be. Fascinating.Thank you.

I think you'll find this to be an F18-10 (New York to Southampton, England) dated June 24, 1939, as shown at this link. Unfortuantely, the retail value of the cover is said to be minimal ($4.50) as compared to certain other routes from that day:

http://www.aerodacious.com/FAM018.HTM

Of course, the 30-cent Transatlantic Stamp as a plate number single, will increase its value somewhat.

Although your cover has nothing to do with Zeppelins, it may interest you to know that the addressee of the cover, Alfons Pilarzy of Poland was a noted Zeppelin cover specialist back in the day as documented by this excerpt from a philatelic journal, so it stands to reason that yours is a philatelically contrived cover:

Also, following on from wt1's comments, I believe that this flight stopped in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Ireland along the way.

So not strictly speaking the first transatlantic flight (that would have been in 1919 from Newfoundland)--but the first flight carrying letters from NY all the way there.

Not even close to the quality of your cover, but Grandma was able to get a cover on the same flight. Back postmark is Botwood, NFLD, June 27, 1939.



How does a cover go from New York to New Jersey via New Foundland?

Thanks for all the comments and info. Folks.. it sure helps with my understanding of what I have..

Even if it did pay the correct rate it is still a Philatelic cover by definition.

Well, yes. No argument from me on that point.

This is a very common first flight cover. As was mentioned it's catalog number is F18-10. That means that it was flown on U.S. Foreign Air Mail route number 18 which was the northern trans Atlantic route. Of course it is not aspiring to be the first transatlantic flight cover just as it is not aspiring to be the first flight of an aircraft anywhere cover. I do not have my AAMS Catalog handy just now, but the number of covers flown on this flight was very large. Keep in mind that the aircraft used on this was a huge 4 engine Boeing 314 flying boat with a huge passenger and cargo capacity.

Your cover is very attractive and a nice example from this flight. One could call all first fights philatelic in nature, but one can also easily argue the other side of the coin in that they were not just show pieces but they represent mail flown on a fully legitimate postal route. FAM 18 in this case. They are a kind of a blend between regular mail and philatelic mail. My definition of a purely philatelic creation is a cover that was never even in the mails - they are made expressly for being a show piece and typically are handed to a clerk for canelling and handed back to the collector. Or ones that the post office manufactures for sale and that never get near the real mail route.

I like the C-30 used on this cover and to my thinking that adds to the non-philatelic aspect since this stamp was issued specifically to pay for transatlantic mail service. The plate number is nice, but I think that most regular stamp collectors would downgrade the value because it has both a large blotch of ink from the cachet on it and perhaps even more since someone has typed on it. Most ordinary stamp collectors like a very crisp and clean lightly canceled stamp with no such distractions on it.

Still, this cover represents a very famous opening of airmail between the US and Europe and I would think you should display it proudly in your collection.

The definition of a Philatelic cover;

A cover/envelope or post card prepared with a stamp(s) and address and sent through the mail delivery system for the purpose of creating a collectible item.

That being said all first flight covers are Philatelic by definition. Still highly collectible, but not commercial mail is all I meant.

We have different definitions of philatelic items, but I do understand your point. I hope you also understand mine that this was the first time mail was carried on an officially established mail route.

I just looked up F18-10 in the American Air Mail Catalog. For this New York to Southampton leg of the flight there were 67,080 pieces of mail carried, by far the most of any of the 18 different legs of this flight. The next most was 20,631 pieces carried on F18-10c, the leg from New York to Foynes.