1930 Afrika Flight Combo Franking Info?

This is one of my favorites, although not Zeppelin it does show some interesting franking and flight path. Evidently it left Germany traveled to Morocco then back to Zurich Switzerland. The cache at bottom front left is pretty cool as well. It is obviously philatelic in nature. Does anyone have any more information on the flight. It is appreciated. Thanks! Wolf-==-

Strange. How was the cover registered in Switzerland if it left from Germany? Would that be possible if instructions were included?

Interesting point. I only assume it originated in Friedrichshafen as it has German franking on it. But I could be wrong. Maybe Germany was one of the stops of the flight. But then you'd think the postage would have been already applied. Maybe others have some insight into this. I can not make out the date of the German cancel to establish a chronological frame of reference. Help explain this. Thanks! Wolf-==-

I think the route was Zurich, Friedrichshafen, Fez, and back to Romanshorn, Switzerland. But why the 2 different countries postage....not sure on that one. Still a pretty cover with what is probably a very interesting back story.

Ad Astra was the name of the major Swiss airline that on March 26, 1931 was merged with the other major Swiss airline, Basil Air, to form the new national airline that was named Swissair. This merger was forced by the Swiss government to take two weak airlines and make one strong airline that would be under government control. Walter Mittelholzer was the CEO of Ad Astra and he was also one of their chief pilots. Between 1924 and 1931 he undertook a PR campaign to get public attention for his airline and flew a number of special public relations flights from Switzerland. In 1929, 1930 and 1931 he was doing his public relations flights to various countries in Africa. This cover is from one of the many that he undertook. Ad Astra flew a number of different aircraft of the day, mostly small German built transport and passenger planes but mostly Junkers F-13 and G-23s, but they also had a couple Dutch Fokker F.VIIs and such. It was not a huge airline at the time so they only had a limited number of aircraft at any one time.

I cannot find my copy of my Muller catalog, but that is where you would find these various Afrikaflug flights listed. This catalog was last published in 1950, though you can get reprints because it is still the most complete catalog of world-wide first flights. Keep in mind that this catalog is written in French but if you have a basic understanding of French and a good dictionary you should have no problem understanding it. Also, it is really expensive. The reprints go for around $180 and originals are normally even more. Alternatively you can use the American Philatelic Society's Research Library in Pennsylvania and you can do that either on line or by mail (or in person if you are near State College, Pennsylvania). They do charge a small fee for APS members and a slightly higher fee for non-APS members.

I was looking for 'anastra.' Duh!

No worries, KGB, that cachet is always seen as a bit fuzzy and is easy to misread unless you know old first flights and the old names of the airlines that are around today.

As Wolf points out, these were definitely not flown on any Zeppelin. The picture of the twin engine aircraft in the cachet confirms that, along with fact that Ad Astra never had any Zeppelins. They did have a couple small seaplanes in addition to their landplanes back then. Also, as Wolf points out, it is completely philatelic in that the flights made by Walter Mittelholzer were not regular mail routes and instead were simply publicity stunts designed to get the name of his airline in the newspapers of the day.