Air Mail Centenary - 19 May 2018

In observance of the upcoming centenary of Air Mail, I thought I'd share a cover in my collection.



And a few others:

Airmail is my main area of collecting - it is incredible to imagine the bravery/foolhardiness of the early days when new aircraft were still being developed every year and mail was normally carried over great distances by rail, ship or roads. This month's issue of the Air Post Journal is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the creation of the airmail system which in turn created commercial passenger airlines that we all take for granted today. Anyone interested in collecting Airmail should look into joining the American Air Mail Society which includes not only people from the US but from all over the world. There is a small monthly Journal of well done articles by collectors who really know their area (and that eagerly accepts well researched articles from any member), a set of the most definitive catalogs available on air mail that flew in the US or to or from the US, local clubs, awards for exhibitors at major stamp shows, auctions, and access to other members to share expertise and learn from. You can join by going to http://www.americanairmailsociety.org I would be happy to be a reference for anyone who has been around this forum wishing to join

Very Nice! I like the Helicopter cover.

I may be remembering incorrectly, but I seem to recall that Webster Groves had a very active stamp collecting community at one point.

The nice looking helicopter flight cover is listed in the American Air Mail Catalog in the Autogiro/Helicopter section as fl;ght number 229. There were 3,525 pieces of mail flown on this flight which was part of a series of helicopter flights around the Los Angeles area. These were flown under a contract for Air Mail Route 84 by company named Los Angeles Airways and the cities served were limited to those within 90 miles of Los Angeles. The pilot on this particular flight was Charles B. Kesselring. Los Angeles city dispatches were made at both the city post office and the post office at the air field. This one is one that was posted at the airfield as can be seen in the text in the killer bars of the cancel. Also, the air mail field post office used green ink in the cachet as this one has, while the city post office used purple ink. Collecting helicopter flight covers, as well as its predecessor the autogiro flight covers is a great deal of fun and since they are quite inexpensive it can be a really affordable. And there are over 500 different flights listed in the catalog so it can take a while to assemble even a part of the ones out there so it doesn't get boring.