Cam First Flight Covers

I've just started collecting First Flight Covers from my home state of Indiana, and have a question.
On the Aerodacious site (http://www.aerodacious.com), there's some great information about CAM flights, which was compiled from the American Air Mail Catalogs (which I don't have access to). However, one thing confuses me. Here are two of the listings that have for AM-88 flights:

88S8 500130 Indianapolis IN TA James M Elrod $6.00
88S8f 500130 Indianapolis IN TA James M Elrod $3.75

I've figured out that 500130 is a date code, meaning January 30, 1950.
And I know that 88S8 refers to AM-88, S for southbound, and 8 for a specific flight, but I don't know what the f suffix is for. Can anyone fill me in? There are several flights with similar listings, one with an f and one without an f. I'm guessing it's a variation, but of what? I don't know how to identify such variations when I'm searching ebay.
Thanks much.

f = airfield cancel.

General advice for any collector: don't skimp on the specialty literature. Pick up a set of the AAMS catalogs. It will more than pay for itself in the long run.

Thanks, John.
Mystery solved!
And, I am looking at the American Air Mail Catalogs available on ebay.

I picked up a copy of the 5th edition, all volumes for $75, a couple of years ago. If you are just interested in CAM flights, you do not need all volumes. In the 5th Edition, CAM flights are in Volume 2. It might be a different volume for previous years. But you'll have to scope that out if you want to buy just the volume that has CAM flights in it.

Until I get my own copy of an AAMS catalog, I've noticed another thing on the website, that I've been looking at, that I don't understand. The vast majority of listings are for departure locations, but occasionally it lists a "to" flight. Like this example for some CAM-17 flights:

R17E26 411201 to South Bend IN UAL $12.00
17W25 411201 South Bend IN UAL RB Andrews $15.00
R17W26 411201 to South Bend IN UAL $12.00
17E25 411201 South Bend IN UAL JM Roberts $12.00

Why would just some of the incoming flights be listed? Was there something unusual about them? I have noticed that the incoming flights are preceded by an "R".
Thanks

The perils of using a secondary source.

R = Marked (or not) at the receiving end with a cachet or backstamp or properly dated origin postmark along the incoming routes. The AAMS catalog will describe each special condition.

Another reason to get my own catalog...
Thanks much

Welcome to the hobby and this board. Do you have any broader interest in other types of Indiana aviation covers or history?

Not really. I collected stamps as a kid, way back in the early 1960s, and just recently got the bug again. But I think I'll limit myself to the relatively narrow topic of Indiana's CAM First Flight Covers. I do have a First Flight Cover from my hometown of Fowler, Indiana from 1938. It wasn't a CAM flight, so I suspect it was either an unauthorized air-mail flight, or a semi authorized air-mail flight, or maybe for an airport dedication. Now, let's see if I can successfully upload a couple of images to see if anyone has any thoughts about it.

Your 1938 Fowler cover is exactly what it says it is. National Air Mail Week commemorated the 20th anniversary of the 1918 airmail service. Special flights were arranged throughout the country. Indy was one of the hubs with over 60 flights coming in that day including yours which flew from Fowler through Attica, Crawfordsville, and finally to Indy.

Thanks, John. That makes sense. I just saw the words "First Flight" and didn't move my thinking any further.

The Fowler postmaster Leo McGrath appears to have promoted National Air Mail Week more than most other towns as there is quite a bit of "other material" from Fowler. He was the Benton County NAMW Chairman and did his job!



Two stuffer cards:

Very cool, John. I also have a copy of the larger stuffer card you posted. My Grandpa was a rural carrier around Fowler back then, and started on his first day driving a Model T. But he had no interest in collecting, so it was Grandma who got me interested in stamps when I was a boy.

As mentioned above, depending on your interest, you may be able to save money by purchasing only individual volumes from earlier Editions. However, you need to be aware that each Edition included the various sections in different volumes, so the contents of Volume One of the 4th edition is not necessarily the same as the contents of Volume one of the 5th or 6th edition.

I prepared a summary of these a while back, and recently updated it to include the new volume of Edition 7. Hopefully these will make it easier to select the individual volumes that best match your collecting interests.

The images below summarize the contents of Editions 4-5-6 and 7 by Volumes.




These pages show the contents sorted by Sections in each volume.

This is very helpful. Thanks.
I'm guessing that the 5th edition would suit me well, since (I believe) the first flights of Indiana's CAM routes were before its publication date. And it looks like Volume 2 might be all I need. Although I did an on-line search and found this condensed table of contents, which seems to say that the CAM routs are divided into vol. 2 and 3:

American Air Mail Catalogue Fifth Edition Vol Two
American Air Mail Society, 1977, 510 pages, hard cover. A reference listing of the airposts of the world. Contains U.S. domestic air mail rate changes, U.S. air mail field and airport mail facility cancellations, U.S. contract air mail covers routes (CAM)1 – 72.

American Air Mail Catalogue Fifth Edition Vol Three
American Air Mail Society, 1978, 520 pages, hard cover. A reference listing of the airposts of the world. Contains U.S. contract air mail routes (CAM) 73 – 299, airport dedication covers, Lindberghiana, cumulative index vols 1 – 3.

No doubt I may have a few glitches in my listing, it was prepared using information fund in various sources, as the AAMS website did not have the full information for earlier editions. Please let me know about corrections and I'll revise my List. I only own one volume from the 5th edition, and was trying to decide if I wanted to add to my full library shelves.