Cam First Flight Covers

I've been thinking about my 1938 National Air Mail Week cover from Fowler Indiana, which I posted earlier in this topic. It says "First Flight" on the cachet, and I've seen those words on other NAMW covers. Which leads me to a question: Did some of these NAMW flights evolve into any sort of regular Air Mail service outside of the CAM and AM system? Or should they more properly called "first and only" flights?

The large majority of the 1938 National Air Mail Week covers are first-and-only flights from these small towns. Indiana's NAMW State Chair Adolph Sidensticker, the postmaster at Indianapolis at that time, was a strong promoter of the event. You will find NAMW covers addressed to him. Many of the smallest towns did not have airstrips, the covers were taken by car to a nearby airstrip acting as a mini-hub, typically at the county seat. CAM/FAM/AM requires a contract and expectation of enough demand to justify it.

Thanks, John. You've confirmed my suspicion that, technically, they could be considered "First Flight Covers," but there likely wasn't a second flight.

Now I have another question concerning Airport Dedications. Were all cancelled covers at such events actually flown? Or were some just cancelled on the ground and distributed locally? I guess I'm wondering if they can also, technically, be considered "First Flight Covers" if the never have a CAM/AM contract.

There are many, many aviation related covers beyond those related to CAMs. All, to me, are very interesting. Most are relatively inexpensive and easy to find. The 20's and 30's were the hay day of event covers especially aviation related items. They continue to be created. The Indiana Postal History Society coordinated two special event cancels for the 2006 American Barnstormer's Tour. Some covers were actually flown between Fort Wayne and Bloomington.

Airport dedication covers: Unless specifically noted/documented, I would lean toward the assumption they did not fly.

Thanks, John & hoosierboy. I started by just collecting CAMs and AMs from Indiana. But, like potato chips, it's hard to eat just one. So, I've evolved to collect first-trip Highway Post Office covers from Indiana, and I've picked up a few NAMW covers, also from Indiana. Now, I'm thinking about Airport Dedications, but I'd really like them better if they were flown. They'd just seem more authentic if they'd been up in the air. After all, CAM covers and NAMW covers have been off the ground, and HPO covers have ridden in a bus.

Some were flown and some were not. It all depended on the local committee of town boosters and officials who got together to plan the National Air Mail Week events for their town. I believe that when practical and when there was a local airport they were flown either a few times around the field, or if they were on an air mail route then to some other town along that route. As for being first flight covers, I am not sure if any were first flights, though it is possible a few may have been. I have not gone through the catalog of them to see whether any were. If they were towns that were already stops on the sir mail routes then not likely since the first flights would have been earlier - sometime starting in 1926 and up to 1938. Later flights from the same town on the same route would not be considered to be first flights, but rather just plain air mail. If the towns were not regular stops then if they were flown they would be event covers that were flown. These NAMW covers are lots of fun to collect and are very modestly priced. Finding ones that were flown is a bonus and of those finding ones that were autographed by the pilots is even better. Autographs by mayors and local post masters and cachet designers and planning committee members and other local VIPs do not add any value, unlike pilot autographs which do.

Thanks Kimo. It seems to me that there might be a difference between First Flight (with capital letters) and first flight (with lower case letters). The former would refer to CAM and AM flights, and the later to NAMW or Airport Dedication flights that just happened to be the initial (and perhaps only) air-mail flight for a town.

I think a better term might be souvenir flight. First flight has a pretty particular meaning of being the first time actual mail was flown from one place to another as a method of mail delivery. Creating a cover that is put into an aircraft and flown around the field a few times or that is taken over to another field and mailed there outside of the postal system is more of a nice souvenir or a way to mark an event such as NAMW. The same would be true with Airport Dedication covers when the cover is either not flown anywhere but around the field a few times, or, when there has already been an official first flight from an earlier airport at that city or the airport the new airport replaced or was upgraded from. Some airport dedication covers can be first flights when it is the first time mail is carried from that city or town on an official air mail route under a contract with the post office. Otherwise it is a souvenir or commemorative event cover. All are fun to collect, but it is useful to use the long established terms to avoid all kinds of confusion.

OK, you've convinced me. "Souvenir flight" really does make more sense to describe Dedication Covers and NAMW Covers, and it would also seem to apply to the early Pioneer Flights, which were mostly exhibitions. On the other hand, "First Flight" would apply to the beginning of regular air-mail service for a community, such as CAM/AM or FAM flights (the key word being "regular"). I'd think that First Flight could also apply to the government flights that occurred between the CAM era and the AM era.

Hi Healthy. The American Air Mail Society has been around since it was founded in 1923. During all of the decades it has been around it has developed what is now long established terminology for different kinds of flight covers and has been using them since it issued the first American Air Mail Catalog back in 1934. The terms that have long been settled on include "Pioneer Flights" for those earliest efforts at flying covers and range from 1910 through 1916. As you point out these were typically on a one-time basis and often at a fair or such rather than any serious effort to establish an ongoing air mail service. Catalog values for most of these tend to be quite high. Then, the term used for later flights that were flown by the US Army or US Post Office or other US government agencies is US Government Flights. These are the ones that started in 1918 with those famous first air mail service between Washington and New York and that featured the then new Jenny air mail stamps. They go up to and then beyond the time frames of the CAMs, AMs and FAMs which were private air transport and airline companies who competed for and won mail carrying contracts from the US Post Office starting in 1926. As there were a small number of US Government flown flights that are outside of the scope of Post Office contracts to private airlines and air transport companies there are US Government flights continuing in parallel to the time frames of the CAMs, AMs, and FAMs all the way up to 1969 when the crew of Apollo 11 was officially authorized by the Post Office to carry one cover to the moon and back to earth. The next group of flight covers that you mention are the ones flown by the Army after the CAM routes were cancelled in 1934 and prior to the new AM contracts being issued to private airlines and air transport companies. The name for these are "Army Emergency Flights of 1934". These were not actual first flights as those routes and stops at cities had already been established with first flights under the cancelled CAM contracts. Technically there can be only one first flight between Boston and New York or Los Angeles and Denver or whatever. Hence the name for these flight covers that were flown by the Army for the first time starting between February 19 and 21, 1934. There are many other named categories of flight covers that are laid out in the AAMC such as Airport Dedications, Polar flights, Philippines flights, Foreign Flag Flights, Canal Zone flights, Glider flights, etc. etc. Investing in the American Air Mail Catalog is a good idea for someone interested in collecting flight covers. The most recent edition (Seventh) is still being issued with a new volume every couple of years or so, but you can easily find copies of the sixth edition (3 volumes) and the fifth edition (5 volumes) on ebay for quite modest prices. Until all of the volumes of the seventh edition are eventually issued the most comprehensive listing of flights is the fifth edition.

A nice summary, Kimo. Thanks.