First Helicopter Flight Cover

First Helicopter flight cover.
AM84 Los Angeles AMF to Temple City, California on 1st April 1946.
Typed first flight cachet
10.30 Los Angeles cancellation with slogan "Trans Office Air Mail Field" 7 line obliterator.
Return to sender - Refused



Permanent Registration stamp from 'Collector's Surplus' Set 3 no 63.
Temple City Apr 1 12pm 1948 backstamp with 6 line obliterator
and Temple City Double circle Jul 12 1948 stamp [I assume this is when it was returned].

This is interesting! I have a similar cover from early 1947, with a helicopter flight in New York. 1946-49 seem to be when most helicopter first flights took place. I believe the date on yours is 1948 not '46.

GregAlex is correct, the Temple City, California cover is 1948. The very first helicopter flight cover was in 1941. The Temple City cover is nice but it is not listed in the American Air Mail Catalog because it is part of the "Segment B" AM-84 route which was first flown out of Los Angeles on October 14, 1947. There are listed flight covers that were flown out of Temple City to Los Angeles and these are cataloged under Autogiro and Helicopter flights as number 267. They are cancelled at 11 AM and have a green rubber stamped cachet. These Temple City cancelled flight covers were flown out of the Rosemead airport. The second cover shown which belongs to GregAlex is listed in the Autogiro and Helicopter flights section as number 168. There were 57,672 covers flown out of New York Air Mail Field to the various towns around New York and New Jersey. For flight covers this is a very large number.

I also have a couple more covers from AM 84 first flights. One originating from El Monte, Calif. on Oct. 16, 1947 and another from San Gabriel on April 1, 1948. It always puzzled me that there could be two first flights from the same route dated six months apart.

Okay, it's not a first helicopter flight, but does a first autogiro flight fit in this topic?

The cover contains a letter signed by then Eastern Airlines President, Eddie Rickenbacker, suggesting that autogiro mail will revolutionize communications and transportation.

GregAlex,

Your El Monte helicopter first flight cover is listed in the catalog's Autogiro and Helicopter section as flight 235 with 1,362 pices flown, and your San Gabriel is listed as number 266 with 2,256 pieces flown.

AM 84 had three different "Segments" for its helicopter service called simply Segment A was inaugurated October 1, 1947, Segment B was inaugurated October 16, 1947, and Segment C was inaugurated piecemeal on January 10 and January 31 and February 2 and February 7, 1948. Each was comprised of a different loop of cities in the LA region. There is a complete listing of each city/town served and a map of them all in the American Air Mail Catalog. There were also a few additional cities/towns added in between the major Segment inaugurations. These small additions happened on December 1, 1947, January 10, February 18, April 1, and May 1, 1948. to have a complete set of each of these Los Angeles AM 94 helicopter first flight covers one would need to collect 74 different ones. The good news for someone who would like to make an effort to collect one of each is they are very inexpensive but the bad news is that they are normally found one or three at a time and since they have a very low value one does not often find them being auctioned. While some sellers try to get high amounts for them the reality is that their actual commercial value to a knowledgeable collector is in the range of $1 to $2 each for ones in very nice condition.

Docgfd. Your April 26, 1949 helicopter first flight cover is listed in the Autogiro and Helicopter flight section of the American Air Mail Catalog as flight number 282.

Brother Squint. Your autogiro flight cover is not listed in the American Air Mail Catalog since the first flight off the rooftop of the Philadelphia Post Office was by Eastern Airlines on July 4, 1939 under Experimental Autogiro Route Number 2001 so it is more of a special event cover, but I think it is very nice and ought to be listed in the catalog.

I was just about to start a new thread on this very topic!

But first, one more helicopter cover from CAM-84. This is a later cover from 1962 and the cities along the route had changed somewhat. Also, the actual flight path was more of a triangle, since Ontario is in a direct line between LA and San Bernardino.

Chicago 1949

Hi GregAlex. Your 1962 first flight by turbine powered helicopter from Los Angeles Air Mail Field post office is listed in the American Air Mail Catalog Autogiro and Helicopter flights as number 496. There were 827 pieces of mail flown on that flight. It was flown on a Sikorsky S-21 by Los Angeles Airways.

JamesW, your 1949 Chicago helicopter flight is listed in the American Air Mail Catalog in the Autogiro and Helicopter flight section as number 287 and there were 5,333 pieces of mail flown on that flight. It was posted at the Chicago main post office. There is also another variety with the same cachet in blue ink that was posted at the Chicago Air Mail Field post office. Both were flown by Helicopter Air Service.

Sorry that I was late to this party. I have the Autogiro Route Number 2001 cover, but it is dated July 6, 1939. Missed it by that much ...

And here's that one! By the times on the cancellation, it looks like the flight only took half an hour.