First Flight Cover 1928 Saginaw Michigan Scan

First Flight Cover 10 cent July 17 1928 Saginaw Michigan to Oakland California
I thought a nice cover and cancelations.

Oakland Tribune

Oakland, California
August 6, 1922


Frank W. Hudson of Oakland, driving a Ford coupe, was the first motorist to reach Crater Lake this year over the road that leads to the famous national park from Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Hudson encountered all sorts of hardships on the way and near the end of his trip he collapsed several times in a walk of... miles from the rim of the great lake to the government ranger's station, where he could secure food.

At one place it was necessary to tie the car to a tree to keep it from falling over a bank.

Hudson won the cup, but he surely earned it, according to word from Don Neher Ford dealer here, who talked with Hudson and in whose salesroom Hudson's trophy is being exhibited this week.

Hi Turtle2900. Your nice first flight cover is listed in the American Air Mail Catalog in the Contract Air Mail routes section as number 27W12a. It was flown by the Thompson Aeronautical Corporation who had won the post office contract to carry the US mail on that route. To have a full set of all of the legs on that inaugural flight one would need to collect 64 different legs of that first flight, this being one of them. Your cover is considered to be very common with a minimal catalog value but the historical interest of having something that was back then is priceless. If you decide to collect such covers you might want to obtain a cope of the relevant volume of the Catalog (Volume 1 of the Seventh Edition, available from the American Philatelic Society publications division) to see what all of them are. You might also wish to look for covers where the full cachet is present (this one is missing its bottom third because of the way it was stamped on quickly).

Thank you Kimo, I appreciate the education.