Reviving A Dormant Subject.do-X Covers

This thread had been dormant for over 5 yrs....so, here we go...does anyone have a source or know where I can find info on the cachets or quantity of covers flown on the DO-X ?




I have found lots of info on the aircraft and its flights but nothing about any philatelic specifics. I am sure there are some reference works in German, but I cant find any source......

I am not an expert on Do-X flights other than having one or two in my collection of early fights around Latin America and the Caribbean, but the best source of aerophilatelic information in English is the American Air Mail Society. Specifically, there is a section on pages 2343 through 2362 in Volume Five of the Fifth Edition of the American Airmail Catalog titled "DO-X Flights 1929-1933". while the values are outdated, the philatelic information is not. I have not done a search of the old Airpost Journals from those years, but I would expect that in them, as well as in some of the more recent ones there would be interesting and fact filled articles on the subject. I do not know anything about German sources, but I should imagine there would be some in German. Also, these flights along with some philatelic information are listed under the various countries where legs of the flight began in the French language Catalogue des Aerogrammes du Monde Entier 1950" by Frank Muller. Again, while the values are outdated, the philatelic information is not. If you are not already a member, I urge you to join the American Air Mail Society where the members are happy to share their knowledge. Membership is open to anyone from any country around the world who is interested in aerophilately and you can join by going to https://www.americanairmailsociety....-membership/

As Kimo notes, you will want to look at the AAMS Catalogue, 5th ed. There is great variety of information about cancels, cachet markings, ink colors, back-stamps, etc., for various legs of the DO-X flights. Some, but not many, include quantities carried and backstamped. I do not see quantities for your examples.

As for further resources, Kimo again points in the right direction - the Airpost Journal.

On p. 2347 of the Catalogue it notes that "The story of the DO-X has been fully described by George W. Hoffman in a series which appeared in The Airpost Journal between April 1971 and November 1974." Unfortunately, those years are not yet digitized and freely available on the AAMS website. Join and help out.

Meanwhile, here is the index entry for "DO-X" in the Journal 1929-1989.

As you can see, Hoffman is the guy!
Maybe you can get these years by mail from the APRL if you are not within distance to make a pilgrimage.

Thanks Guys!! More subscriptions I guess....LOL

Joining the American Air Mail Society only costs $30 per year for anyone anywhere in the world. If you prefer tangible printed copies of the glossy monthly Journal instead of a digital version it is a bit more to cover the printing and mailing costs. Membership also gets you discounts on the literature and catalogues published by the AAMS, the ability to bid in AAMS auctions of covers, a valued philatelic credential when buying or selling with other collectors and dealers, the ability write articles and books on aerophilatelic topics for the journal or under the auspices of the Society, being eligible to win AAMS awards, a close connection with other aerophilatelic collectors, and being a part of generating public support for collecting aerophilately into the future. $30 is an exceptional value (the equivalent of buying three happy meals) if you have an interest in the hobby.

Actually all the AAMS Journals are now digitized, Dawn (my wife) and myself donated our time but it took us over a year to get them all done (43,000+ scans and OCRed pages). David at the AAMS has them now and I think that the Board is deciding how best to make them available.

By having all of these PDFs searchable and sitting in my 'library' folder on my computer, it takes only seconds to search across every AAMS Journal issue and find any key word or article of interest.
Don

That's terrific news, Don. Thank you.
Please convey my thanks to Dawn as well for this.

I, and others, are looking forward to seeing the gap in the coverage filled when your scans get uploaded and intercalated with the other years already menued.

Rick,

There is a particularly well-traveled DO-X cover in the Siegel Magnolia sale (https://siegelauctions.com/lots.php...-24%2C+2023) in late May. Lot 1552.

Illustration below for convenience.

- Jonathan

51studebaker, - that's amazing...over a year?? Wow, I'm impressed...! Dang, I get tired scanning pages of anything over 30 pages, but then mine is a flatbed so not good for books, only thin mags. I'll certainly be adding books to my want list for Cleveland.

Jleb 1979 - Sigh....all the stuff I like, is now getting pricey....that's an exceptional cover!

The giant Do X was a bit of a dinosaur and it took well over a year to complete its first flight. It left Berlin, Germany on November 5th, 1930, flew south to the west coast of Africa, then acroos the southern Atlantic to South America, then north to the US and Canada then across the north Atlantic returning to Berlin on May 24, 1932. The flight was plagued by many mechanical problems with its 12 somewhat underpowered engines and frequent mishaps and so it took this long to complete its flight.

Kimo.....sad ending also, being destroyed by RAF during a bombing raid....Italy had the Number 2 and 3 Dornier planes, but they fared no better....never going into commercial service...used only by the Italian govt for military flights and propaganda.

Although it took a while to get past WordPress issues (this is the third, and last, time I try to help anyone who has used WordPress as a platform to develop their website, a total nightmare), the AAMS has now finally gotten ALL (1929 - 2022) back issues of the AAMS Journals freely available for download on their site.
https://www.americanairmailsociety....journal-apj/

AAMS now also has all of these on a compiled on a USB drive with a prebuilt index and instruction on how to copy these to your computer. If you order this from them you will have the ability to search across all the issue with a single search. A huge time saver on many levels.
Don

This is great.
Hats off again, Don.

Sorry I'm late to the party. The best German source for info on the DoX flights is Haberer's Katalog der Deutschen Luftpost, Vol. 3.

KIMO, Don, I did join the AAMS while enjoying the Cleveland Stamp Show, so now it may just be a matter of getting a Haberer book to assist...! (I did pick up another cover at the show also...) Cheers!

Congratulations on joining the American Air Mail Society and welcome to the fun!!!

Another excellent source of information on DO-X in addition to the Haberer catalog is the American Air Mail Catalog, Fifth Edition, Volume Five, published in 1985 which covers DO-X flights from 1929 to 1933.in 20 pages of great detail and illustrations with catalog numbers and relative values for each flight. If you do not already have this super reference you can usually find them on ebay and other websites for not much money, or you can get photocopies made by the American Philatelic Society Research Library for a small sum per page.

Again, Welcome!!!