Australia Air Post Official To England

A nice registered cover use of Scott CO1, ACSC 144(OS) from Melbourne to Sutton Coldfield, England. This stamp has a special note in ACSC, "Unlike other OS overprints, the 6d airmail issue was placed on sale to the general public and so could be used for normal postal purposes." Scott adds a similar note, "Issued primarily for official use, but to prevent speculation, a quantity was issued to public distribution." According to ACSC, there were 75,000 stamps issued.

The issue date was November 17, 1931, but this cover was registered on November 19, 1931, so ever so close to a First Day Cover. There are interesting cancellations and receiving marks that provide a bit more information.

Entire front:

Stamps:

Entire back:

Interesting stamp on back apparently showing airmail delivery to the BGM (Birmingham?) Airfield:

There is also some type of cryptic handwriting ... probably by a previous owner, in the top middle, as shown:

It appears to say, "Crash xxx xxx to London". Any ideas on the entire wording? Thanks in advance.

You answered the question I was going to ask in your post about why the officials were used. Not my area of expertise in regard to the cancellations/stamps, but an interesting piece you have there! Appreciate you sharing it.

I'd ask the question as to why the label was also printed in French, i.e. the "par avion" when sent between two English speaking countries. (Apologies if that is a naive question...educate me!)


Hope someone can answer your question(s) though.

I suggest "Crash Alor Star / Kingsford Smith to London".

See --> https://crashmail.dk/air-crashes/1931-11-26/

The plane took off from Hobart, Australia on 19 November. In the early morning of 26 November at 07:00 the plane landed at Alor Star, Kedah, Malaya. After refueling for the next long leg to Rangoon via Mergui the pilot attempted to take off from the rain-soaked airfield. The undercarriage was damaged as it struck an embankment on the boundary of the airfield and skidded to a stop on its nose. On 5 December the plane "Southern Star" with pilot Kingsford Smith arrived at Alor Star airfield. This plane continued the rest of the trip and landed in London/Croydon 16 December.

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) adopted comprehensive rules for airmail at its 1929 congress in London. Since the UPU's official language is French, hence "Par Avion", literally "By Airplane".

Excellent information, though I must point out that the website link caused quite a stir with my software, refusing to move forward due to a Potential Security Risk due to a certificate mismatch.

Kingsford Smith's World Flights were commemorated with a set of stamps issued in March, 1931 (2d, 3d and 6d), which are the same stamp design, but with "Kingsford Smith's World Flights" printed in a commemorative pane at the bottom, which was now substituted for "Air Mail Service" in my design. Scott's Catalogues don't quite match with ACSC, calling the 6d Kingsford an Air Mail Stamp (Scott C2, ACSC 143), but leaving the 2d and 3d in the commemorative section. The 6d color changed from a Dull Violet to a Dull Brown, creating Scott C3, ACSC 144, now both called Air Mail Stamps. Adding the OS, like my copy, then created even more confusion, but that's the way it is with world stamp catalogues.

I'll have to do more research through alternate sites, but that is quite interesting that Kingsford Smith himself was able to help this letter along the way to it's final destination. Thanks for posting.

Thank you Prexie, always see the same stamp on purchases from international sellers; and learned something today. Good stuff.

Just so happens I have a picture of that crash.....it was an Avro 10 named "Southern Sun" from ANA which was piloted by a G. Allan. The plane also picked up mail in Melbourne on the 19th and Brisbane on the 20th.

I just happened to have this info on hand because of a presentation on Charles Ulm, and Sir Charles Kingsford Smith that I am doing for our local stamp club next month!