Dec 5,1931 Registered First Flight Fam 6 Cover Postmarks

So I am trying to determine what route this cover took. It looks like it started in:
St Thomas Virgin Islands Dec 5,
Nuevitas Cuba Dec 7,
Havanah Dec 19,
then took train 76 dec 21, (not sure what train to where)
finally got to Brooklyn Boston Dec 24 return to sender
Is this correct? and any idea what train? I read Bristow, HT Jack key west

The RPO at the lower left appears to read:
JACK.(SONVILLE) & KEY WEST / J. H. BRISTOW, and was applied when the letter re-entered the USPOD possession on its return trip.


These personal route handstamps were bought by the clerks and commonly appear on special delivery mail, registered mail, facing slips and other RMS forms. It a bit unusual to find them on the front of a mail piece.

Thanks John. I was looking at the postmark wrong. you are correct it is JH Bristow.

Your cover is a first flight from St. Thomas, USVI to Nuevitas. Cuba, I is listed in the American Air Mail Catalog as number F6-124 and was flown by Pan American Airways with the pilot and copilot being C.M. Dewey and Edwin Musick. It is a relatively common flight cover with a minimal catalog value of $5. The cancelation of the stamps shows a correct date of December 6, 1931 but the Nuevitas receiving cancel on the back should be December 7, 1931. Perhaps the postal employees at Nuevitas might have been delayed in marking registered covers until the day after they received this one so I would not be too worried whether this cover actually flew on the first flight. It has the correct magenta first flight cachet for covers flown from St. Thomas westward that is a little faded along with the stamps being a little faded - likely from being displayed by the collector in sunlight or strong light for many years. The fading is not too bad though - I've seen some that are almost unreadable, and on the other hand I've seen many that are strong and unfaded. From Nuevitas and on to the preparer of this cover, Mr. Ohtersen in Brooklyn, New York, USA it would have gone by whatever the ordinary land and sea mail carriage routes that were in use in 1931 and not by air mail routes. The backstamps provide some clues on the ordinary land and sea routes it would have taken.

Thanks Kimo, the receiving cancel in Cuba is dec 7th.

My pleasure. These early first flights are a real joy not only to collect but especially to study. If you are interested in them and are not already the member, I recommend joining the American Air Mail Society where there are many others who enjoy collecting and studying them. Thanks for pointing out the December 7 backstamp in Nuevitas, Cuba, which proves this was on that first flight. As I said, this date is a minor curiosity in that the correct backstamp in Nuevitas for this inaugural flight in December 6. My guess is that since this is registered, this day late backstamp might simply be due to registered mail getting a little delayed in being processed with the regular first flight mail on the 6th. This is just a guess though.