AIR MAILS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 197, 19 July 1935, Page 10

AIR MAILS

A .GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST. ' The first official aerial post in England started on Saturday, September 9, 'l9ll, when letters were conveyed from Hendon aerodrome to Windsor by .aeroplane (writes Ivor r resliman in the Sydney Morning Herald). The pilot, Mr Gustav Hamel, had learned to fly Bleriot monoplanes in 1910 shortly alter he had left Cambridge University. Within a month of getting his certificate, Hampl won a crosscountry race between Hendon and , Brooklands. He ilew in the Budapest meeting in 1910, and he won the Brooldands-Brighton race on May (3, 1911.

Carried out in strict accordance with tiie regulations of the Postal Department, the first air mail was subject to a special condition laid down by the Postmaster-General. The net profits derived from -the service were given to a public charity approved by the Post-master-General. it was originally intended that the aerial post should be in operation during the week of the Coronation of King George and the following week, but the Aerial Navigation Act, 1911, made the arrangement impossible. Organised by Mr D. Lewis-Poole and Captain Windham, a small committee was formed, and with the permission of the Postmaster-General issued special pictorial postcards and envelopes which had to bo posted in special boxes. The postcards and envelopes, which bore a copyright design of Windsor Castle, printed in either brown, green or ‘ red, were issued stamped. The postcards stamped for inland postage were 6Jd each, and the envelopes Is Id. Postcards and letters bore over the ordinary postage stamp a special postmark: “First United Kingdom Aerial Post,” and the date. They were collected from the special boxes and conveyed to a central post office, and then taken to the aerodrome for conveyance by aeroplane. A record trip was made by Hamel with the mails. The report of‘the official in charge of the Post Office staff is interesting. It reads: “Mr Hamel left Hendon at 4.58 and arrived at 5.8. The time occupied on the journey was, therefore, only ten minutes. The actual distance from Hendon to the place near the Royal Mausoleum, l 1 rogmore, where Mr Hamel alighted, is about twenty-one miles.” Inis would mean a speed of about 126 miles per hour, which, allowing for the known speed of the aeroplane in still weather, would indicate a wind of about 56 miles per hour. , HAMEL LOST AT SEA. On Saturday, May 23, 1914, while flying from Villacoublay with the intention of arriving at Hendon in time to take part in the Aerial Derby, Hamel was lost at sea, in circumsances that left no hope. He was flying a new Morane Saulnier monoplane, and accomplished the first stage of his journey (Le Croty, 108 miles) in fifty minutes. He then flow a short stage to Hardelot, near Boulogne. ' Once more taking to the air, he was seen high over Boulogne. There were vague reports that he was seen over Calais, and, by a steamer, over mid-channel. In any case, there is no doubt that he attempted the crossing, because lie sent a telegram to Hendon saying he would arrive by air, and when lie left Hardelot that was his intention. In spite of intensive searching, Hamel was not seen again alive. Some short time after, evidence was brought forward in Court by fishermen proving that the aviator’s dead body had been seen in the water. , It is only a few short weeks ago that we read the announcement by Sir Kingsley Wood that “the weight o letters sent from England during 1934 was the largest ever recorded in one year and amounted to about 122 tons, as compared with about 85 tons in 1933, an increase of 43 per cent, it is estimated that nearly six million letters were despatched by air from England during 1934, as compared with about four million the previous year.