Airmail Firsts – pioneer flights, routes, stamps, experimental flights

Airmail Firsts – first deliveries, stamps used, experimental routes

Pioneer airmail attempts & when possible commemorative stamps that have been issued

first airmail delivery (will include balloon flights)
first rocket mail delivery
commemorative stamps
pilots and aircraft
distance, route and amount of mail carried
Airmail stamps (official & semi, first)

Some overlap with Official Regular Routes

PIONEER ATTEMPTS & EXPERIMENTAL ROUTES

Airmail first flights by country - commemorative stamps & articles. Routes and special notes about the mail carried on inaugural flights. Usually exhibition flights.
These flights were often one off flights, years/decades before regular routes were established

Country	1st Airmail Flight	Details	Commemorative Stamp	Details	Article
Argentina	September 2, 1917 Experimental flight Route: Buenos Aires, Argentina to Montevideo, Uruguay, crossing over the Río de la Plata	Pilot Pablo Teodoro Fels Licensed May 23, 1913, license #11. Carrying one sack of mail with 90 letters/postcards Pablo Teodoro Fels undated photo	Centenary of First Airmail Flight in Argentina	Issued for Centenary of First Airmail Flight in Argentina. 2017

Australia	July 7 - 18, 1914 ROUTE: Melbourne to Sidney DISTANCE: 940 km	Pilot Maurice Guillaux Flying a 50hp Blériot XI Carrying 1785 postcards & some Lipton tea

Belgium	1913 ROUTE: Sint-Denis-Westren to Ghent For the Ghent International Exhibition	Pilot Henri Crombez Flying Deperdussin monoplane Carried unknown number of commemorative postcards	First Airmail Flight: departure of pilot Henri Crombez at Si	Issued for the Centenary First Airmail Flight. Issued 2013 Designers: Guillaume Broux \| Jean Libert

Canada	June 24, 1918 ROUTE: Montreal, Quebec to Leaside, Toronto, Ontario FLYING TIME: 6 hr	RAF Captain Brian Peck and Corporal C. W. Mathers Flying Curtiss JN-4 Canuck Delivered bag of mail & crate of Old Mull scotch	Curtiss JN-4 Canuck	Curtiss JN-4 Canuck Part of the Canadian Aircraft (2nd series) Issued 1980 Designers: Jacques Charette \| R. W. Bradford	Canada's First airmail delivery
Canada	1918 ROUTE: Calgary to Edmonton, Alberta	Katherine Stinson Flying Curtis Stinson Special

Denmark	Sept. 2, 1911 ROUTE: City of Middelfart across the Little Belt to the city of Fredicia on the Jutland peninsula DISTANCE: 6.78 km (4.22 mi) SPONSORED by Middelfart Avis, a local newspaper. An exhibition flight	Pilot Robert Svendsen Flying Henry Farman 50 hp Gnome engine Carrying 150 postcards franked with regular 3 Ore stamps. Sold to public for 2 Kroners apiece. All signed by pilot. Some also bore one of two handwritten notes: Fra Beltflyvningen (From the Belt Flight) or Beltflyvning 1911. Less than 20 are known to exist 1911 postcard from flight Image courtesy Airpost Journal, Nov. 1929 p 11
International France to England crossing English Channel	August 28 and 29, 1911 ROUTE: Bolougne, France to Folkstone, England and return flight at the widest point between the two countries. Unlike previous flights across the Channel, Pourpe flew it without a ship escort (in case he crashed into the Channel). He also flew by sight, because his compass was damaged prior to take off. The lack of compass caused Pourpe to fly off course and initially land in Dover where he accidently triggered a near international incident. British officials were already on high alert because of growing tensions between England and Germany. Dover officials were not aware of the flight and Pourpe quickly found himself explaining his presence to around 400 British soldiers who suspected the pilot was up to no good Pourpe kept his cool and identified himself. The situation quickly de-escalated and he was allowed to continue on his flight to Folkstone.	Pilot Marc Pourpe Aéro-Club de France Aviator Certificate: No. 560 Certified July 28, 1911(possibly in a Bleriot). Started flying in 1909 & even acted as a flight instructor before gaining his certificate. Flying a Bleriot monoplane Carrying 2 letters - one from the Mayor of Bolougne for the Mayor of Folkstone and second from M. Jacques Altazin, a correspondent of 'L'Auto magazine to the French Vice-Consul at Folkstone. French pilot Marc Pourpe in front of his Bleriot monoplane			1st int’l airmail- skimming the English Channel
International: 1st nonstop flight across Atlantic & 1st International Airmail delivery	June 14 - June 15, 1919 ROUTE: Newfoundland to Ireland 16 hrs 3,040 km	Alcock & Brown Flying Vickers Vimy bomber	Canadian stamp: Alcock and Brown's transatlantic flight Newfoundland 1929 stamp for 1919 Atlantic crossing	First stamp 1969 Canada Second stamp 1929 Newfoundland	1st Terrifying Atlantic flight, Alcock & Brown 1919 and Canada's sad little stamp commemorating Alcock and Brown
International: England to Australia	Nov. 12 to Dec. 10 1919 ROUTE: Took off from Hounslow Heath, UK the morning of Nov. 12. Lyon - Rome - Cairo - Damascus - Basra - Karachi - Delhi - Calcutta - Akyab - Rangoon - Singora - Singapore - Batavia - Surabaya - Darwin. They landed in Darwin late afternoon Dec. 10, 1919. DISTANCE: 17,911 km FLYING TIME: 135 hours 55 minutes	Pilots brothers Captain Ross Smith and Lieutenant Keith Smith. Two mechanics, Sergeants James Bennett and Wally Shiers, flew with them. Flying Vimy Vickers The Vickers was preserved and is now located at the Adelaide Airport Letters and cards bore a black oval cachet inscription First Aerial Mail - Great Britain to Australia. Received 26 Feb 1920	Many reprints were created, some quite crude looking. Colour of originals are a rich, deep steel blue, while reprints are much lighter blue. Some stamp experts report up to a dozen 1920 sheetlets were on the flight.	Ross Smith Issue This stamp is a reprint of the original 1920 commemorative release Designer Lt Courtney-Benson Beware forgeries and reprints: Original stamp has watermark. A genuine (not reprint) was valued at approx $20,000 Australian in 2005. A reprint is worth pennies to a few dollars.
India	Feb. 18, 1911 - 1st airmail flight in world Allahbad DISTANCE: 8.2 km FLYING TIME: 13 min Note: The 100th Anniversary postmark reads Feb. 12, not Feb. 18.	Pilot Henri Pequet (1888-1974) (French) Flying a Humber-Sommer Aéro-Club de France Aviator Certificate: No. 88 June 10, 1910 (cerified in a Voisin) Delivered @ 6,000 postcards and letters		India issued an extensive tribute to Pequet's flight on the 50th, 75th & 100th anniversary First stamp 1961 India First Airmail Two stamps Golden Anniversary 1986 75th Anniversary of First Official Airmail Flight includes cover Last sets all 2011 for 100th Anniversary Designer Sankha Samanta 1932 by J. R. D. Tata. Company later became Air India France also issued a commemorative in 2011
India	Rocket Mail Sept 30, 1934 Saugor Island	Ship to shore attempt to send 143 letters. Exploded in flight. 140 covers recovered. Covers taken to the Saugor Island lighthouse where they were stamped postmark Saugor Island: 30 SE 34		India Mails has a good page devoted to the first Rocket Mail experiments and an extensive list of the stamps	3 Rocket mail stamps & explosive packed tubes

Mexico	July 6, 1917 ROUTE: Pachuca to Mexico City DISTANCE: 90 km	Pilot Horacio Ruiz Gaviño Flying Curtis Jenny Curtiss JN-4 Carried 800 letters and postcards Special mark Correo Aéreo Pachuca-México		1967 50th Anniversary of the First Airmail Service in Mexico Designer: Salvador Pruneda

Poland	January 10, 1928 ROUTE: Danzig to Poland After lengthy negotiations between Danzig officials and the Polish Ministry of Posts, an agreement was reached to allow airmail in and out of Danzig

Sweden	June 1, 1912 ROUTE: Eslöv to Marieholm (landing near the Åkarp hotel Return flight was planned but the propeller was damaged before the flight could take off Exhibition flight	Pilot Peter Nielson (Danish) Flying a B-S monoplane Covers rubber stamped with the above cachet. The mark also included No 2 because the flight organisers believed a previous airmail flight took place shortly before this one.


Ukraine	March 31, 1918 ROUTE: Vienna to Lviv DISTANCE: 540 km	Pilot Stefan Stec (Poland) 1893–1921 Flying Hansa-Brandenburg C.I biplane Carried 120 letters and postcards Special mark Flugpost Wien-Lemberg

United Kingdom	Sept. 9, 1911 ROUTE: Hendon Aerodrome to Windsor Palace DISTANCE: 30 km Part of the coronation of King George V celebrations **This is the first officially recognised airmail flight. A previous flight took place in 1910 (see next entry for details)	Gustav Hamel (1889-1914) Flying Blériot XI monoplane Carrying letters & postcards specially marked "First United Kingdom Aerial Post". Number of cards & letters vary. Wings of Speed claims 100,000 specially printed postcards were produced, but Hamel's flight carried approx 400 letter and 800 postcards. From my collection: Some swine ripped the original stamp off, but the card is still a great addition to any airmail set.		4 stamps issued on 100th anniversary of flight - Sept. 9, 2011 Designers: Robert Maude \| Sarah Davies
United Kingdom	April 27-28, 1910 ROUTE: London to Manchester air race - 1st night flight ** not officially sanctioned/recognised	Claude Grahame-White (1879-1959) (English) Flying Farman III biplane Grahame-White carried a bag of mail on this flight. Aéro-Club de France Aviator Certificate: No. 30 Jan. 4, 1910 (certified in a Blériot)

United States	Sept. 23, 1911 ROUTE: Nassau Boulevard aerodrome, Garden City, New York to Mineola, New York.	Pilot Earle Ovington Flying Blériot XI Carried 640 letters & 1,280 postcards. Didn't land, threw mailbag over the side, from 500 ft. Bag broke on impact, scattering the contents. Mail stamped: AEROPLANE STATION No.1 - GARDEN CITY ESTATES, N.Y.