One of my great passions is airmails & pioneer flights, especially Canadian airmail. If you look at the airmail articles on Bitter Grounds, you’ll see a bit of a bias towards Canada. While many grew up with stories about dragons and magical wardrobes, I grew up with tales of bush pilots and aviation heroes. That’s a by-product of being part of an air force family and growing up in a community that depended, in part, on the local air base. You tend to unconsciously absorb the stories told over and over. Just imagine my sheer delight when I discovered I could combine my love of stamps with aviation. Bliss, pure bliss!

A brief explanation of Canadian airmail – official vs semi-official

Canada issued both official and semi-official airmail stamps. The first official stamp C1 (Unitrade catalogue numbering) was issued September 21, 1928. However, that wasn’t the first Canadian airmail stamp. Early mail deliveries to remote mining camps and communities across northern Canada were carried out by small privately owned bush pilot companies. The post office authorised these companies to print their own stamps, the semi-official issues, to help defray the costs of delivering mail. Bush planes didn’t have a lot of cargo space, so this was an incentive to carry mail.

And this is where it gets a bit tricky. The earliest semi-official was issued by a flying club (the Aero Club of Canada in 1918), not the government. UNITRADE lists this small set of stamps as Air Club and Special Flights – CLP1 to CLP7, so 7 stamps. The first from private commercial airlines, as opposed to aero clubs, weren’t issued until 1924 when Laurentide Air Service began a route from Haileybury, Ontario to Rouyn/Angliers, Quebec. In total, Canada produced 9 official airmail stamps (C1 – C9), 4 Air Post Special Delivery stamps (CE1 – CE4) and 52 semi-officials (CL1 – CL52). Canada Post also issued over 50 Air Letters (pre-printed postal letters, also called Aerograms & Air Sheet Letters) (UA1 – UA54). My number on this set is a bit vague because I’m referencing three different books, which count them differently.

Canadian airmail – the first delivery

It was a big deal in Montreal, with home town boy Peck’s mother, the city’s Mayor and Postmaster in attendance. Mrs. Peck (on the left) carried the mail bag to the airplane, even stopping for a photo to commemorate the event, which naturally was heavily covered in all the papers. In a curious side note, Toronto didn’t seem to be aware the flight was planned. Looking through various newspapers, from the day, dredged up some fascinating articles quoting both the Toronto Postmaster and Mayor as knowing nothing about the inaugural flight.

As late as the evening before the flight, Toronto’s Mayor and Postmaster both denied any such flight was happening, despite the fact there was a letter heading to Toronto from the Mayor of Montreal for Mayor Church. Seems like there was either a communication glitch, or someone forgot to tell Toronto.

Mayor Church and W.E. Lemon, Postmaster, Know Nothing of the Matter.

Toronto officials have no information regarding the opening of a “royal aerial mail service” between Toronto and Montreal, a story concerning which, dated Montreal, was published in Saturday in the Toronto evening papers. …

Wm. E. Lemon, Toronto postmaster said to The World last night that he had received no notification of the starting of an areal mail service, but it was possible such an arrangement had been made by the postal authorities in Montreal.  The Toronto World Sunday, June 23, 1918

The article goes on to quote Mayor Tommy Church as denying any knowledge of the flight beyond what he had read in the papers the night before.  

Whiskey galore & a bit of hedge hopping

The two seat Curtiss JN-4 Canuck wasn’t equipped for cargo so the bag of letters sat on Mathers’ lap for the flight. Oh and the illicit cargo? It was Old Mull scotch whiskey which caused a few issues during the fight. I read varying accounts of a case, a couple of cases and a full crate of whiskey being stowed on board. Regardless the amount, it caused a bit of a weight issue for the aircraft.

Why the whisky? Ontario was pretty much a “dry” place during WW1, when the government, in a fit of patriotic fervour, decided to institute prohibition across the province. Quebec, being Quebec said “NON” to any such nonsense and booze was freely available. So, it’s not a stretch  to believe part of the flights purpose was to fly in a cargo of whiskey to Toronto.  

The excess weight caused issues, forcing the crew to fly low to the ground. The Canuck was capable of rising to 3,350 m (11,000 ft.), but because of the cargo, it was only able to reach around 40ft, skirting tree lines as it buzzed along the Canadian countryside. The excess weight also meant Peck and Mathers couldn’t make it to their planned re-fueling stop in Deseronto, Ontario. They ran short of fuel about 50 km east of their target and were forced to land at Camp Barriefield, now called CFB Kingston, Ontario.

Barriefield was not an airbase, which meant no airplane fuel was available. Determined to continue on with the flight, a decision was made to fill the tank with regular gas and aim for Deseronto. It must have been a nail biter of a flight, but they made it. The waiting crew in Deseronto drained the gas,  and replaced it with proper fuel, causing a short delay, but soon the flight was ready to resume. 

The flight ends  

Peck and Mathers took off again and headed for Toronto, with both the mail bag and of course the scotch, because no airman worth their salt would leave a crate of whiskey behind. They continued their low altitude flight all the way to Leaside, Toronto landing at 4:55 p.m. 

The flight took a little over 6 hours to complete, including the 2 refueling stops. When they safely landed, Peck and Mathers climbed out of the airplane to a round of congratulator handshakes and back pats for completing this historic flight. 

Captain Peck took possession of the mail bag and personally completed delivery by driving it to the nearest post office.  It was officially handed over to postal officials at 6:07 p.m.  Among the letters were ones for both Church and Lemon, who duly acknowledged the flight in a follow-up newspaper interview that day.

I have duly received this evening at 6:50 p.m. by special mail service, at my house, the splendid letter you [the Mayor of Montreal] were good enough to write me on this auspicious occasion of the inaugural … first air mail service ever operated in Canada; for which accept my sincere thanks. The Toronto World Newspaper June 24, 1918

Mathers drove off in a separate car with the precious cargo of whiskey, ensuring its safe delivery as well. 

Headlines & letters 

And so ended Canada’s first official airmail flight with both mail and whiskey delivered to their destinations. Canada Post eventually commemorated the flight, sort of.  

This November 10, 1980 stamp was part of a multi part series featuring aircraft flown in Canada. Based on an original painting by Robert William Bradford,  the stamp is sometimes refered to as the “First Aerial Mail” commemorative. None of the write ups of the original painting mention the first flight or Captain Peck. Nor does the Unitrade catalogue, so at best, this is an unofficial portrait of the flight.   

Final thoughts & comments on Canadian airmail  

I used a number of sources for this article – including Archives Canada, the War Museum of Canada, Unitrade Canada, Sanabria The World Airmail Catalogue, and WEBB’s Postal Stationery Catalogue of Canada and Newfoundland (5th ed). As well, archives of the Toronto World newspaper the Canadian Museum of History were also invaluable. 

The next article will cover the first airmail flight in Alberta + the first female pilot to deliver mail – a double header! The great American pilot Katherine Stinson made Canadian history a few weeks after the Montreal to Toronto flight completed.  This will be a while in the making. It takes time to properly research and write each article.