Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
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I'm fascinated — and more than a little ignorant! — by the history of South American/Latin American airmails. I think that Roy is the resident expert in this area.
One airman that has especially intrigued me is Jean Mermoz, who flew for the French airline Latécoère. From Wikipedia:
"Jean Mermoz (9 December 1901, Aubenton, Aisne – 7 December 1936) was a French aviator, viewed as a hero by many in both Argentina and his native France, where many schools bear his name. In Brazil, he also is recognized as a pioneer aviator."
France has issued some stamps in his honour. Here's the earliest one; I grabbed the image from the Decampe web site, where it is currently for sale.
One of his adventures occurred when he was forced to land on a mountain peak in the Andes. His mechanic (mechanics were often taken along for emergency repairs) was able to repair the plane, and they were able to "take off," which basically meant falling off the mountain.
Here's a Lindbergh-related Cuba cover from my collection:
Bob
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Bob, i am looking at the Lindbergh covers...hoping to score one for a reasonable price. I have seen the stamp of the French aviator but was not famiiar with his history.They had to be daredevils flying over the Andes.
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Not only the Andes, but the Atlantic as well. The French were way ahead of both the Americans, English, and Dutch in developing civil aviation. Mermoz died in 1936 when his Latécoère 300 seaplane lost an engine over the South Atlantic.
The South Atlantic routes that the French pioneered were used for U.S. military flights during the Second World War.
Bob
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Bob, i read an article in the American Philatelist about all the material airbases we had in French Africa...so much war material headed for Europe landed there first. Who Knew ? This Panagra covers show up every now and then and are not expensive. I have scores of Guatemala Exterior airmail covers..i will have to check and see if any are of the Interior variety. I wonder why more collectors do not do Latin America..after all they are our neighbors to the South . Either the area does not interest them or they find the good material difficult to find .
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This seems like a good place to post a book recommendation. I'm about halfway through the book Flying the Andes, The Story of Pan-American Grace Airways 1926-1967 by William A. Krusen (1997). The book is based on the journals of General Harold R. Harris.
Here is an excerpt that describes the organization of Panagra:
"1929: On February 21, 1929 a new airline was incorporated in the state of Delaware by the Grace Company and Pan American Airways. Upon Juan Trippe's proposal, Pan Am and Grace would split fifty-fifty the costs and profits of a western South American airline. The new airline would have both company names incorporated into it, would represent both their interests, and would have no president. The corporate name was changed to Pan American-Grace Airways, Inc. with J.D. MacGregor (of Grace) elected vice-president and general manager and Harold R. Harris (of Pan Am) elected vice-president and operations manager. MacGregor would work out of New York; Harris would be stationed at Panagra's headquarters in Lima. Harris duly signed his Ecuadorian concession over to the new corporation and ordered the initials "P.A.G.A.I." painted on all aircraft fuselages. He even had baggage tags made up before he learned that this was not to be the new name. The new name, the airline's final name would be Panagra. "
The book is filled with very interesting operational anecdotes and stories, and there is much knowledge to be gathered about important dates that could be supported by a nice exhibit of postal history around those dates. I found particularly interesting the documentation of the airline's aircraft and the quirks and foibles of their use in service in this extreme environment, many gleaned from pilot's logs.
By 1937, the US Government realized the threat of fascist and other European expansion into South America, and they were using North American companies as front-line troops. This included generous awards of airmail contracts to support expansion of air transport.
"The philosophy of the Monroe Doctrine was still prevalent. South America was reserved for United States companies and interests....Meanwhile, Harris, in Lima, and his associates in Miami and New York, were facing new difficulties. Gone were the problems of securing landing rights, of finding qualified pilots, of buying enough equipment. Now they had to learn to control their creation, which was growing faster than anyone had expected. New problems - large passenger loads, complex schedules, great quantities of baggage, the burgeoning air freight business - all these needed solutions. Gone, even, was the trepidation of the average first-time passenger. Flying was glamorous, flying was what the movie stars and government officials did. Even the rudest campesino, boarding a Panagra DC-2 at La Paz, knew something about aircraft, having seen them in the movies, and he probably knew something about Panagra! In fact, the word Panagra became such a synonym for high that Peruvians called the balcony seats in the theater the "Panagra seats"."
On the changeover from the DC-2 to the DC-3:
"On December 13, 1937, the first of the new breed of DC-3s went into service, flying the Lima-Buenos Aires air mail schedule. It is doubtful if anyone at the time had any idea of what the DC-3 was to mean to Panagra, to Douglas Aircraft, or to the world. A DC-3 looked like a slightly larger version of a DC-2. With seven rows of seats, 3 across, it carried 21 passengers, seven more than the DC-2. It also had greater range, higher operating ceilings and it flew faster. It was the first universally popular commercial aircraft, flying more people, for more airlines, in more countries than ever before. The DC-3 never seemed to run out of miles; it is the oldest commercial aircraft still in use for commercial flights today, flown by pilots who are the sons and grandsons of the first DC-3 pilots. It has never been grounded by any certifying authority for any mechanical or constructional defect or shortcoming. With a full load, it could, for the first time in the history of air transportation aircraft, make a profit without subsidy."
It is interesting to note that DC-2s operated from airfields in the Andes that were, in elevation, above the single-engine ceiling for the aircraft. So, if one engine failed on takeoff from these airfields (and they did), the plane was going down.
-Paul
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"...it is the oldest commercial aircraft still in use for commercial flights today, flown by pilots who are the sons and grandsons of the first DC-3 pilots."
I think the first pilots were still flying us way down into the Libyan desert in the mid-seventies. Their main aim was see how close they could park the plane to the crew's mess trailer, sometimes with hilarious results. At least once we had to call back from the work line a couple of our larger hydraulic vehicles to pull a stuck DC-3 out of the sand.
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i love it how the old threads never die...i think it was the November American Philatelist that had quite an article on the early pilots who flew the mail over the Andes and the Canadian North.
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This story actually begins in the 1930s,Pan American Airways with the support of the United States Government mapped and developed airmail routes throughout the Caribbean which came to be known as "The Lindbergh Circle".Lindbergh was involved in pioneer flights preparing for the PAA route. The route started in Florida, came down the East coast of Central America , crossed the north east coast of South America and then proceeded up the various Caribbean island back to Florida . In South America there were efforts to compete with PAA. SCADTA was an early effort ,funded in large part by Germans, and LATI funded by Italians. The story gets better as WW2 approaches. I myself like cover collecting and history and there is a lot to learn in this area.
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re: Latin American Airmail Services
I'm fascinated — and more than a little ignorant! — by the history of South American/Latin American airmails. I think that Roy is the resident expert in this area.
One airman that has especially intrigued me is Jean Mermoz, who flew for the French airline Latécoère. From Wikipedia:
"Jean Mermoz (9 December 1901, Aubenton, Aisne – 7 December 1936) was a French aviator, viewed as a hero by many in both Argentina and his native France, where many schools bear his name. In Brazil, he also is recognized as a pioneer aviator."
France has issued some stamps in his honour. Here's the earliest one; I grabbed the image from the Decampe web site, where it is currently for sale.
One of his adventures occurred when he was forced to land on a mountain peak in the Andes. His mechanic (mechanics were often taken along for emergency repairs) was able to repair the plane, and they were able to "take off," which basically meant falling off the mountain.
Here's a Lindbergh-related Cuba cover from my collection:
Bob
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this post
re: Latin American Airmail Services
Bob, i am looking at the Lindbergh covers...hoping to score one for a reasonable price. I have seen the stamp of the French aviator but was not famiiar with his history.They had to be daredevils flying over the Andes.
Login to Like
this post
re: Latin American Airmail Services
Not only the Andes, but the Atlantic as well. The French were way ahead of both the Americans, English, and Dutch in developing civil aviation. Mermoz died in 1936 when his Latécoère 300 seaplane lost an engine over the South Atlantic.
The South Atlantic routes that the French pioneered were used for U.S. military flights during the Second World War.
Bob
Login to Like
this post
re: Latin American Airmail Services
Bob, i read an article in the American Philatelist about all the material airbases we had in French Africa...so much war material headed for Europe landed there first. Who Knew ? This Panagra covers show up every now and then and are not expensive. I have scores of Guatemala Exterior airmail covers..i will have to check and see if any are of the Interior variety. I wonder why more collectors do not do Latin America..after all they are our neighbors to the South . Either the area does not interest them or they find the good material difficult to find .
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this post
07:57:37pm
re: Latin American Airmail Services
This seems like a good place to post a book recommendation. I'm about halfway through the book Flying the Andes, The Story of Pan-American Grace Airways 1926-1967 by William A. Krusen (1997). The book is based on the journals of General Harold R. Harris.
Here is an excerpt that describes the organization of Panagra:
"1929: On February 21, 1929 a new airline was incorporated in the state of Delaware by the Grace Company and Pan American Airways. Upon Juan Trippe's proposal, Pan Am and Grace would split fifty-fifty the costs and profits of a western South American airline. The new airline would have both company names incorporated into it, would represent both their interests, and would have no president. The corporate name was changed to Pan American-Grace Airways, Inc. with J.D. MacGregor (of Grace) elected vice-president and general manager and Harold R. Harris (of Pan Am) elected vice-president and operations manager. MacGregor would work out of New York; Harris would be stationed at Panagra's headquarters in Lima. Harris duly signed his Ecuadorian concession over to the new corporation and ordered the initials "P.A.G.A.I." painted on all aircraft fuselages. He even had baggage tags made up before he learned that this was not to be the new name. The new name, the airline's final name would be Panagra. "
The book is filled with very interesting operational anecdotes and stories, and there is much knowledge to be gathered about important dates that could be supported by a nice exhibit of postal history around those dates. I found particularly interesting the documentation of the airline's aircraft and the quirks and foibles of their use in service in this extreme environment, many gleaned from pilot's logs.
By 1937, the US Government realized the threat of fascist and other European expansion into South America, and they were using North American companies as front-line troops. This included generous awards of airmail contracts to support expansion of air transport.
"The philosophy of the Monroe Doctrine was still prevalent. South America was reserved for United States companies and interests....Meanwhile, Harris, in Lima, and his associates in Miami and New York, were facing new difficulties. Gone were the problems of securing landing rights, of finding qualified pilots, of buying enough equipment. Now they had to learn to control their creation, which was growing faster than anyone had expected. New problems - large passenger loads, complex schedules, great quantities of baggage, the burgeoning air freight business - all these needed solutions. Gone, even, was the trepidation of the average first-time passenger. Flying was glamorous, flying was what the movie stars and government officials did. Even the rudest campesino, boarding a Panagra DC-2 at La Paz, knew something about aircraft, having seen them in the movies, and he probably knew something about Panagra! In fact, the word Panagra became such a synonym for high that Peruvians called the balcony seats in the theater the "Panagra seats"."
On the changeover from the DC-2 to the DC-3:
"On December 13, 1937, the first of the new breed of DC-3s went into service, flying the Lima-Buenos Aires air mail schedule. It is doubtful if anyone at the time had any idea of what the DC-3 was to mean to Panagra, to Douglas Aircraft, or to the world. A DC-3 looked like a slightly larger version of a DC-2. With seven rows of seats, 3 across, it carried 21 passengers, seven more than the DC-2. It also had greater range, higher operating ceilings and it flew faster. It was the first universally popular commercial aircraft, flying more people, for more airlines, in more countries than ever before. The DC-3 never seemed to run out of miles; it is the oldest commercial aircraft still in use for commercial flights today, flown by pilots who are the sons and grandsons of the first DC-3 pilots. It has never been grounded by any certifying authority for any mechanical or constructional defect or shortcoming. With a full load, it could, for the first time in the history of air transportation aircraft, make a profit without subsidy."
It is interesting to note that DC-2s operated from airfields in the Andes that were, in elevation, above the single-engine ceiling for the aircraft. So, if one engine failed on takeoff from these airfields (and they did), the plane was going down.
-Paul
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re: Latin American Airmail Services
"...it is the oldest commercial aircraft still in use for commercial flights today, flown by pilots who are the sons and grandsons of the first DC-3 pilots."
I think the first pilots were still flying us way down into the Libyan desert in the mid-seventies. Their main aim was see how close they could park the plane to the crew's mess trailer, sometimes with hilarious results. At least once we had to call back from the work line a couple of our larger hydraulic vehicles to pull a stuck DC-3 out of the sand.
Login to Like
this post
re: Latin American Airmail Services
i love it how the old threads never die...i think it was the November American Philatelist that had quite an article on the early pilots who flew the mail over the Andes and the Canadian North.
Login to Like
this post