If you mean sorted by airline I have never seen one either.
This website is great for identification of not only first flights but other aviation related covers as well.
www.aerodacious.com
I am toying with the idea of creating a listing of first air mail flights for what the American Air Mail Society calls the "Developmental Period", 1918-1945. The task doesn't seem too daunting...until the 1930s, when the number of routes and carriers multiplied rapidly. Then, it gets really interesting as WWII interfered with regular air travel.
I quick surf of the AAMS website does not reveal such a list. I am motivated to create it to enable a 'want list' of key dates/routes. It's a hole-filling mentality, but I'm discovering there are so many really interesting breakthroughs in equipment and logistics, and I'm keen to understand the full spectrum of those developments and experiences. Not to mention the sensation/tragedy of the failures, some of them spectacular.
Of course, most of the innovations in carrying mail by air were accomplished by private business entities, supported by extremely generous government contracts with the agenda of developing lines of communication across the globe. (Pan Am could make 6X the revenue per loaded mile by flying mail as compared to flying passengers, even with the sky-high ticket prices. That's why you see so many covers that were created by Pan Am itself - they needed to hit the minimum to earn the subsidy.) I'm finding that the corporate alliances and competition was very convoluted, with all sorts of arrangements hammered out, and complicated by political agendas and prohibitions.
This task is probably a life's work, for someone with a longer life expectancy than myself...
It's probably already been done, at least in some specialty areas. I haven't done much digging yet. I'll probably start with the Caribbean and South America, with the first international overseas carriage, Key West to Havana, 1927. I have 3 covers from that route already, representing both directions. Here's one showing a nice, tight 3-hour interval from posting to receipt:
It's a bit 'philatelic', but let's face it, this route had no standing yet among those needing 'instant' communications with Havana.
-Paul
...and, after visiting aerodacious.com, I see that FAM-4 was awarded to a predecessor of Pan Am, and the first air mail, Key West to Havana, was NOT 1927, it was 1920. I need to spend more time at this website!
-Paul
If you want the link to work, you need to put the link in the link tag, to wit:
http://www.aerodacious.com
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
G'day all,
I have searched the interwebs with great intensity trying to find an online catalog focusing on First Flight Covers for various airlines. Does some fine member of this community have an inkling of where I might direct my search?
Thank you, your help is much appreciated -
re: Online Catalogue First Flight Covers
If you mean sorted by airline I have never seen one either.
This website is great for identification of not only first flights but other aviation related covers as well.
www.aerodacious.com
re: Online Catalogue First Flight Covers
I am toying with the idea of creating a listing of first air mail flights for what the American Air Mail Society calls the "Developmental Period", 1918-1945. The task doesn't seem too daunting...until the 1930s, when the number of routes and carriers multiplied rapidly. Then, it gets really interesting as WWII interfered with regular air travel.
I quick surf of the AAMS website does not reveal such a list. I am motivated to create it to enable a 'want list' of key dates/routes. It's a hole-filling mentality, but I'm discovering there are so many really interesting breakthroughs in equipment and logistics, and I'm keen to understand the full spectrum of those developments and experiences. Not to mention the sensation/tragedy of the failures, some of them spectacular.
Of course, most of the innovations in carrying mail by air were accomplished by private business entities, supported by extremely generous government contracts with the agenda of developing lines of communication across the globe. (Pan Am could make 6X the revenue per loaded mile by flying mail as compared to flying passengers, even with the sky-high ticket prices. That's why you see so many covers that were created by Pan Am itself - they needed to hit the minimum to earn the subsidy.) I'm finding that the corporate alliances and competition was very convoluted, with all sorts of arrangements hammered out, and complicated by political agendas and prohibitions.
This task is probably a life's work, for someone with a longer life expectancy than myself...
It's probably already been done, at least in some specialty areas. I haven't done much digging yet. I'll probably start with the Caribbean and South America, with the first international overseas carriage, Key West to Havana, 1927. I have 3 covers from that route already, representing both directions. Here's one showing a nice, tight 3-hour interval from posting to receipt:
It's a bit 'philatelic', but let's face it, this route had no standing yet among those needing 'instant' communications with Havana.
-Paul
re: Online Catalogue First Flight Covers
...and, after visiting aerodacious.com, I see that FAM-4 was awarded to a predecessor of Pan Am, and the first air mail, Key West to Havana, was NOT 1927, it was 1920. I need to spend more time at this website!
-Paul
re: Online Catalogue First Flight Covers
If you want the link to work, you need to put the link in the link tag, to wit:
http://www.aerodacious.com
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey