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Nice Jusqua marking on the Jamaica cover.

Left England 7th January 1932 arrived Melbourne 22nd January 1932.

Post Marked London 21st December 1931.

The other 2 scans are the contents of the letter.

Sorry I know nothing about th GB stamps maybe one of our board membrs can fill me in.

Hi Back o Burke .. not into GB stamps much either ..but as far as the flight I can tell you it was Piloted by Kingsford Smith and G.U. Allan ..and engineer FG Taylor.

Left London on the 7th of January 1932 in the Avro Ten "Southern Star" VH-UMG ..with a large quanity of mail originally intended for Christmas delivery.

It Arrived Darwin 19th of January ...the special Envelope was issued with no Special cachet applied in England ..inward covers was stamped respectively

Darwin 19/1/32 ...Sydney 21/1/32..Melbourne 22/1/32 and Perth 25/1/32 ....nice item and has a cat. price of $100 and Eustis AAMC #245

Hi Back o Burke,

Mailcovers has it right. This is AAMC 245. The interesting thing about this return flight is why the delay? The first leg was quite an adventure with flight covers galore (52,000) , crashed planes and Smithy coming through & carrying mail to London. The drama continued. The day before the scheduled starting time of the return flight, G.U. Allan crashed the plane in England and repairs caused delay until 7th Jan 1932. I am not sure the volume of covers but suspect it was high. I have seen quite a few signed.

Regards,
Phil

Thanks Phil ...yeah I forgot about all that drama connected with these covers ..thanks for the reminder

Thanks..... mailcovers and Phil for the great information on my cover.

I have always liked a postal item that is part of history and can tell a great story.

Cheers
Barry

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Well I knew it wasn't long before we saw some Airbus Flight Covers into Sydney of the A380 Airbus ...just seen this one been put up on Ebay from a VICTORIA Dealer.

..with several variations on the covers ...bidding starting at A$6.00..but the stamp I feel is out of place ...Have a close look at it ...I think it cheapens the cover ? )

Couldn't they have had a Singapore Stamp at least or an Aussie Stamp for arrival ....I feel more expensive ones will surface ...but maybe these will be more quality Flight Covers, at least carried by couriers on board the flight ..and may hold some more interesting data on them ..rather than the fake stamp on this one !!

..I feel personally it is a quick money earner rather than something of quality ...what do you guys think ??? love to hear your views ..as usual !!

mailcovers.. you will need to get out more.

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

Genuine signed flown covers ARE offered on this board (see above) .. by a member who TOOK them on the flight!

How do I know - I met him at the Hilton function here in SYD the night the inaugural flight arrived.

The price is right I'd suggest .. please buy one and support a fellow member and not these chancers on Ebay.

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oops Glen ..yes I should have searched the Board ...and you wouldn't have had to tell me about Michaels Covers ...he certainly has done a great job with them

...I would have carried them on the plane for him for nothing !! after hearing about the 7 hour party !! who says Stamp Couriers don't have fun !

Heres one I quite like

[/img]

Nice One Indeed ! "howwible" looks like one of the many Nelson Eustis flights he organised throughout the South Pacific...

Mailcovers said



I emailed this joker one eBay about tha A380 Cover(knowing one of our members was selling flown covers) asking if it was meant to be Singapore Cover or Aussie Cover and this was her replay



I think i would stick to buying the covers here Mailcovers, at least you get the real thing, with a real stamp.

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If you can't fix it with a Hammer, you have an Electrical problem.

I agree APPTEC ...I found the ones on EBay quite offensive to say the least !!!

1936 FLIGHT COVER

NEW YORK to Melbourne via HINDENBURG and IMPERIAL AIRWAYS

Thats a NIce One ..back o" Bourke
...I have been away ..and away again in a weeks time ...so I'm missing my diet of nice Flight Covers on this thread !!

Added another nice one this week to Rarity page - and it sold in a day!

Not a rare cover per-se, but with 2 x 6d "OS" it certainly is!

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Australia - quite amazing franking on 1931 Kingsford Smith flown First Flight "Crash Mail" Cover to UK: An attractive Registered cover, in quite exceptional overall fresh condition for these anyway .... they are now well over 75 years old of course, and this survived a crash that literally destroyed the tiny plane.

The printed red map on the back is fascinating, showing the plane routing. 24 stops is hard for us to believe in these days of one-stop 747 flights to London! Romantic stopover town names like Longreach, Wyndham, Batavia, Rangoon, Karachi, Bushire, Baghdad, Athens and Lyons. Has the special PO violet handstamp in SW corner, and a range of backstamps on reverse as you can see.

Exotic franking of a joined pair of the scarce 6d brown Kingsford Smith "OS" overprint. That is incredibly scarce on any kind of cover = ACSC $250 on cover for a single stamp! This is also stated to be First Day Issue for the 6d in Abbotsford - Nov 19. Also a 3d Smith and a 2d red KGV head. (Rate for ½d ounce to London was 14d, and this was correctly franked. The 3d extra added was for the Registered fee.)

The 6d "OS" is not common even used OFF cover. This was the very first "OS" overprint ever to be to be sold to the public. Prior to then, they were strictly for Government mail, and use by the public was illegal, and purchasing by the public of ANY mint "OS" stamp was simply not possible.

This was one of smallest issues EVER by the Commonwealth Of Australia - almost identical to the rare 5/- 1932 Sydney Harbour Bridge and way less than the high value Kangaroos. Only 75,000 x 6d were sold - mostly mint, and most of those to collectors who retained them mint in blocks. I can't think when the last time I saw one on cover - much less a FU PAIR!

This cover was literally "Crash Mail". The tiny 'Avro 10' that left Australia piloted by G.U. Allen crashed at Kedah in Asia and was wrecked. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith flew to the rescue in the "Southern Star' and carried the rescued mail on to England. So we have the weird co-incidence of Charles Kingsford Smith flying mail franked with the special stamps issued in his honour!

The AAMC says "a few only" of the covers were backstamped in London - the illustrated one being an example - with a sharp Harrow December 17,: 31" oval.

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Not a COVER I know, but added now to Rarity page and is in my view the most arttactive airmail stamp issued anywhere on earth!

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France 1936 50 Franc "Banknote" Airmail FU: A great looking example as you can see. The 20th Century France "Glamour" stamp - the '5/- Bridge' and '£1 PUC' of this country.

The lightest possible cancel - a bonus as this was used for heavy sendings by air, and survivors are often readily showing the battering affects of that useage. Clean and fresh and flat - without fault or blemish of ANY kind - and perfect perfs and centering. SG 541 £250 = $A625. $A300

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20 November 1931 Flight




The Avro Ten, VH-UNA "SOUTHERN SUN"... crashed Kendah on route with mail

VH-UMG "SOUTHERN STAR"...the rescue aircraft flown by Kingsford Smith carried the mail through to London.
Over the St. Kilda (Melbourne) Esplanade in January of
1932.

[quote="GlenStephens"]



At LAST!!!

Charles Leski has taken over publishing the famous Nelson Eustis Airmail Cat and the first edition for 6 years is about to lob onto the market. First published since 1937 - this is only edition number 9 - in 71 years.

Best news its it is large A4, with tons more listings, tons more photos and ACCURATE prices for a change!

I am getting mine way before most dealers will have even heard it exists.

PRE-ORDER NOW for the fast delivery. They will be $A100 RRP for spiro bound (my preference always for heavily used catalogues) and $A130 RRP for hard bound with dust jacket.

It is about 300 x large A4 pages.

Here is Charles run down on it today-


Thanks for your interest Glen. I'll get a review copy to you as soon as it arrives from printer. You will find it a dramatically enlarged and improved book.

Firstly, it's large A4 format. This has enabled us to include many more illustrations; there are many new entries, with particular emphasis on intermediates which have previously been lumped together.

Many errors and omissions in the text have been found and corrected and, of course, the valuations have been updated.

This has involved collating 1000s of prices from auctions (Lusk's, Harmers, Bonham's, Cherrystone, Gibbons, Prestige and others,) as well as dealer's lists and internet sales. A big job.

The previous edition sold out late last year so it seemed good timing to get this project on the go, especially as we have Nelson Eustis's exhibition collection coming up for auction on March 31st.

Best wishes for 2008,

Charles

Special ADVANCE COPY ORDER.

No stamp shop has these yet. 99% of dealers do not even know it is being issued.

Mine will be air freighted from publisher. Be the FIRST anywhere to get a set! Buy up all the cheapies still being priced at a fraction of new prices, as those dealers are still using OLD data and prices!

If you collect Australia or New Guinea or Papua or NZ airmail covers you are a MUG not to own this volume. Full stop! As you know it also lists all rocket mail. pigeon posts, parachute mail, balloon posts etc.

Superb looking item as you can see - $A100 plus post.

The last 2002 edition was less than 400 small A5 pages, and cost $82.50, so this is equivalent to about 600 pages of that format - showing how much new info is in there! At $100 is it clearly GREAT value.

Anyone interested can pre-order here:

viewtopic.php?p=134399


Glen

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Just added to stock .. does anyone know or can guess HOW this one got back to Oz? A mystery to me!

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Spectacular airmail Registered cover First Flight to Britain - and MYSTERY return flight: I love the very occasional items you see like this, that has a 6d 3rd Wmk Roo (cat $100 on cover), KGV heads and a wide range of the attractive 1930s commems used as franking.

Includes a full set of 3 of the Kingsford Smith airmail set, and the Charles Sturt set! (Sir Charles Kingsford Smith himself flew the plane from Australia.) The cover has the most beautiful handwriting, as you can see. Odd minor blemish but for 77 years old, and the around the world travel, in FAR better shape than you'd expect!

This is striking enough, being Eustis 188, that left Australia in April 1931. HOWEVER the mystery to this one is the RETURN date! Luckily it is Registered so we have a paper trail on reverse as shown. It left Perth April 17, as per cancels on front, and confirmed on reverse.

HOWEVER it came back into Australia JUNE 27, as evidenced by the clear Melbourne cds of that date. It then went across country to Perth and to the sender, with Perth and Victoria Park July 3, 1931 arrival cancels. What flight was it on? And WHY return it to the sender at all, as postage was only paid Aust-UK?

A real mystery, that adds to the overall appeal of this item. AFAIK airpost was only 1/2d air and 1/6d Reg'd to UK. THIS one bears 2/8½d franking, or near twice that, so maybe it WAS pre-paid for return somehow?

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I don't think it was flown back at all. I think it came by ship, cheapest way. Dunbar sent the cover to himself Poste Restante, with instructions to return it if "unclaimed."

He was not there in London to "claim" it, so London duly sent it back - was this not an inherent feature of Registered Mail??

This seems obvious to me. Comment?

This letter goes with previous post.

KINGSFORD SMITH & KING GEORGE'S JUBILEE: 15 May 1935 (AAMC.500)

Jubilee Air Mail Sydney - New Zealand:

Envelope flown & signed by Kingsford Smith, Taylor & Stannage.

Placed aboard Southern Cross at Richmond May 14, 1935, reclaimed when machine returned to Mascot with broken propeller, May 15, 1935.[10 flown].

More than 28,000 souvenir envelopes were being carried on the plane. Due to engine trouble, all but 1,100 were jettisoned to save the plane.

Kingsford Smith carried 10 envelopes unofficially and signed by the entire crew, of which this is one.

BACK O' BOURKE, that is one very nice cover. I'd love to see an oil stain mark that shows the drama of the flight (just kidding), ... broken propeller, oil transfer midflight, mailbags overboard, return to Australia. The cover has a lot of history. Let me know if you want to let go of it. It would find a nice warm home in my collection.

I guess there was no back stamp on "arrival"

Regards, Phil

2 East Africa First flight cover-

1st experimental flight on Springbok illustrated cover from Nairobi to Cape Town

1st flight Imperial airways cover from Nairobi to London (via Vienna and Paris)- this cover is from the connecting flight from Kisumu-Nairobi route by Wilson Airways

As I seem to have been asbent from the board for a while due to work ..and am just passing through ..and off again on Tuesday ....
And as I Feel a bit guilty as I was the one that started this thread, and haven't had much time to contribute to it ? thought I would I would leave you with a couple I came by ,not so long ago
Enjoy
Cheers
John

Wasn't that the flight Taylor got the George Cross for bravery for?

Odd the NZ stamp was not cancelled.

Looks to be SUPERB condition!

This was the reverse of a similar one I bought via Ernie Crome (now owned by a member here!) with his note on it below -

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On 15 May 1935 Taylor was Kingsford Smith's navigator in the Southern Cross for the King George V jubilee airmail flight (Australia-New Zealand). After flying for six hours, the heavily-laden aircraft had almost reached half-way when part of the centre engine's exhaust manifold broke off and severely damaged the starboard propeller. 'Smithy' closed down the vibrating starboard engine, applied full power to the other two, turned back to Australia and jettisoned the cargo. The oil pressure on the port engine began to fall alarmingly. The flight appeared doomed.


Taylor reacted heroically. Climbing out of the fuselage, he edged his way against the strong slipstream along the engine connecting strut and collected oil from the disabled starboard engine in the casing of a thermos flask. He then transferred it to the port engine. With assistance from the wireless operator, John Stannage, he carried out this procedure six times before the aircraft landed safely at Mascot some nine hours later. For his resourcefulness and courage, Taylor was awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal, gazetted on 9 July 1937; it was superseded by the George Cross (instituted in May 1941).

some beautiful covers here folks and many of them fantastic pieces of Australia's history.

question in regards to Eustis Catalogue - does this (or others) only cover First Flights and other important or special flights or does it cover all flights involved in the Australian air-mail system?

(the list of resources I need/want keeps on growing - need to win Tatts to keep up!)

Hi Kris, it is hard to know exactly what you are asking. The Australian Airmail Catalogue AAMC (by Nelson Eustis) was last released as seventh edition in 2002. There is a new release planned.

The 2002 catalogue lists in chronological order, the airmails of Australia, internally and with all overseas connections to and from Australia. There are also sections for balloon post, pigeon post and rocket mail. The valuations are in Australian currency. There are 400 pages.

It is actually a very good reference and easy to read. I'd recommend getting yourself a copy.

Regards, Phil

Kris .... Eustis is a truly comprehensive work.

It covers ANYTHING whatsoever related to airmail flights from the near 100 years there have been flights in Australia.

It PRICES the lot, and also all the New Guinea/Papua flights, and ANYTHING to Australia i.e. all the early Pan Am, Qantas, BOAC, Air NZ etc.

Stumbling across just ONE half way decent cover in a shop or on the web selling cheap will repay the cost of the book many times.

This one is up on my rarity page now for $350 - it is the kind of fairly unimportant looking thing a part informed seller WITHOUT a Eustis could price at $5 or $10, or even leave in a mixed lot.

In the US such a cover would end up in many $1 boxes.



Scarce Territory Of New Guinea pioneer airmail First Flight cover: June 1937 first flight from Mai Mai in the Sepik River, to Wewak. New Guinea 2d Coronation stamp cancelled by bold "Wewak 19 Jun:37" upon arrival. Addressed to Coogee NSW. William Gray carried just 21 covers in a Fox Moth from the Wambara Aerodrome. One of the rarities of NG aerophilately. Eustis P114, Cat $A425. $A350

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From the $2.00 box

Ha!

My point to Kris exactly. A $425 (now) cover, that will likely be $700 in new cat - for just $2.

Not a glamorous looking thing, and an item many Sellers would not place much importance on.

Pays for 7 x AAMC Cats .. just as long as you know more than the occasional uniformed seller - you'll always win out.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER in stamps, and catalogues are where it comes from.

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Click HERE to see superb, RARE and unusual stamps, at FIXED low nett prices, high rez photos, and NO buyer fees etc!

Just into stock.

The Kingsford Smith set 3 on a neat REGISTERED First Day Cover.

Much harder to find than many might think.

Hi
Here is another cover from the 1935 attempted Jubilee airmail flight by Kingsford Smith. The 1100 covers that were not dumped were all late mail. They were in seven small bags: two from Melbourne, one from Launceston, one from Adelaide and three from Brisbane. This is a cover from the Melbourne bag.



The saved mail was sent from Sydney to Wellington by sea and covers all have a Wellington backstamp of 23 May.
Bob

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My website: "New Zealand Stamp Images", at www.nzstamps.org.uk describes New Zealand philately, postage stamps, airmails and postal history.

A 1934 Australia-Papua-New Guinea first flight cover cancelled in Townsville, Queensland 5th. June with the scarce June cachet (the flight that never was) and backstamped with the actual 27th. July flight cachet:

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Tony

10th North American Flight, 5th-12th Oct. 1936.
Hindenburg Airship Cover

No huge retail value here...but it's addressed to my late great-uncle.

A rare "Smithy" one just loaded to my rarity page:

Rare 1931 (Sir) Charles Kingsford Smith flown and signed cover - only *TEN* carried: 18 September 1931 (AAMC.215a - Cat $2,500) Sydney to Melbourne cover. Flown and signed by Charles Kingsford Smith in the "Southern Cross Minor". And this cover is addressed in his hand in my view. This was the first leg of his Australia to England record attempt. (Only TEN covers flown on this leg, and only a couple appear to have survived.) From the personal collection of the late Nelson Eustis. Absolutely impeccable provenance. ANYTHING flown and signed by "Smithy" is VERY highly sought. Covers addressed by him are rare and elusive.

Here is a nice cover carried on the return of the first Imperial Airways experimental flight to Australia and addressed to Karachi. It was posted from New Zealand and joined the flight at Sydney on 24 April.



The Darwin - Akyab (Burma) leg (27 April - 3 May) was flown by Kingsford Smith and Scotty Allan. The cover appears to be signed by Kingsford Smith, but I am sure that the signature is a forgery. (It is rather laboured, as if it had been traced, and the ink looks like it is from a ball point pen.) Pity, as the fake signature detracts from what would otherwise be a very nice cover. A total of only 229 ordinary letters to all destinations were sent from New Zealand and so there can have been very few to Karachi.
Bob

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My website: "New Zealand Stamp Images", at www.nzstamps.org.uk describes New Zealand philately, postage stamps, airmails and postal history.

Hi

I have some covers/FDC? - They seem to come from Darwin. They are numbered. Has anyone seen any of these before?
, do the signatures add value to the cover/FDCs.

Thanks in advance!


Kindest regards

Thomas

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Click HERE to see superb, RARE and unusual stamps, at FIXED low nett prices, high rez photos, and NO buyer fees etc!

I think this is a very attractive cover. Good markings and lots of history.

As Glen indicates, the signature could be real, written with cover on knee. I am not so sure. Kingsford Smith lived for his signature. It was well practiced and used often. The capital S in Smith looks dodgy. It is written as you would expect most people to write it. However, Kingsford Smith tended to have no top loop. This is what happens when you sign your name so often. It could be his knee though, then again, maybe a bit shaky after a long plane ride over large stretches of water.... Having said that, I am no expert, and will defer to folks wiser than me.

All this makes the cover even more interesting

Here's a real gem - 1931 Australia to England FFC with 2/- roo plus 1/4 KGV small multi w/mark (FF cachet on the rear and nice Darwin NT cancel).

It's also one of the tiniest covers I have ever seen except for some of the GB 1d. red covers of the 19th. Century.

It measures about 100mm X 75mm or 4 inches X 3 inches :!:

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Tony

What makes this a flight cover Lakatoi4 ?

Is it the Kingsford Smith stamp ? And does that mean all KS stamps on covers makes them flight covers ?

Sorry for the stupid question
I just assumed flight covers had something saying "Flown from A to B by xyz airlines" somewhere on them.

I'll have to take a closer look at our covers, if it's based on the stamp and destination, I might have many that people would be interested in.

thanks
Skippy (so much to learn )

Skippy,

That's why I mentioned in my initial post, that the first flight cachet is on the rear of the cover. I'll add a scan of it tonight in this topic.

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Tony