zipper
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Posts: 2,649
What I collect: Classic GB, QV, France Ceres/Napoleon, Classic U.S., Cinderella & Poster Stamps
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Post by zipper on Sept 12, 2015 3:51:59 GMT
Los Angeles Helicopter Air Mail  Newark, N.J. Helicopter Air Mail  |
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,907 
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Sept 12, 2015 5:38:13 GMT
Los Angeles Helicopter Air Mail Newark, N.J. Helicopter Air Mail I know those helicopters very well, my father was a toolmaker at the Westlands Aircraft Works (Great Britain) where they built the "Westlands Dragonfly" helicopter. We lived opposite the airfield. Your covers are S51 Sikorsky helicopters, the Westlands were built under licence form Sikorsky, and look very similar. www.aerodacious.com/ccAM084.HTM |
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,907
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
Member is Online
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Post by rod222 on Sept 12, 2015 5:46:46 GMT
To Newark Cover owner : "desert gem"  |
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de61
Member
Posts: 262
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Post by de61 on Mar 21, 2020 18:04:48 GMT
Not quite a helicopter, but an Eastern Air Lines autogiro cover for the first flight from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., on October 12, 1939. The letterhead and pictures are printed by offset lithography and the type appears to be from a typeset duplicator, possibly a Multigraph machine. The Eddie Rickenbacker signature is not printed, but is also not an actual autograph. It, too, appears to be from a Multigraph duplicator or auto-pen machine.   Following is a cover for the first autogiro flight from Philadelphia to Camden, New Jersey, on July 6, 1939, referred to in the letter. It was previously posted by gregalex in another thread.  |
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Post by stamphinger on Mar 22, 2020 15:35:20 GMT
That is a nice collateral piece out of that Eastern Air Lines cover. Nice "Air Mail Saves Time" bullseye cancel too!
This is an 1953 airmail event cover commemorating the first flight using a helicopter on AM 111, presumably from Asbury Park, NJ, to the airmail facility at Newark. There is a Newark Air Mail Field receiving cancel on the reverse. The time of the postmark 11am, the time on the receiving cancel 6:30pm, driving time per Google between Asbury Park and Newark, approximately 1 hr. Air Mail probably didn't save much time in this instance. I have identified the helicopter depicted on this cover as a Sikorsky S-55. Helicopter usage in commercial aviation was a by-product of WW II, but these short airmail flights proved to be mostly experimental and use of helicopters for airmail never really caught on, probably, because operating costs were high and the time savings were marginal. Philately benefited, however, with a flurry of air mail event covers such as this one. I collected this cover, though, for its different and interesting (red and blue lightning bolts) air mail border on the envelope.
Don StampHinger  |
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