Starting in 1903 the introduction of the
aeroplane generated immediate interest in using them for mail transport. An unofficial airmail flight (Reviewed and recognized retrospectively by the Smithsonian Institution when Fredrick Joseph Wiseman was 76 years old) was conducted by
Fred J. Wiseman as an amateur pilot in the Wiseman-Cooke, his self-taught built aircraft, who carried three officially stamped letters between
Petaluma and
Santa Rosa, California, on February 18, 1911. cover flown on the world's first aerial post in 1911 The world's first official airmail flight came the same day, at a large exhibition in the
United Provinces of Agra and Oudh,
British India. The organizer of the aviation display,
Sir Walter Windham, was able to secure permission from the
postmaster general in India to operate an airmail service in order to generate publicity for the exhibition and to raise money for charity. Mail from people across the region was gathered in at
Holy Trinity Church and the first airmail flight was piloted by
Henri Pequet, who flew 6,500 letters a distance of from
Allahabad to
Naini—the nearest station on the
Bombay-Calcutta line to the exhibition. The letters bore an official frank "First Aerial Post, U.P. Exhibition, Allahabad. 1911". The aircraft used was a
Humber-Sommer biplane, and it made the journey in thirteen minutes. The first official American airmail delivery was made on September 23, 1911, by pilot
Earle Ovington under the authority of the
United States Post Office Department. The first official air mail in Australia was carried by French pilot Maurice Guillaux. On July 16–18, 1914, he flew his
Blériot XI aircraft from Melbourne to Sydney, a distance of 584 miles (940 km), carrying 1785 specially printed postcards, some Lipton's Tea and some O.T. Lemon juice. At the time, this was the longest such flight in the world.
Scheduled services The world's first scheduled airmail post service took place in the United Kingdom between the
London suburb of
Hendon,
North London, and the
Postmaster General's office in
Windsor, Berkshire, on September 9, 1911, as part of the celebrations for King
George V's
coronation and at the suggestion of
Sir Walter Windham, who based his proposal on the successful experiment he had overseen in India. The service ran for just under a month, transporting 35 bags of mail in 16 flights; four pilots operated the aircraft including
Gustav Hamel, who flew the first service in his
Blériot, covering the 21 miles between Hendon and Windsor in just 18 minutes. The service was eventually terminated due to constant and severe delays caused by bad weather conditions. Similar services were intermittently run in other countries before the
war, including in
Germany,
France and
Japan, where airmail provision was briefly established in 1912, only to meet with similar practical difficulties. The range, speed and lifting capacity of aircraft were transformed through technological innovation during the war, allowing the first practical air mail services to finally become a reality when the war ended. For instance, the first regularly scheduled airmail service in the
United States was inaugurated on May 15, 1918. The route, which ran between
Washington, D.C., and
New York City, with an intermediate stop in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was designed by aviation pioneer
Augustus Post. The field used for this service is marked by
a plaque in
West Potomac Park. In 1925, the U.S. Postal service issued contracts to fly airmail between designated points. By 1931, 85% of domestic airline revenue was from airmail. In Germany,
dirigibles of the 1920s and 1930s were used extensively to carry airmail; it was known as
Zeppelin mail, or dirigible mail. The German
Zeppelins were especially visible in this role, and many countries issued special stamps for use on Zeppelin mail. The 1928 book
So Disdained by
Nevil Shute—a novel based on this author's deep interest in and thorough knowledge of aviation—includes a monologue by a veteran pilot, preserving the atmosphere of these pioneering times: "We used to fly on the Paris route, from
Hounslow to
Le Bourget and get through as best as you could. Later we moved on to
Croydon. (...) We carried the much advertised Air Mails. That meant the machines had to fly whether there were passengers to be carried or not. It was left to the discretion of the pilot whether or not the flight should be cancelled in bad weather; the pilots were dead keen on flying in the most impossible conditions. Sanderson got killed this way at Douinville. And all he had in the machine was a couple of picture postcards from trippers in Paris, sent to their families as a curiosity. That was the Air Mail. No passengers or anything—just the mail".
International services In the aftermath of the war, the
Royal Engineers (Postal Section) and the
Royal Air Force pioneered the first scheduled international airmail service between
Folkestone, Kent and
Cologne, Germany. The service operated between December 1918 and mid-1919; its purpose was to provide troops of the
British Army stationed in Germany with a fast mail service. (see more at
British Forces Post Office) Throughout the 1920s the
Royal Air Force continued to develop air routes through the
Middle East. and
Brown taking on mail On 25 December 1918, the
Latécoère Airlines (later becoming the famed
Aéropostale) became the first civilian international airmail service, when mail was flown from
Toulouse, France, to
Barcelona, Spain. Less than 2 months later, on 19 February 1919, the airmail service was extended to
Casablanca, Morocco, making the
Latécoère Airlines the first transcontinental airmail service. In June 1919,
Alcock and Brown completed the first transatlantic airmail flight. The first airmail service established officially by an airline occurred in
Colombia, South America, on 19 October 1920.
Scadta, the first airline of the country, flew landing river by river delivering mail in its destinations. Australia's first airmail contract was awarded to Norman (later Sir) Brearley's Western Australian Airlines (WAA). The first airmail was carried between
Geraldton and
Derby in
Western Australia on December 5, 1921. ==Philately==