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North Eastern Airways By Martin Smith North Eastern Airways Limited was a company formed In 1935 by the coalmine owner, Lord Grlmthorpe: It commenced operations In the spring or that year on a London- Leeds-Newcastle-Edinburgh route. but was initially unsuccessful and ceased operations In July. However, operations were resumed in November of the following year, extending the route to Perth and later, Aberdeen. in October 1937. the Company applied for a Post Office Contract to carry mail but this was refused on the advice of the Air Mlnlstry. owing to the Company's relatively short operational experience and the record of reliability of the service during the preceding twelve months, which had left something to be desired! During the previous month, Air Ministry officials had. after observations, stated that landings and take-offs Could be Improved and that, In particular, a bad approach and landing at Perth had resulted In the machine bouncing several feet. The Post Master General decided to review the position in February 1938, When the Alr Ministry were able to confirm that the reliability of the service (In respect of completed flights) between September 1937 and January 1938 was 91%. Moreover. It was agreed that a number of the flights which were not completed during the previous winter were the result of snow and other adverse conditions. In view of the revised information, the Post Office agreed in September 1938 to grant a contract for the conveyance of mail by the Company's south bound service from Perth to Croydon via Newcastle, Leeds/Bradford, and Doncaster. The first man carrying flight took place on the 3rd of October 1938 and was accomplished in two stages; Captain A.L.T Naish piloted the de Havilland Rapide G-AFEP, from Perth, arriving at Newcastle at approximately 10.00am from whence the journey was completed by Flylng Officer D. Boltel Gill, In the Alrspeed Envoy G—ADAZ. which reached Croydon via Yeadon (for Leeds and Bradford) and Doncaster at 1.0'clock precisely. Details of the flight are set out In the "Air Mails of the British Isles’ by H. Stanley Redgrove. together with full details of the vignettes which were prepared by the Company for the different stages "Perth-London”, "Newcastle— London", "Leeds—London", "Bradford— London” and "Doncaster-London” Initially, 500 copies of each of the vignettes were printed but all of these were purchased by the air mail dealer. Mr A. Phillips making a further printing necessary. The second printing comprised 1500 copies of each and Redgrove sets out how the different printings Can be distinguished. The Company prepared a special cachet. taking the form of a clock face with the hands set between 12.50 and 12.55am (the original estimated time of arrival) with the inscription "RCVD 30CT 1938" (flg.l). This was applied to covers which the Company believed had been carried to Croydon by air. However, on it’s arrival at Croydon the mail was taken by the Post Offlce to London for sorting and delivery, With that addressed to the Company's office (and. presumably. the covers bearing the special vignettes) being returned to Croydon later. Unfortunately, by virtue of the Post Office regulations, covers from Bradford were only to be carried by air to addresses in the London postal districts N.1, N.W.1. or S.E.1. This strictly enforced by the Post Office officials at Bradford and. Accordingly, letters addressed to the Company’s office at Croydon were forwarded by surface transport and eventually arrived at Croydon at the same time as those which had arrived by air. They were accordingly impressed with the Company "clock' cachet and some were also subsequently signed by the pilot. D. Fottel Gill, In the mistaken belief that they had been flown. Because the majority of the vignettes of the first printing were on covers addressed to Croydon Aerodrome, Redgrove states: 'So as the first printing of the Bradford vignette concerned. I doubt if an example exists. This opinion may well be correct with regard to covers properly prepared but I have In my collection one of the first printing of the Bradford vignettes — flown, but from Doncasterl No doubt there may be other examples of this kind. In addition to the clock cachet. the Company also impressed In black on the Covers (which they considered had been carried on the first flight) one of their counter stamps, reading ‘North Eastern Airways/ Limited• around and •Airport of London/Croydon/Surrey’ within (fig.2). Not all the covers bearing the ‘clock face’ cachet were also impressed with the additional mark, including a number Which were addressed to the dealer. Mr A Phillips. Accordingly, he arranged with North Eastern Airways Limited to borrow their rubber stamp. which was forwarded to him on the 5th Of October 1938. Unfortunately. the rubber stamp which the Company forwarded was not the one which they had previously used to cancel the covers but was one used by their parcel Office and incorporated the telephone number of the Company (fig.3). The rubber stamp impressed by Mr Phillips on the Items which he had obtained irrespective of whether or not they had actually been carried on the inaugural flight. They were Impressed on covers emanating from Perth in red, from Newcastle in green. from Leeds in blue. from Bradford in violet and Doncaster in black. It will be appreciated that they were entirely unofficial and do not prove that the covers were carried on the inaugural flight. On the 7th or October 1938, North Eastern Airways Limited wrote to Mr Phillips stating that they had received advice from their Doncaster depot that 299 envelopes had been received by them. which had been delivered to Doncaster by the ordinary mail. presumably as the Post Office authorities thought that the method would be more speedy. They added that the covers had not been carried by air. so it hardly seemed right in their opinion to put the time on the arrival stamp on them. The Company subsequently wrote to Mr Phillips on the 10th of October, stating that they had dispatched a parcel containing the envelopes which they had been holding for him and added ‘Actually these covers travelled by our air from Doncaster to Croydon, so we have put out round rubber stamp on each one, cancelling the cachet and trust that this move will make the covers of some use to you . Clearly, therefore, covers addressed from Bradford to Doncaster were not carried on the Inaugural flight. Having returned the parcels Office handstamp, Mr Phillips obtained on loan on the 14th of October, the handstamp (flg. 2) which the Company had originally used on the mail received at Croydon and this was also impressed on covers by Mr. Phllips using the same colour system as with the parcel handstamp. My cover addressed from Bradford to Doncaster (unflown) with the vignette tied by the Company, using the parcels handstamp, also bears the original handstamp in violet Impressed by Mr. Phillips. Obviously the "clock" cachet was only impressed by the Company on mall reaching Croydon whereas mail from Perth addressed to Newcastle or Leeds and some other towns In the North of England was also carried on the Inaugural flight. Mr. Phlliips examples of these are Impressed with the handstamp (flg.2) in red and were probably carried on the Inaugural flight. although in a letter from North Eastern Airways dated the 5th of October It stated that they were received at the aerodrome at about 4 pm. In their letter of the 14th of October, forwarding the first type rubber stamp on loan, North Eastern Airways Limited add: "Incidentally. as a point of interest, I have made an arrangement with the pilot of the Air Mall service whereby he would be prepared to autograph covers at a nominal fee of 2/Sd. per dozen.” This presumably accounts for the fact that a number of the coven were autographed by Mr.D. Boitel Gill but that very few of the covers were autographed by the first stage pilot, Captain A.L.T. Naish. It should be emphasized that the use of the Company's vignettes was purely optional and that mail. flown from Perth. (Including Items originating from Dundee and Edinburgh) and from Newcastle, Leeds, Bradford and Doncaster were all carried provided that they complied with the requirements as to the time of dispatch and the district to which they were addressed. as Indicated by Redgrove. Indeed, he mentions that flown covers so addressed and dispatched for a firm or West End stamp dealers came on the market immediately after the flight but although carried. did not obtain favour with collectors because they had no cachets. I have such a cover, carried from Perth to Hove, which bears the endorsement that it was received by the 9.00pm delivery on the 3rd or October. However, It would appear that despite the large number of items which must have been carried, for the most part, only those boasting the vignettes and cachets have been retained. Reminiscing, one of the Company's employees Informed me that the mail was stowed In badly designed wooden crates at the rear of the cabins and It was hard to look after. He mentioned that on one occasion a sack slipped down between the side of the container and the fuselage and being Impossible to find at Doncaster, flew back to Perth from whence It remained undiscovered until the Rapide returned to Croydon for servicing! I wonder whether any examples of this delayed mail are still In existence. After the 15th of April 1939. a modified time-table came Into operation with the machines no longer calling at Yeadon or Doncaster and the service finally ceased with the outbreak of the Second World War. In addition to the information from “Redgrove”, I would like to acknowledge the information given to me by Mr John King and Mr R. D. Poland of the Croydon Airport Society and from Mr Maurice Porter or Messrs J.A.L Franks from whom I obtained the copy correspondence.