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Great Western Railway - The Newton Abbot Flights By Nicholas Peacock The air mail service provided by the Great Western Railway Company, G. W.R., (Editor: in my part of England the initials were often interpreted, tongue-in- cheek, to mean 'God's Wonderful Railway'), only lasted for the brief period between the 12th April 1933 and the September 1933. "Mr. A. Phillips, a well- known dealer in flown covers, conceived the idea. Under the then existing legislation covered by the Railway Act of 1898, railway companies were allowed to convey railway letters and charge a fee for doing so. Phillips' reasoning was that this could apply to air letters as well. Thus, we perceive Great Western Railways created the first regular internal air mail service in this country. The first official flight took place on the 15th' May 1933 between Cardiff, Plymouth. Teignmouth. Torquay and Newport, with covers being flown in both directions. One week later. the service was extended to Birmingham. All first flight covers flown by Great Western Railway are relatively scarce, with relatively small numbers being flown, over the brief period the Company was in existence. Perhaps the most difficult GWR covers to find are those for the flights to and from Newton Abbot in Devon. "Under the existing service, a bus connected Haldon aerodrome, close to Exeter, with Teignmouth and Torquay. It was decided to extend the bus service to Newton Abbot where mail could be accepted for transportation by plane. The service began the 17th July 1933. I show (Figure I), a cover flown from Cardiff to Newton Abbot on the first day of the new service, July 1933. The G. W .R. air mail fee stamp bears the serial number "2920'. and the stamp was affixed to denote pre-payment of the 3d. air mail delivery fee. Also note the "SPECIAL TRIP" and G W RLY AIR SERVICE" hand stamps, possibly applied privately or by the Company. The cover was posted on arrival at Newton Abbot, 2 PM 17 JUL I also show a cover. (Figure 2). carried on the return service flight from Newton Abbot to Cardiff on the first day of the new service. Note the number '4547' on the G. W.R. air mail fee Stamp as cover was duly posted on arrival in Cardiff (1 1/2d postage stamp cancelled 8.15 PM 17 JUL). Of significance is the fact the handwriting on both covers is by the same person. thus a matching pair of covers. The Newton Abbot office of the G. W .R. had the higher serial numbered air mail stamps compared with Newton Abbot. Both the covers shown in Figs. I and 2, were sold on Ebay in November. A further flight took place the July 1933. Here Redgrove states: ‘The existence on the market of covers either accepted at or posted at Newton on the two days specified. namely 17 July and 27 July has given rise to the quite erroneous opinion that Newton Abbot was served only on these two dates.’ Redgrove does not state he had seen other covers to or Gun Newton Abbot with different dispatch dates. and I have to disagree with Redgrove’s conclusions. I believe these two dates were the only days mail was flown. There is also no written evidence to suggest where the planes in question actually landed. Was it at Haldon aerodrome? Or actually Within the environs Of Newton Abbot? Let us remember most planes could land on grass at this time. and required only a very short take-off distance. Baldwin in British Air Mails catalogues these first night covers as: 348/85. July 17. Newton Abbot mails. with air stamp franking. 349/86, July 27. Second Newton abbot mails with air Stamp franking. Great Western Railway air service ceased on 30 September 1933. principally due to lack or customer support and thus the costs of running the service at a loss. I believe no Newton Abbot covers are known for this last day of the service. As already stated, the Abbot first flight covers are particularly scarce. I have only ever seen three in the entire time I have collected Great Britain air mails. The two described here and another commercial cover. also sold on Ebay last year. A continuous service from July 1933 onwards would. I am sure. have resulted in more covers to and from Newton Abbot being available today. It would be interesting to know of existence of other covers from these two nights to and from Newton Abbot. References. 1. Redgrove, H. Stanley, Air Mails of the British Isles. 1940. page 10. 2. Ibid, pp. 13-14. 3. Ibid. pp. IS-16. 4. Ibid. page 16. S. Baldwin. N.C. British Mails 1784 - 1946. Francis J. Field Ltd. (1947), page 153. Editor: Nick has thrown out a challenge and I am going to start the ball rolling. Ordinarily I just do not collect British air mails. but I do collect British West Country material (Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset) and. perusing my small stock of air mail covers. I find I have two GWR night covers that at one time. or another. stuck to my sticky fingers'. I can add a fourth GWR cover (Figure 3) flown from Newton Abbot July 1933 to Nick's list. My cover is addressed to Birmingham. being posted from there at 9.15 PM. As with Nick's cover we have the same cachets "NEWTON ABBOT" "BIRMINGHAM" and "SPECIAL TRIP G W RI.Y / AIR SERVICE" which I suggest were of private origin ? As with both or Nick's covers. my cover to Birmingham is addressed in the same handwriting thus presumably sent by the same collector. The serial number on G.W.R. 3d. air mail fee stamp on my cover is '4533’ and that on Nick's cover is ‘4547'. Making the assumption these G.W.R. air mail fee labels were readily available but were affixed by G. W .R. staff at the office of posting (any comments 2), and assuming the person who sent both Nick's and my cover presented a batch of covers for the G. W.R. agent to infer there were at least 4547 - 4533 15 covers flown from Newton Abbot on 17 July. I believe this figure is possibly a gross underestimate. and humbly suggest, therefore. the availability of the Newton Abbot flight covers might be greater than Nick now suggests. Of more than passing interest is the observation that both the G.WR. air mail labels and the British 1d. postage stamps on both Nick's and my covers, were neatly tied to the cover in purple with strikes from an oval "PARCELS OFFICE / JUL 17 1933 / NEWTON ABBOT, G.W,R." handstamp. I suggest this would have been contrary to British Post Office regulations insofar as I understand it, that postage stamps already defaced as they were by the G. W R. parcels hand stamp, would have invalidated them for postal use. And just to round out this topic, I show (Figure 4) a Last Flight cover. Cardiff to Torquay on 30th September 1933 (was it flown that day, or the following day when the cover was posted at 8.15 PM in Torquay T). Finally, although lack of patronage may well have made the service uneconomic, as I understand it the primary reason the G. W.R. air mail service ceased was because it was suppressed by the British Post Office. I am sure the experts in the field will better explain that one.