Highland Airways - Kirkwall
Highland Airways was the pioneering Scottish airline formed by Captain Ernest Edmund Fresson. Unlike arch-rival Gandar-Dower,
Fresson did not have access to substantial family money and needed financial backing. His first major backer was the Scotsman
newspaper and he started carrying passengers and newspapers on 8
th
May 1933 between Inverness and Kirkwall via Wick. The
post office would not give an air mail contract until the Airline had proved its reliability so it wasn’t until a year later that Highland
Airways was awarded a contract by the Post Office to carry mail on their service between Inverness and Kirkwall, and an
experimental service began on 29th May 1934 with a flight by a de Havilland Dragon G-ACCE piloted by Fresson. Another Highlands
Airways pilot Capt. Eric Coleman did the return journey. Wick was added to the airmail service from 1st December, and from 10th
December mail was transferred between Thurso and Wick by rail or bus. Fresson had wanted to fly to Thurso but had been unable
to find a suitable landing area. The Orkney’s was the only mail contract Fresson would get. Despite regular flights to the Shetlands
that contract was eventually awarded to Gandar-Dower at Allied Airways
.
Highland Airways also did a Northern Isle run combining various Northern Islands and he flew to the Orkneys and the Shetlands from Aberdeen (Kintore
Airport). On 23
rd
May 1935 Highland Airways was taken over by United Airlines which at the same time took over control of Northern and Scottish Airways in
Glasgow. As a part of the deal it retained its identity but after United merged with British Airways Highland Airways joined George Nicholson’s Northern and
Scottish Airways operating out of Glasgow and in 1938 a new company was formed called Scottish Airways. The airline issued vignettes for the first mail
flight between Inverness and Kirkwall, which was sold for 2/-, and for the Wick service, which was sold for 1/-.
Highland Airways. First Mail Contract. Inverness to Kirkwall. 29th May 1934.
On the 29th May 1934, Highland Airways flew the historic first flight being the first Company with an air mail contract. Importantly the mail was sent by air at no additional cost to the sender. All previous air mail had included an ‘air premium’ normally in the form of a stamp with a fee to be paid in addition to the cost of postage. This system would remain in place until 1951 when BEA introduced an air letter service that increased the cost of airmail above the cost of normal postage. Highland Airways produced a company envelope ‘First Air Mail to the Orkney Islands’ above a photo of a plane landing. Underneath ‘Highland Airways Ltd Inverness’. 400 envelopes were produced and 200 flown in each direction. 100 of each flight had a Highlands Airway vignette. The envelope does not indicate the direction of the flight, this can only be ascertained by the postmark. Vignettes were produced both for the original Kirkwall flight and for the Wick extension.Souvenir Envelopes. The Orcadian. 29th May 1934
The Orcadian a Orkneys weekly newspaper produced two envelopes for the first flight and an envelope for general use after the first flight. There were 2 variations of the first and second type and 3 variations of the third type.
This example of the Orcadian cover which
was produced for use on the first day of the
airmail service is most likely a ‘Proof’ since it
is printed in Black. The clouds are missing
which would have been included on the
colour separations. There is also a doubling
of the top parallel line above ‘Read the
Orcadian’. It has been correctly used and
flown from Kirkwall to Inverness.
Orcadian envelope. Type 1.
Type 1 of the Orcadian envelope is for mail on the first day from the Orkney Islands to Inverness. There are two variants of this envelope. Variant a. The text above the plane reads ‘First Air Mail From /The Orkney Islands’. Important to note here is that the ‘From’ and the ‘The’ both start with a capital letter. Variant b. The text above the plane reads ‘First Air Mail from /the Orkney Islands’. Important to note here is that the ‘from’ and the ‘the’ both start with lowercase letters.Orcadian Envelope. Type 2
Type 2. The envelope for first airmail to the Orkney Islands which reads ‘First Air Mail to/the Orkney Islands’. There have been no recorded examples of envelopes with uppercase ‘to’ and uppercase ‘the’. There are two variants. Variant a. Below the Aeroplane is the date in red. Variant b. There is no date below the plane.Orcadian Envelope. Type 3
Type 3 was a general use envelope printed after the first flight. ‘For /Orkney -Inverness/Airmail’. Underneath is a plane printed in green amongst green clouds. The use started shortly after the first flight and were still in use with Scottish Airways in 1939. Three distinct settings were used during its production but all used the same die for the aircraft and clouds. Type a: ‘O’ of Orkney is round, the ‘B’ of ‘Best’ is to the right of the centre line of the Fancy T. Text and plane is dark green. Type b: ‘O’ of Orkney is round, the ‘B’ of ‘Best’ is to the left of the centre line of the fancy T. The Green printing ink is of a paler shade than type A. The wings are a darker green. Type c: ‘O’ of Orkney is oval, the ‘B’ of ‘Best’ is to the left of the centre line of the fancy T. The Green printing ink is of a paler shade than type A.J & W Tait. Advertising Covers.
Type 1a This is almost identical to type 1, using the same plane block. ‘For/Orkney-Inverness/Airmail’. Underneath is a plane printed in green amongst green clouds, but this time the wings are dark grey. Type 1b This is like the Orcadian type 3 using the same plane block. ‘For/Orkney-Inverness/Airmail’. Underneath is a plane printed in green amongst green clouds, the plane wings are a light grey and there is a comma after the TAIT.
b
St Leonards Envelopes.
Souvenir envelopes were printed for Leonard’s store in Kirkwall by the Orkney Herald and there are three types. Type 1 – ‘First Orkney – Inverness/Air Mail’ in blue. Underneath ‘May 29, 1934’ in blue. Type 2 – ‘Orkney – Inverness/Air Mail’ in blue. Now in upper case. Type 3 – ‘Kirkwall – Inverness/Air Mail’ in blue. In upper case.
Copyright
© 2022 Robert Farquharson All Rights Reserved
The envelopes came with an insert. There are two types of insert. One has the issue statement on the left bottom of the insert. In the second variation
the issue statement is in the right bottom.
Orcadian envelope insert. Issue statement left
Orcadian envelope insert. Issue statement right.
First Orkney to Inverness
Kirkwall to Inverness
Orkney to Inverness
Orcadian insert mistakenly put in Leonards Envelope
Finally, last and probably least a ‘self-made’ duo of envelopes. Whilst some who see these envelopes are less than charitable as to their quality, I
appreciate the enthusiasm and colour, whilst accepting there are more professional covers on this site! There is no text, but the commemorative
element is clear and they are both first flight covers.
British Internal Airmails of the 1930’s
Company envelope to Kirkwall. Fresson signed.
Company envelope to Inverness. Coleman signed.
Type 1a. ‘From’ and ‘The’ in uppercase.
Type 1b. ‘from’ and ‘the’ in lowercase.
Type 2a. With date. Fresson signed.
Type 2b. Without date.
Type 2a. With date. Fresson signed.
Type 2b. Without date.
Type 3a. To Aberdeen
Type 3b. To Edinburgh.
Type 3c. To North Ronaldsay
Type 1a. J & W Tait.
Type 1b. J & W Tait.
Kirkwall to Inverness
Inverness to Kirkwall
Highland Airways - Kirkwall
Highland Airways was the pioneering Scottish airline formed by Captain Ernest Edmund Fresson. Unlike arch-rival Gandar-Dower,
Fresson did not have access to substantial family money and needed financial backing. His first major backer was the Scotsman
newspaper and he started carrying passengers and newspapers on 8
th
May 1933 between Inverness and Kirkwall via Wick. The
post office would not give an air mail contract until the Airline had proved its reliability so it wasn’t until a year later that Highland
Airways was awarded a contract by the Post Office to carry mail on their service between Inverness and Kirkwall, and an
experimental service began on 29th May 1934 with a flight by a de Havilland Dragon G-ACCE piloted by Fresson. Another Highlands
Airways pilot Capt. Eric Coleman did the return journey. Wick was added to the airmail service from 1st December, and from 10th
December mail was transferred between Thurso and Wick by rail or bus. Fresson had wanted to fly to Thurso but had been unable
to find a suitable landing area. The Orkney’s was the only mail contract Fresson would get. Despite regular flights to the Shetlands
that contract was eventually awarded to Gandar-Dower at Allied Airways
.
Highland Airways also did a Northern Isle run combining various Northern Islands and he flew to the Orkneys and the Shetlands from Aberdeen (Kintore
Airport). On 23
rd
May 1935 Highland Airways was taken over by United Airlines which at the same time took over control of Northern and Scottish Airways in
Glasgow. As a part of the deal it retained its identity but after United merged with British Airways Highland Airways joined George Nicholson’s Northern and
Scottish Airways operating out of Glasgow and in 1938 a new company was formed called Scottish Airways. The airline issued vignettes for the first mail
flight between Inverness and Kirkwall, which was sold for 2/-, and for the Wick service, which was sold for 1/-.
Highland Airways. First Mail Contract. Inverness to Kirkwall. 29th May 1934.
On the 29th May 1934, Highland Airways flew the historic first flight being the first Company with an air mail contract. Importantly the mail was sent by air at no additional cost to the sender. All previous air mail had included an ‘air premium’ normally in the form of a stamp with a fee to be paid in addition to the cost of postage. This system would remain in place until 1951 when BEA introduced an air letter service that increased the cost of airmail above the cost of normal postage. Highland Airways produced a company envelope ‘First Air Mail to the Orkney Islands’ above a photo of a plane landing. Underneath ‘Highland Airways Ltd Inverness’. 400 envelopes were produced and 200 flown in each direction. 100 of each flight had a Highlands Airway vignette. The envelope does not indicate the direction of the flight, this can only be ascertained by the postmark. Vignettes were produced both for the original Kirkwall flight and for the Wick extension.Souvenir Envelopes. The Orcadian. 29th May 1934
The Orcadian a Orkneys weekly newspaper produced two envelopes for the first flight and an envelope for general use after the first flight. There were 2 variations of the first and second type and 3 variations of the third type.
Orcadian envelope. Type 1.
Type 1 of the Orcadian envelope is for mail on the first day from the Orkney Islands to Inverness. There are two variants of this envelope. Variant a. The text above the plane reads ‘First Air Mail From /The Orkney Islands’. Important to note here is that the ‘From’ and the ‘The’ both start with a capital letter. Variant b. The text above the plane reads ‘First Air Mail from /the Orkney Islands’. Important to note here is that the ‘from’ and the ‘the’ both start with lowercase letters.Orcadian Envelope. Type 2
Type 2. The envelope for first airmail to the Orkney Islands which reads ‘First Air Mail to/the Orkney Islands’. There have been no recorded examples of envelopes with uppercase ‘to’ and uppercase ‘the’. There are two variants. Variant a. Below the Aeroplane is the date in red. Variant b. There is no date below the plane.Orcadian Envelope. Type 3
Type 3 was a general use envelope printed after the first flight. ‘For /Orkney -Inverness/Airmail’. Underneath is a plane printed in green amongst green clouds. The use started shortly after the first flight and were still in use with Scottish Airways in 1939. Three distinct settings were used during its production but all used the same die for the aircraft and clouds. Type a: ‘O’ of Orkney is round, the ‘B’ of ‘Best’ is to the right of the centre line of the Fancy T. Text and plane is dark green. Type b: ‘O’ of Orkney is round, the ‘B’ of ‘Best’ is to the left of the centre line of the fancy T. The Green printing ink is of a paler shade than type A. The wings are a darker green. Type c: ‘O’ of Orkney is oval, the ‘B’ of ‘Best’ is to the left of the centre line of the fancy T. The Green printing ink is of a paler shade than type A.J & W Tait. Advertising Covers.
Type 1a This is almost identical to type 1, using the same plane block. ‘For/Orkney-Inverness/Airmail’. Underneath is a plane printed in green amongst green clouds, but this time the wings are dark grey. Type 1b This is like the Orcadian type 3 using the same plane block. ‘For/Orkney-Inverness/Airmail’. Underneath is a plane printed in green amongst green clouds, the plane wings are a light grey and there is a comma after the TAIT.St Leonards Envelopes.
Souvenir envelopes were printed for Leonard’s store in Kirkwall by the Orkney Herald and there are three types. Type 1 – ‘First Orkney – Inverness/Air Mail’ in blue. Underneath ‘May 29, 1934’ in blue. Type 2 – ‘Orkney – Inverness/Air Mail’ in blue. Now in upper case. Type 3 – ‘Kirkwall – Inverness/Air Mail’ in blue. In upper case.
Copyright
© 2020 Robert Farquharson All Rights Reserved
The envelopes came with an insert. There are two types of insert. One has the issue statement on the left bottom of the insert. In the second variation
the issue statement is in the right bottom.
Orcadian envelope insert. Issue statement left
First Orkney to Inverness
Orkney to Inverness
Finally, last and probably least a ‘self-made’ duo of envelopes. Whilst some who see these envelopes are less than charitable as to their quality, I
appreciate the enthusiasm and colour, whilst accepting there are more professional covers on this site! There is no text, but the commemorative
element is clear and they are both first flight covers.
British Internal Airmails of the 1930’s
Company envelope to Kirkwall. Fresson signed.
Type 1a. ‘From’ and ‘The’ in uppercase.
Type 2a. With date. Fresson signed.
Type 2a. With date. Fresson signed.
Type 3a. To Aberdeen
Type 3c. To North Ronaldsay
Type 1a. J & W Tait.
Inverness to Kirkwall