International Airlines

International Airlines (Western Air Express)

International Airlines Ltd operated a service known as ‘The Western Air Express’ between Croydon, Portsmouth, Southampton and Plymouth for a few days. 3d air vignettes for use on mail were issued and a small quantity of mail was flown. The company flew a number of proving flights fkying press and company officials. The first of these flights took place on the 10th August.

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Finally, a letter from International Airlines explaining that they were currently not operating but reorganising and planning to come back better facilities and a bigger aircraft. This would be in the form of the newly formed Provincial Airways which was inaugurated on the 12th October and first flew on the 25th November.

British Internal Airmails of the 1930’s

Label Sheet

Last flights

Plymouth to Faversham 11th September

Plymouth to London 3rd September

Plymouth to London 3rd September

Plymouth to London 1st September

Plymouth to London 1st September

Plymouth 4th September

Plymouth to London 6th September

Croydon - Plymouth 26th August From Croydon 28th August From Croydon 28th August London to Plymouth 25th August London to Portsmouth 25th August London to Portsmouth 25th August Directors Flight 24th August Directors Flight 24th August. 5 replaces 0. Directors Flight 24th August. Original 5. London to Portsmouth 25th August London to Portsmouth 25th August Southampton to London 25th August Plymouth to London 25th August Plymouth to London 25th August From Croydon 28th August From Croydon 28th August The cover below appears to have been sent from Southampton, but the International label is cancelled by a Croydon stamp. I suspect it was not stamped in error in Southampton and then cancelled when it got to Croydon.

The first flight was fixed for 20 th August 1933 and then postponed until Aug 25 th . On Aug 24 th some of the directors made the flight from Plymouth to London and mail was flown, originally prepared for the 20 th and had no first flight cachet. The inauguration flight was on the 25 th and mail was posted after flight. Many of the envelopes were sent internally and were not onward posted by Royal Mail. Redgrove states that covers were carried on the 24 th , 25 th , 26 th of August and the 1 st September, whereas they were carried up until 11th September. The serrvice was sporadic, but exact flying days are not know. Covers with a first flight cachet were flown on the 25 th and 26 th . The airline ceased operations for lack of publicity and trade rather than being shut down by the Postmaster General for infringing his monopoly. Apparently, flights continued until the middle of September, but no mail is known after 11th September 1933. Because of the sporadic nature of the flights there is no certainty that because it is stamped with a an International Airlines date stamp that is the date it flew. The only verification is the date of the GPO postmark. The first flight was for the directors only and was due to take place on the 20 th August but didn’t actually take place until the 24 th . There is no first flight cachet, and the airline stamp is dated the 25 th . Note the original date of the 20th has been changed to 25th, by replacing the 0 with a 5. Not all covers sent on the 24th have this replacement. The Croydon postmark confirms that it was sent on the 24th. The first flight from Croydon took place on the 25th but bad visibility prevented the plane from landing at Plymouth and it returned with Plymouth mail to Southampton, from where the mail was returned to Croydon and flown to Plymouth the next day. It is not known when International Airlines ceased operations, the best estimate being Mid-September. The last mail noted has been on the 11th September, which was posted in Croydon on the 13th. The actual date of that flight is unknown, it may have been the 11th the 12th or the 13th. It is possible it was the 13th as both recorded 11th datestamps have 13th GPO postmarks. The first stamps for the 25th that actually flew on the 24th are Plymouth only. Croydon stamps didn’t appear until the 25th.

The photo on the left is from the Western Morning News on the 11th August 1933. The Western Morning news covered news in the West of the Country and was based in Plymouth. The pilot standing up in the plane is S. W. A. Scott one of two International pilots. He later joined Provincial Airways and flew their mail flights of the 25th and 26th November. He became cheif pilot when Provincial started its scheduled service in 1934. The pilot shaking hands with the passenger is Tressillian Bullmore the Plymouth Manager who also worked for Provincial Airways for a while.

This photo was published in the Sphere on the 19th August 1933, a few days before the service started. Pictured are the two International pilots, S. W. A. Scott and Flight Lieutenant Pudney talking to the ground engineer Mr C. S. Humphries

First Flights

The service was originally meant to start on the 20th August and a number of envelopes were stamped with this date. The flight eventually took place on the 24th August for the Directors. As can be seen below left most of the yellow stamps that were cancelled with the 20th date had the 0 changed to a 5, when posted on the 24th. Interestingly this envelope not only has the original 20th date, it is also lacking a stamp so got a postage due stamp when posted. Most unusual.