RAS Update - The Manx Connection By Tony Kershaw As a collector of Manx airmails, I have long been fascinated by the combination of flown. partly flown and not flown ‘first flights’ resulting from the first national airmail service carried by Railway Air Services Ltd, and this article is an attempt to bring together some new and old information. Railway Air Services Ltd (RAS) was formed in March 1934 by the four railway companies and Imperial Airways to operate internal routes on behalf of the relevant railway. On the 20th August, RAS commenced, with 4. DH 86•s, Glasgow-Belfast- Manchester-Birmingham-London service. linking with the Liverpool- Birmingham-Cardiff-Plymouth (commenced 7th May) and Birmingham – Bristol- Southampton - Cowes (30th July) services. The GPO agreed a price of 6d per 1b for mail bearing Airmail labels (at no extra charge to the public) carried between the designated towns (and places close to). Originally Ronaldsway Farm, Isle of Man. was intended to on route but, because it was considered unsuitable for the DH 86, a Belfast – Ronaldsway -Manchester mail and freight only shuttle using a DH 84 G-ACXI. was provided to link the Isle of Man with England, Ireland and Scotland. Because the mainline timetable was set for commercial (e.g. passenger) requirements. little acceleration of mail was obtained except in the case of Manx and Irish mails. Imperial Airways provided some 20,000 souvenir envelopes bi-coloured blue black. which can be found in two distinctly different printings, one on fairly thick paper and the other on both thin and slightly thicker paper. There were many other commercial and private first flight covers posted. On the 20th August, a very severe South-Westerly caused a late start from Glasgow the subsequent termination or southbound service at Manchester following damage sustained by the DH 86 whilst flying over the Isle of Man, and the mail was forwarded by rail. The IoM shuttle flew as planned although running late, but the return trip was cancelled. From London mail was flown to Birmingham on the Westland Wessex G- AAGW and thence by ordinary means. (a) Incoming Mail On the facts above, mail to the Island from Glasgow and Belfast should have been carried with no problems. However. Redgrove stated that: ‘inadvertently all mail from Glasgow to Douglas was overflown to Manchester and returned to the Isle of Man by sea’ (on the 21st), thus leaving the Belfast dispatches as the only mail flown to the Island the 20th. For some time I have investigated the apparent failure to transfer the Glasgow bag to the shuttle, but studies of contemporary newspaper reports established that it left Aldergrove some 45 minutes late, 20 minutes after the arrival of the Glasgow plane. Post Office archives provided the answer - With an unexpected twist. A Telex from the PM Surveyor to POHQ announced the termination of the southbound flight at Manchester, but added: ‘in addition two mailbags from Glasgow and Belfast to Douglas which had been overflown to Manchester were forwarded to Liverpool', and a handwritten note suggested that they had either not been transferred to the shuttle (not applicable to the Belfast bag) or had been overflown on the shuttle. almost inconceivable but for the Manchester PMS’s revealing that the key of the mail compartment bad been left at Belfast. After bags were loaded. and there was no key at Ronaldsway' It is clear therefore, that both Glasgow (5 lbs) and Belfast (3 ½ lbs) mail have the same status. that is, flown to on the 20th. but overflown and delivered on the 21st. Can they be considered first flights or not? On the southbound flight of the 21st. only 1lb 12 oz from Glasgow and 2 lbs from Belfast were carried, presumably commercial mail was longer in evidence. From London 6lb 1 oz of Of Island mail was flown to Birmingham, thence by rail and sea, whereas only 6oz was carried on the through flight on 21st. All other dispatch Offices, except Southampton (1lb 2ozs) and Cowes (1lb 9oz), held back Obvious souvenir mail for the through flights on the 21st followed Post Office Instructions and forwarded mail by ordinary means. as follows (figures (or 21st in brackets):- Cardiff Unknown (Nil) Birmingham 133 items (70 items) Bristol 92 items (Nil) Manchester 268 items (1lb 20z) (b) Outgoing Mail Southbound mail should have received a 10.a.m. cancellation and northbound that for 4.30 p.m. but an inexperienced RAS clerk posted most of the souvenir mail too late for the morning flight; it thus received an afternoon postmark and went on the first through flight on 21st (Conversely, some northbound mail received a 10.00 a.m. Postmark!). Although Manchester mail was flown to destination, souvenir covers are extremely scarce. 331 items (61b 40z) were sent on the 20th. and 320 (6lb 12oz) On the 21st. As these were fairly typical figures for the next fortnight. This mail was probably entirely commercial. Figures for other destinations are as follows (21st in brackets) Birmingham 126 items (433 items) Bristol 27 items (92 items) Southampton 13 items (94 items) Cowes 20 items (121 items) London: Local 106 items (384 items) Home Counties 174 items (75 items) Glasgow (275 items) Belfast (140 items) I hope that this article will clear up the mysteries of this service, and that the inclusion of such a mass of figures will excused on the grounds that they will give aficionados a better idea of the relative scarcity of the covers available. Acknowledgements H.S. Redgrove The Airmails of the British Isle’; the Aero Field, October 1945. J Stroud Railway Air Services. Post Office Archives Isle of Man Times. Belfast Newsletter. Scottish Daily Express; Glasgow Herald. Manchester Guardian. A G Mathieson. Railway Air Services. Air Mail News 123.

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