Northeastern Airways - Redgrove

CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING FIRST-FLIGHT COVERS

The only criteria which permit first-flight covers by North Eastern Airways, Ltd., to be distinguished from covers conveyed by surface transport are (i) the postmark and (ii) the address. Cachets are unreliable and so are backstamps. The postmark and address must be carefully studied in connection with the regulations of the various post offices concerned in the despatching of mail by this service, regulations which, unfortunately, are extremely complex.

At each despatching office mail was included in the bags to be flown only (i) if posted at the correct time and (ii) if addressed to certain specified towns or postal districts, the lists of which differed according to each town of despatch. Mail was taken on at Perth, at Newcastle, at Yeadon, and at Doncaster. Mail for places in the north of England, including both Newcastle and Leeds, was unloaded at Newcastle and sent on by surface transport. No mail was unloaded after the plane had left Newcastle until its arrival. at Croydon. At Perth, in addition to mail from Perth, mail from Dundee and other places in the far north was taken on the plane. At Newcastle, in addition to mail from Newcastle, mail which had been railed from Edinburgh was also taken on the plane. No special vignettes were issued by the Company for attaching to souvenir mail to be flown from Perth to Newcastle only, the reason, I understand, that the Company did not know in time that the Post Office intended to handle mail in this way. Since the lists of towns and/or London postal districts for which mail was accepted for transport by the service at the chief towns of despatch are very long and involved, it has seemed the best plan to give a simplified summary in which it is believed specific mention has been made of all places to which " philatelic " mail was despatched. Perth - Certain towns in Durham, Northumberland, and Yorkshire, including Newcastle and Leeds, but not Bradford or Doncaster. All London postal districts. Certain places in the Home Counties, including Croydon. Cambridge, Oxford, Brighton, and Hove. Dundee - Certain places in Durham, Northumberland, and Yorkshire, including Leeds, but not Newcastle, Bradford, or Doncaster. All London postal districts. Certain places in the Home Counties, including Crovdon. Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton, and Hove Newcastle - London W.C. and but not London postal districts. Certain places in the Heme Counties including. Croydon. Edinburgh - All London postal districts. Certain places in the Home Counties, including Crovdon. Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton, and Hove Leeds and Bradford, Doncaster. -London E.C, W.C., E.1, W.1, W.2, N.1, N.W. 1, and S.E.1 only. London districts as for Leeds and Bradford with addition of London S.W.1. Certain places in the Home Counties, including Croydon. Covers posted in a town in the first column addressed to a town or postal district not in the second column were not flown. There was, however, one important exception. A large proportion of the souvenir mail was addressed to the Company's office at the Airport for London, Croydon. Mail addressed to Croydon was, according to the regulations, not to be accepted for aerial transmission at either Leeds or Bradford. However, at Leeds, as an act of courtesy, for which collectors should be very grateful, covers addressed to the Company's office at Croydon and handed in by a servant of the Company were included in the mail bags to be carried by the plane. At Bradford a similar courtesy was not extended, and no Bradford mail addressed to the Company's offce at Croydon was flown. London W.C. and W .1 postal districts were specially favoured by the postal regulations, and all mail addressed to one or other of these districts, if posted at the correct time, was flown. Flown covers so addressed and despatched for a well-known firm of London West-End stamp dealers came on the market immediately after the flight at exceedingly moderate prices. They were not looked upon with much favour by many collectors because the covers bore no cachets. Some of these collectors paid higher prices for cacheted, but unflown, covers.

POSTMARKS

In order to secure inclusion in the air mail despatch, mail had not only to be correctly addressed, it had also to be posted at the right time, and the following information concerning the timing of postmarks is given to enable readers to distinguish between flown covers and those conveyed by surface transport. Perth. Covers posted in Perth up to 8.00 a.m. on 3rd October 1938, secured inclusion in the first air mail despatch. Covers posted the previous day were railed. So far as mail for Newcastle was concerned, after 3 October this was flown only if posted between 8.15 a.m. and 8.25 a.m., but on 3 October mail for Newcastle was flown if posted earlier, providing it was specially marked for aerial transmission. Dundee. - In general, first-class mail, if correctly addressed, was included in the first air mail despatch if it came to hand between 9-55 p.m. (in some instances 9.00 p.m.) on 2 October, 1938, and 6.30 a.m. on 3 October, 1938, but in the case of mail addressed to London sub-districts, this was included only if coming to hand between 5.20 a.m. and 6.30 a.m. on 3 October, 1938. Newcastle. - Flown covers bear the 9.00 a.m. postmark of 3 October. Edinburgh. - First-class mail posted in Edinburgh up to 3-30 a.m. on 3 October secured inclusion in the first air mail despatch. Leeds. - Flown covers bear postmarks of 9.15 a.m. to 9-45 a.m., except if addressed London W.C. or W.1in which case they may bear postmarks of from 7.00 a.m. to 9-45 a.m. Bradford. - Flown covers bear postmarks of 9.15 a.m. to 9-45 a.m., the latter time appearing on flown covers only if they were posted at the Valley Road Sorting Office. Doncaster. - Flown covers are postmarked 11.00 a.m. Covers posted at Edinburgh bearing the 6.00 a.m. postmark of 3 October, 1938, exist, which, it is stated, were received in London at a time on the same day too early for them to have come by surface transport, and which must, therefore, have been flown. The suggestion has been made that the Post Office utilised an auxiliary plane service which operated between Glasgow and Doncaster, via Edinburgh. To this suggestion I give no credence. The explanation of Controller of the G.P.O., Edinburgh, to whom one of these covers was submitted by me, was that, if the cover had been received in London at the time stated, it must have been posted prior to 3-30 a.m. and inadvertently received a postmark giving the time incorrectly. It may be further noted, as a matter of general interest, that no mail for the British Dominions or Colonies was accepted for flight to Croydon except at Doncaster, where such mail appears to have been accepted for Dominions and Colonies not in America. It is understood, however, that a few covers flown to Croydon from other towns of despatch were sent to overseas parts of the Empire by the simple device of re-addressing and re-posting them at Croydon.