Himalayan Times (1958)

June 15, 1968

AIR MAIL SERVICE IN INDIA

Very few people in
the world kn w that In-
dia hag the unique'honour
of being the first country
in the world to carry the
official air mail ! It is
strange but true that this
land where the bulk of
goods is still carried in
bullock carts, in the Year
of Grace 1958, has one
of the Urjrest net-works
of air Barvioes, both wi-
thin the oountry and out
side it.

Before the present
regular air services were
established between India
and the outside world,
over thirty attempts have
been made since 1927 by
the Imperial Airways,
several foreign companies
and the Government of
India for the development
of air mail services in
India.

Before 1927, several
pioneer flights have taken
place, a few of which are
worthy of being described
here.

First Air Mail
The first official aerial
post in the world was
carried in India on Feb-
ruary 18, 1911, from Alla-
habad to Naini.

The machine was pi-
loted by the Frenoh aviator,
Monsieur Pequet. About

BY JAL COOPER

0,600 letters were oarried
and a special postmark
was provided for the
occasion.

Two years later, two
French aviators, Messrs.
G. Verminok and M. Pourpe
made an exhibition flight
over Calcutta and souvenir
cards were flown on this
occasion. The f loWn cards
of this flight today fetch
as much as Rs. 600 each
and they are eagerly
sought after by Indian
aero-philatelists.

In 1920, an abortive
attempt was made by the
Indian Postal Department
to start an air mail ser-
vice between Bombay and
Karachi and vioe versa
for carrying mails between
those two places. Only
fourteen trips were madn
''-and the experiment was
given up for lack of sup-
port from the public

Between the years
1920 and 1926, three im-
portant flights took place,
first by Portuguese avia-
tors who flew from Lis-
bon to Maoao across India,
the second by Dutch
aviators who flew from
Amsterdam to Batavia
•cross India and the third
by the R.4.F. from Risal-
pur to Calcutta end re-
turn on a demonstration
flight.

In the beginning of
the year 1926, the first
important "Anglo-India
Survey Flight" was made
by Sir Alan Cobham bet-
ween England and India,
and mails for several places
were carried during this
flight. In 1926, Sir Alan
Cobham again passed
through India on his Eng-
land-Australia flight, And
in 1927, the then British
Air Minister, Sir Samuel
Heare himself flew from
Croydon to Delhi. '

In January 1927, the
first official ''Karachi-Bas-
ra-Cairo" air mail service
was inaugurated, and in
the next month. Karachi
postal authorities allowed
Messrs. Stack and Leete
to oarry mails for Delhi
and Lahore from Karachi
in their Moth aeroplane.

During the years 1927
and 1928 several pioneer
flights were made by
world famous pilots across
India and letters were
carried on many occasions
by these aviators.

In April, 1929, the
first regular air mail ser-
vice between India and
England was established
via Persia, Iran, Palestine
and Egypt. In the same
year, an inland air mail
service was established