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| Postcards From Heaven |
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| Finally airborne |
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One of the postcards mailed to Paris after its autogiro flight. Note the
card number and signature of John Davis in the bottom left-hand corner |
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After weeks of frantic correspondence and organisation, the flight finally took place on May 8, travelling from Hanworth to Windsor, to Hendon, and then back to Hanworth. This was the route taken by the first UK Ariel Post in 1911, the famous Coronation Flights. Davis had printed 2,500 cards, of which it is believed 2,000 were flown (see illustration). All cards are numbered, and signed by John Davis. Each card carries the cachet in red 'By Autogiro over the route of the First UK Aerial Post 1911. Windsor - London'. They carry an illustration of the actual Autogiro used to fly the cards - registration number G-ACIN. In the top left hand corner, there is a reproduction of the special Apex stamp in black. The actual label sold at the Exhibition was engraved by Institut de Gravure, Paris on a steel plate, and was issued in six colours, orange, purple (illustrated), brown, red, green and blue. The picture is of an Imperial Airways liner approaching London, with the Tower Bridge in the foreground. It was printed in sheets of 25 (5 x 5) and sold at 1 s 6d per six sets, or 5s per set of six full sheets of 25 each. We would guess that John Davis did not ask for permission to reproduce this stamp on his post card. The 'airmail label' was cancelled usually with the red Apex canceller; in theory the colour of the canceller was changed each day. On Monday, May 7 it was yellow, 8 - red, 9 - brown, 10 - grey/black, 11 - bright red (and also violet), and finally, 12 - blue. However, this 'colour' system was not strictly adhered to. |
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| Worldwide Distribution |
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This card was one of the first 100, and so was signed by the pilot Mr
R.A.C. Brie, as well as John Davis |
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Robert White in an article in Stamps (February 1983, pages 47) states that 1,800 were addressed to Apex, and 40 were sent to Alexandria, Egypt and similar numbers to Athens and Iraq. 20 cards were posted to Berlin, Cape Town, Paris and Singapore. Our researches tend to support these figures, as we have examples flown to Egypt (no. 1867) and to Paris (1907), both illustrated here. Note that the Alexandria card has been cancelled in violet, yet was posted on May 8. The first 100 cards carry two signatures, John Davis as passenger, and Mr. R.A.C. Brie as pilot. These cards were sent to Mr. Brie for signing on May 20, and they were returned to John Davis on May 24 - Brie's signature is very distinctive, as can be seen on this card numbered 93 (illustrated above).
We have been able to provide more information on these cards than has been published before, thanks to Francis having purchased Davis's archive containing all the original letters. He continued promoting the carriage of mail by autogiro, and in the last letter says: 'I do not think that there is any immediate prospect of actual mail being carried by our machines. It is quite true that the Post Office are interested, but the tentative experiments, which have been taking place, are only serving to form a basis for a project. For it is quite likely that it will take at least another 18 months to materialise'. |
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