Indian Airmails

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    • 1933 - Karachi - Madras via Poona
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    • 1948 - 1953 Early Route Expansion
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    • B.O.A.C. >
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Colombo August 1952
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      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Sydney March 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Tokyo July 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Colombo August-September 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Tokyo April 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Singapore June 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Sydney November 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Manila November 1961
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Auckland April 1963
      • B.O.A.C. Boeing 707 London to Nandi November 1965
      • B.O.A.C. VC 10 40th Anniversary of Regular Airmail
  • Others
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  • Home
  • Pre-1953 Airlines
    • Indian State Air Services >
      • 1929 Karachi - Delhi via Hyderabad & Jodhpur
    • Delhi Flying Club >
      • 1931 Emergency Flight by Delhi Flying Club
      • 1932 Karachi - Delhi
    • Indian Trans-Continental Airways >
      • 1933 Karachi - Calcutta >
        • 1933 Eastwards: Karachi - Calcutta
        • 1933 Westwards: Calcutta to Karachi
      • 1933 Calcutta - Rangoon via Akyab >
        • 1933 Eastwards: Calcutta - Rangoon via Akyab
        • 1933 Westwards: Rangoon - Calcutta via Akyab
      • 1933 Karachi - Singapore Extension
      • 1934 Karachi - Australia Extension
      • 1936 Rangoon - Hong Kong
    • Indian National Airways >
      • 1933 Calcutta - Dacca
      • 1933 Rangoon - Calcutta
      • 1934 Karachi - Lahore
      • 1940 Karachi - Calcutta via Lahore
      • 1939 Karachi - Delhi
      • 1947 Calcutta - Rangoon
    • Madras Air Taxi Service
    • Experimental & Survey Flights. >
      • 1931 England - Australia Flight >
        • 1st Experimental Flight
        • 2nd Experimental Flight
      • 1938 Flying Boat Coogee
    • Star Line
  • Tata Airlines
    • 1931 - Karachi - Madras: Route Survey Flight
    • 1932 - Karachi - Madras >
      • Official Southbound
      • Official Northbound
      • Other Southbound
      • Other Northbound
      • Other Material
    • 1933 - Karachi - Madras via Poona
    • 1935 Karachi - Madras via Hyderabad >
      • 1935 - Karachi - Madras via Hyderabad
      • 1935 Bombay-Hyderabad Errors on Stamp
    • 1935 - Bombay - Calcutta demonstration flight
    • 1935 - Bombay - Travancore via Goa & Cannanore
    • 1936 - Madras to Colombo via Trichinopoly
    • 1937 - First Flight to Bhuj
    • 1937 - Delhi - Bombay via Gwalior, Bhopal & Indore
    • 1938 - Karachi - Madras extension to Colombo via Trichnopoly
    • 1938 - Trichinopoly - Trivandrum extension
    • 1938 - Mansoon halt at Poona
    • 1946 - Bombay - Calcutta via Nagpur
  • Air-India
    • 1948 Air-India International Bombay - London Flight >
      • Postage Stamps - Constant Errors
      • The Postage Stamp
      • First Day Covers
      • DG's Circular & Postal Notices
      • Official Covers
      • Air-India Covers
      • Special Flight Cachet
      • Postage Rates gallery
      • Local Cancellations
      • Private Covers Gallery
      • Interesting Places of Origin & Destinations >
        • Interesting Destinations
        • Interesting Places of Origin
        • Interesting Places of Origin & Destinations
      • More interesting covers
      • Return Flight covers
      • Other Philatelic Curiosities
      • Award winning exhibit
    • 1948 - 1953 Early Route Expansion
    • 1954 - 1959 Early Route Expansion
    • 1960 - 1965 Air-India Boeing 707 Era.
    • 1966 - 1970 Air-India Boeing 707 Era.
    • 1971 - 1975 Boeing 747 & Other Aircraft Era
    • 1976 Onward Boeing 747 & Other Aircraft Era
    • Crash Mail Covers
    • Postal Meter panels
  • Indian Airlines
    • 1960 - 1964
    • 1965 - 1969
    • 1970 - 1974
    • 1975 - 1979
    • 1980 - Onward
    • Crash Mail Covers
    • Meter Panel & Stationery
  • Foreign Airlines
    • B.O.A.C. >
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Colombo August 1952
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Singapore October 1952
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Tokyo April 1953
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Sydney March 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Tokyo July 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Colombo August-September 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Tokyo April 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Singapore June 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Sydney November 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Manila November 1961
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Auckland April 1963
      • B.O.A.C. Boeing 707 London to Nandi November 1965
      • B.O.A.C. VC 10 40th Anniversary of Regular Airmail
  • Others
    • Zeppelin & Catapult >
      • LZ-10 Schwaben
      • LZ-13 Hansa
      • LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin
      • LZ-129 Hindenberg
      • LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II
      • Catapult Mail
      • Ephemera
    • Rocket Mail >
      • Indian Rocket Mail
      • Sikkim Rocket Mail
    • Pigeon Mail
    • Balloon Mail
    • Airship R 101
    • Indian Air Force
  • Resources
  • Useful Links
  • Contact us

Interesting Places of Origin and Destination

This section displays covers not only mailed from locations other than Bombay, but also the same covers addressed to places other than Cairo, Geneva and London. A rather interesting bunch of covers, some with other features of philatelic interest as well.

Picture
Picture
Official Souvenir Cover with a block of four of the commemorative 12 as value stamp issued for the occasion, and cancelled by the boxed rectangular souvenir cachet used that day. Cover sent from Baroda to Chile and flown from Bombay to London on the 8 June 1948 First Flight of Air-India International.

Picture
Picture
Top: Cover mailed from Calcutta, and sent to Bombay where the boxed cachet was used as an obliterator on the 12 as postage stamp. Addressed to Geneva, and under stamped by 2 as., but allowed without tax as a courtesy by the Swiss postal authorities. GENEVA EXP. LETTRES 9-VI 1948 arrival mark with the accompanying boxed cachet clearly visible on the reverse.
Then on the front, a circular GENEVE, EXP. LETTRES, 26.VII 48 hand stamp denotes the date the cover was returned. Now the question is whether the cover was returned to Calcutta or the Christchurch address on the reverse written in black. We do not find any Indian postal arrival marks on the cover to establish a return journey to India, but the CHRISTCHURCH, N.Z., 15 SEP 1948, denotes a gap of 51 days from the time the cover left Geneva and arrived in Christchurch. I would guess that the cover was returned to Calcutta first because the 'Back to Sender" endorsement on the front is using a different ink colour (blue) and handwriting as compared to the black ink for the first Christchurch address. The journey did not end with this. Upon arrival in Christchurch, the letter was once again re-directed to another destination in the same city, this time written in red.

Picture
Official souvenir cover sent by Registered mail from Darjeeling to Khartoum, Sudan, with the correct 14 as postage
​(10 as Airmail letter rate, and 4 as. Registration fee)

Picture
Picture
Air-India International souvenir cover flown from New Delhi, India to Guernsey, Channel Islands on inaugural First Flight of Air-India International from Bombay to London on 8th June 1948. Cover carry 12as value stamp and have special flight cachet applied Type B. 

Picture

Official souvenir cover sent from Fatehgarh U.P. to New York, NY, U.S.A., with the correct 18 as. airmail letter postage rate for the U.S.A.
Picture
Picture
Top: Official souvenir cover sent from Jamshedpur, Bihar, to Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A., with the correct 18 as. airmail letter postage rate for the U.S.A.
Picture
Picture
Top: Registered souvenir cover franked with 2 x 12 as. first flight stamps, and posted from Lucknow, and sent to Howick, S. Africa. On the front, LUCKNOW 25 registered label, and on the reverse a round LUCKNOW G.P.O., REG, 1 JUN 48 date stamp.
Also on reverse, a HOWICK, xx JUN 48 arrival stamp.

Picture
Picture
Top: Plain cover, with a BY AIR MAIL violet hand stamp, sent from Hyderabad, Deccan, and addressed to Bavaria, Germany (American Zone). Also on the front, is the boxed rectangular cachet. The 12 as. stamp is cancelled with a HYDERABAD RESIDENCY, 4 JUN, 1948, 6.15 A.M. postal cancellation. The cover was under stamped by 2 as., and has been taxed. There is an T29C endorsement on the front of the cover.
Picture
Picture
Air Mail cover franked 24as (2 x 12as Air-India International commemorative stamps) and mailed from Muzaffarpur, U.P. addressed to Havana, Cuba. The stamps received the boxed first flight cachet in Bombay, and on the verso is the round HAVANA, CUBA, 15 JUN 1948 arrival mark. 

Picture
Picture
Air mail cover sent on Air-India International First Flight on 8th June 1948 from Pandur, South India to San Francisco, USA. Cover is correctly franked with 18as postal stamp and bearing a type C cachet and have Bombay cancellation mark - BOMBAY G.P.O./8.JUN.48.
Air-India International souvenir 12as stamp have Broken Tail Error.
 

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