Gallery

 

• Improved Airplanes
The first flying boats used were Domier Wals. Only one of the 10-ton Wals was available in the beginning, and it made all of the major trans-ocean flights (including all of the mid-ocean landings). Additional 10-ton Wals were introduced by mid-1934, which, combined with the second support ship, allowed for longer flights. By April 1935 the use of the support ships was curtailed and full trans-ocean flights were made, [ii June 1935 night flights were made across the Atlantic, further speeding up the service. The DLH, its system proven reliable and notably faster than the Zeppelin airship DLH Stuttgart - Natal 53 hours Graf Zeppelin lriedrichshafen — Recife 74 hours was granted exclusive rights to fly the letter airmail beginning July 1, 1935.

Later introduction of improved airplanes - Dornier Do-l8 (April 1937), Blohm & Voss Ha-l39 (May 1938) and Dornier Do-26 (April 1939) - provided faster service (Frankfurt - Natal in 30 to 35 hours in 1939).

Danzig participated from the inception of the DLH South Atlantic service in February 1934. No record of the amount of Danzig airmail flow-n is known The DLH South Atlantic service was a regular scheduled commercial airmail service. It attracted very little special attention from aerophilatclists (little philatelic mail, especially after the first flights).

Danzig airmail to South America is not common, but exemplary pieces are not rare. It is important to remember that Air France also flew airmail to South America (the DLII and Air France flights were coordinated from mid-1935, with DLII departing on Thursdays and Air France on Sundays). The DLI-1-llown airmail is marked with a distinctive circular red staging cachet “Deutschcr Luftpost Europa - Sudamerika”,

It is more difficult to locate airmail from South America to Danzig, as it is generally indistinctive. Most, but not all, is directed by Condor”, and certainty of the carrier is only possible by reference to detailed listings of flight departure dates and times,

Danzig Postage Rates
The postal rates for Danzig have been previously published in ‘Zcppelin”, the bulletin of the Zeppelin Study Group (Great Britain) edited by John Duggan, and reprinted in Danzig

 

Danzig Report Vol. 1 - Nr. 106 - January - February - March - 2000, Page 25.