Gallery

CATAPULT AIR MAIL FLIGHTS  -  -  Danzig

I. Catapult flight Departure from speedsteamship ‘Bremen”: 22. July 1929 Accepted in Danzig: 70 to 80 pieces of mail (see following review) Price: Letter 500,- RM

The acceptance of mail for the first catapultflight coincided with the “Danzig International. Stamp Exhibition”. Many foreign philatelists took advantage of this opportunity by using the stamps of Danzig. It is a well known fact that the acceptance of mail in Danzig is by far smaller than the one of the German Reich, and therefore it just had to become a rarity. Newspapers and the “Official Bulletin of the Ministry of the Reichspost” brought the news of the flight only a few days prior to the departure. There was insufficient time (‘-between the arrival of the official bulletin of the R.P.M. and the departure of ...he maiden voyage of the speedsteamship “Bremen” to discuss the proper participation of the Free State with the ministry of the Reichspost. One could participate in Danzig on this “non official” First Flight at one’,s own risk, which was done only by the people that knew of the German bulletin, unfortunately I have seen about half of these 70 pieces of m. il with the remark “Mit Katapultflug Bremnen-New York” (Via catapultflight Bremen-New York) crossed out. These did not make the First Flight of the catapult plane “New York”, though the postage was converted correctly to the gulden. They reached America via normal mail only. There are only two letters -accepted in the very last minute at a Danzig post office- known as of today that have been “Echt befördert (actually flown) . One of them is shown. This cover is one of the rarest Danzig Flight Covers. A description of the cancels is hardly necessary because of the illustrated cover. If there are any covers in existence, please contact me for registration purposes.

 

Danzig Report Nr. 16 – 4th Quarter 1977, Page 7.