Use The Air Mail The Fastest Mail Poster – Frank Newbould – 1933

Use The Air Mail The Fastest Mail Poster – Frank Newbould – 1933

Taking pigeon mail out of the equation, the first mail to be carried by air took place on January 7, 1785. by hot air balloon. The flight took place between Dover and France flown by Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries. The letter was written by an American Loyalist William Franklin to his son William Temple Franklin who was serving in a diplomatic role in Paris with his grandfather Benjamin Franklin.

Almost from the day, the aeroplane was invented there was an interest in using them to deliver mail.

The world’s first official airmail flight took place in India on February 17, 1911. The flight, organised by Sir Walter Windham, carried 6,500 letters a distance of 13km from Allahabad to Naini. The journey completed in 13 minutes was made in a Humber-Sommer bi-plane which was piloted by Henri Paquet. The letters bore an official frank “First Aerial Post, U.P. Exhibition, Allahabad. 1911”.

This was soon followed by the world’s first scheduled airmail post service that took place in the United Kingdom. The flight was, once again, organised by Windham. It took place on Saturday 9 September 1911 forming part of King George V’s coronation celebrations.. The pioneering British aviator Gustav Hamel was chosen for the job. Hamel flew his Blériot XI the 19 miles between Hendon Aerodrome and the Postmaster General’s office in Windsor in 18 minutes. The post consisting of three hundred letters, eight hundred postcards and some newspapers was delivered safely in just eighteen minutes.

The service ran for about a month. The service was covered by Gustav Hamel and three other pilots who transported 35 bags of mail in sixteen flights. The service was eventually terminated due to constant and severe delays caused by bad weather conditions.

By 1920, the Air Mail service had expanded to include flights to Paris, Holland, Belgium and Morocco. However, it soon became apparent that the four main airlines,  The Instone Air Line Ltd., Handley Page Air Transport Ltd., The Daimler Airway and British Marine Air Navigation Co. Ltd couldn’t cover the British Empire destinations.

In 1924, the four airlines were amalgamated into one company Imperial Airways becoming the government’s “chosen instrument of air travel”. Imperial began services from London’s Croydon Airport to European destinations as well as pioneering routes to Africa, the Middle East and India. By the time this vintage air mail poster was created in 1933, the service had been extended to include, Jodhpur and Delhi in India, Tanzania, Cape Town, Calcutta and Singapore.

Finally, on 8 December 1934,the 12,700 mile trip from London to Brisbane was a regular service becoming the world’s longest air route, with the journey taking around 12 days.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears, or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.