![]() Even "standard" mail will often be transported at least in part by air. ![]() Today, airmail is no longer anything special. If it wasn't for airmail, international flight would have developed far more slowly. 7, taken in 1953, shows an Air France McDonnell Douglas DC3 being loaded with mail.įor a brief period in the 1990s, the Aéropostale name once again appeared on aircraft as part of a joint venture between Air France and La Poste ( photo no. Airmail became just a standard part of airplane cargo. That aircraft was destroyed in 1943 when it crashed while attempting to land in Lisbon, Portugal.Īfter the Second World War, seaplanes were replaced by land-based aircraft that could carry more passengers and fly long distances without refueling. 8, is the Yankee Clipper being loaded with mail. ![]() Designed for luxury travel, passengers would enjoy six-course meals on board and there were dressing-rooms for male and female flyers. One of the largest aircraft of its day, it had 74 seats that could convert into 40 bunk beds. In 1938, Boeing developed the 314 Clipper for Pan Am. It could even be refueled in the air, making it possible to cross the Atlantic without landing. 6, above) was developed for Britain's Imperial Airways and could carry 17 passengers. In the 1930s, flying boats became large enough to carry passengers as well as post, creating an era of glamorous travel. However, the company was dissolved in 1932 after a scandal over the misuse of postal payments from the French government. The aircraft later transported mail across the Atlantic, between Senegal and Brazil.īy 1930, when the poster on the right was designed, Aéropostale was operating regular routes to Africa and South America, as well as across Europe. First flown in 1931, in 1933 the 300 set a record for the longest non-stop flight by a seaplane, on a trip from Marseille to Saint-Louis, Senegal. 5) was an Aéropostale seaplane - and the first powered by a Saft battery to start the engines. The "flying boat", which depended on the fuselage for buoyancy, like the hull of a ship, allowed aircraft to refuel at places with no airfield. 4) was catapulted off a ship and flew up to 900 miles - significantly reducing the time mail took to reach the US by 20 hours on westward trips and as much as two days going east. Since aircraft couldn't cross large oceans, Luft Hansa - the forerunner of Germany's Lufthansa - created an innovative ship-to-shore service in 1929. The image on the right is a 1929 poster advertising the service. ![]() Later, the company expanded as far as Dakar, Senegal, where mail was loaded on to ships for South America. In 1918, Latécoère Airlines, later renamed Aéropostale, began France's first international airmail service connecting Toulouse and Madrid, Spain. ![]()
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