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{{Short description|Service which transports mail by air}}
{{About|the mail transport service}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2011}}
[[Image:Par avion air mail.JPG|right|thumb|Airmail instructional mark on a parcel from [[Kyrgyzstan]]]]
[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R36070, Luftpost.jpg|right|thumb|1912 German airmail between [[Bork, Germany|Bork]] and [[Brück]]]]
[[Image:Cover Canada 1932 Rae air.jpg|right|thumb|A cover carried on a 1932 first flight in the north woods of Canada, with a cachet and franked with both a regular and an airmail stamp]]

'''Airmail''' (or '''air mail''') is a [[mail]] transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air.  Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than [[surface mail]], and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the only option for sending mail to some destinations, such as overseas, if the mail cannot wait the time it would take to arrive by [[ship]], sometimes weeks. The [[Universal Postal Union]] adopted comprehensive rules for airmail at its 1929 [[Postal Union Congress]] in London. Since the official language of the Universal Postal Union is French, airmail items worldwide are often marked '''''{{Lang|fr|Par avion}}''''', literally: "by [[airplane]]".

For about the first half century of its existence, transportation of mail via aircraft was usually categorized and sold as a separate service (airmail) from surface mail. Today it is often the case that mail service is categorized and sold according to transit time alone, with mode of transport (land, sea, air) being decided on the [[front and back ends|back end]] in dynamic [[Intermodal freight transport|intermodal]] combinations. Thus even "regular" mail may make part of its journey on an aircraft. Such "air-speeded" mail is different from nominal airmail in its branding, price, and priority of service.

==History==

===Early airmails===
[[File:First Official Airmail Flight, McLeansboro, Illinois, September 26, 1912 SAAM-1974.28.98 1.jpg|thumb|Study for ''The First Official Airmail Flight'' (1941), mural by [[Dorothea Mierisch]] at the post office in [[McLeansboro, Illinois]]]]
Specific instances of a letter being delivered by air long predate the introduction of Airmail as a regularly scheduled service available to the general public.

Although [[homing pigeon]]s had long been used to send messages (an activity known as [[pigeon mail]]), the first mail to be carried by an air vehicle was on January 7, 1785, on a [[hot air balloon]] flight from [[Dover, England|Dover]] to [[France]] near [[Calais]]. It was flown by [[Jean-Pierre Blanchard]] and [[John Jeffries]]. The letter was written by an [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|American Loyalist]] [[William Franklin]] to his son [[William Temple Franklin]] who was serving in a diplomatic role in [[Paris]] with his grandfather [[Benjamin Franklin]].<ref>Schiff p. 377</ref>

During the first aerial flight in North America by balloon on January 9, 1793, from [[Philadelphia]] to [[Deptford Township, New Jersey|Deptford, New Jersey]], [[Jean-Pierre Blanchard]] carried a personal letter from [[George Washington]] to be delivered to the owner of whatever property Blanchard happened to land on, making the flight the first delivery of air mail in the United States.<ref>{{cite web | title = Jean Pierre Blanchard: Made First U.S. Aerial Voyage in 1793 | date = 12 June 2006 | publisher = HistoryNet.com | url = http://www.historynet.com/jean-pierre-blanchard-made-first-us-aerial-voyage-in-1793.htm | access-date = 2008-07-16| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080704092819/http://www.historynet.com/jean-pierre-blanchard-made-first-us-aerial-voyage-in-1793.htm| archive-date= 4 July 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Jean Pierre François Blanchard | publisher = U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission | url = http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Dictionary/blanchard/DI10.htm | access-date = 2008-07-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080625002518/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Dictionary/blanchard/DI10.htm | archive-date = 25 June 2008 | url-status = dead }}</ref> The first official air mail delivery in the United States took place on August 17, 1859, when [[John Wise (balloonist)|John Wise]] piloted a balloon starting in [[Lafayette, Indiana]], with a destination of [[New York City|New York]]. Weather issues forced him to land near [[Crawfordsville, Indiana]], and the mail reached its final destination via train.<ref>[https://www.c-span.org/video/?322920-1/tour-neil-armstrong-eugene-cernan-exhibit-purdue-university Lafayette-West Lafayette Weekend] (C-SPAN3 video, posted November 19, 2014, see 48 min 21 sec point of this video)</ref> In 1959, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 7 cent stamp commemorating the event.<ref>{{cite web|title='Stamps Take Flight' exhibit from Postmaster General's Collection showcases world's rarest 'uncollectibles' at National Postal Museum |work=Press release |publisher=[[USPS]] |date=2005-04-06 |url=http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2005/sr05_020.htm |access-date=2008-07-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618174823/http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2005/sr05_020.htm |archive-date=18 June 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Balloons also carried mail out of [[Paris]] and [[Metz]] during the [[Franco-Prussian War]] (1870), drifting over the heads of the [[Germany|Germans]] besieging those cities. [[Balloon mail]] was also carried on an 1877 flight in [[Nashville, Tennessee]].

==Introduction of the aeroplane==
Starting in 1903 the introduction of the [[aeroplane]] generated immediate interest in using them for mail transport. An unofficial airmail flight was conducted by Fred Wiseman, who carried three letters between [[Petaluma]] and [[Santa Rosa, California|Santa Rosa]], California, on February 17, 1911.<ref>Fad to Fundamental: Airmail in America http://postalmuseum.si.edu/airmail/historicplanes/early/historicplanes_early_wise.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128232042/http://postalmuseum.si.edu/airmail/historicplanes/early/historicplanes_early_wise.html |date=2011-01-28 }}</ref>

[[File:Allahabad airmail1911.jpg|thumb|[[Allahabad]] cover flown on the world's first aerial post in 1911]]
The world's first official airmail flight came the next day, at a large exhibition in the [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh]], [[British India]]. The organizer of the aviation display, [[Walter Windham|Sir Walter Windham]], was able to secure permission from the [[Indian Postal Service|postmaster general in India]] to operate an airmail service in order to generate publicity for the exhibition and to raise money for charity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.navhindtimes.in/panorama/first-airmail-flight-world |title=The First Airmail Flight in the World |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105213334/http://www.navhindtimes.in/panorama/first-airmail-flight-world |archive-date=November 5, 2013 }}</ref> Mail from people across the region was gathered in at [[List of churches in Allahabad#Holy Trinity Church|Holy Trinity Church]] and the first airmail flight was piloted by [[Henri Pequet]], who flew 6,500 letters a distance of {{convert|13|km|mi|abbr=on}} from [[Allahabad]] to [[Naini]]—the nearest station on the [[Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line|Bombay-Calcutta line]] to the exhibition.<ref>{{cite news |last=Khanal |first=Vinod |date=Sep 30, 2014 |title=Sangam City a part and parcel of 160 yrs of postal service |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/allahabad/Sangam-City-a-part-and-parcel-of-160-yrs-of-postal-service/articleshow/43917155.cms |newspaper=[[The Times of India]] |location=[[Allahabad]] |access-date=Nov 2, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="auto">''History of Air Cargo and Airmail from the 18th Century'' by Camille Allaz, p. 26.</ref> The letters bore an official frank "First Aerial Post, U.P. Exhibition, Allahabad. 1911".<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1911/1911%20-%200221.html |title= British Notes of the Week |page=223|journal=Flight |volume=III  |number=116  |date=March 18, 1911}}</ref> The aircraft used was a [[Humber-Sommer biplane]], and it made the journey in thirteen minutes.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://postalmuseumblog.si.edu/2011/01/india-and-the-worlds-first-official-air-mail-by-airplane.html|title=Object of the Month: India and the World's First Official Air Mail by Airplane – National Postal Museum|website=postalmuseumblog.si.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Events & Dates|author=S. B. Bhattacherje|isbn= 9788120740747|page=A-175 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGVSvXuCsyUC&pg=SL1-PA175|date=2009|publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. }}</ref>

The first official American airmail delivery was made on September 23, 1911, by pilot [[Earle Ovington]] under the authority of the [[United States Post Office Department]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=DeSalvo |first=Glen |title=Earle Orvington and the First Air Mail Flight |journal=[[American Philatelist]] |volume=127 |issue=11, number 1,354 |pages=1010–1017 |publisher=[[American Philatelic Society]] |location=[[Bellefonte, PA]] |date=November 2013 |url=http://stamps.org/userfiles/file/AP/feature/Feature_11_13.pdf |issn=0003-0473 |access-date=2013-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912130415/http://stamps.org/userfiles/file/AP/feature/Feature_11_13.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The first official air mail in Australia was carried by French pilot Maurice Guillaux. On July 16–18, 1914, he flew his [[Blériot XI]] aircraft from Melbourne to Sydney, a distance of 584 miles (940&nbsp;km), carrying 1785 specially printed postcards, some Lipton's Tea and some O.T. Lemon juice. At the time, this was the longest such flight in the world.<ref>Eustis, H N, ''Fifty Years of Australian Airmails'', first published 1964, limited reprint 2013 by Aviation Historical Society of Australia, {{ISBN|978-0-9803693-9-7}}, p. 15</ref>

===Scheduled services===
The world's first scheduled airmail post service took place in the United Kingdom between the [[London]] suburb of [[Hendon]], [[North London]], and the [[Postmaster General of the United Kingdom|Postmaster General]]'s office in [[Windsor, Berkshire]], on September 9, 1911,<ref>Baldwin, N.C. (1960), p. 5, ''Fifty Years of British Air Mails'', Francis J.Field Ltd.</ref> as part of the celebrations for King [[George V]]'s [[Coronation of the British monarch|coronation]]<ref>{{cite news |title=In brief |work=Stamp and Coin Mart |publisher=Warners Group Publications |date=February 2018 |page=11}}</ref> and at the suggestion of [[Walter Windham|Sir Walter Windham]], who based his proposal on the successful experiment he had overseen in India.

[[Image:First US Air Mail Flight Phila 1918.jpg|thumb|right|Cover flown on the first day of scheduled Air Mail Service in the U.S. and franked with the first U.S. Air Mail stamp, the 24 Cent ''"Jenny"'' (C-3). Cancel: "Air Mail Service  – Wash. N.Y. Phila.  May 15, 1918 – First Trip Phila." (CDS)]]
The service ran for just under a month, transporting 35 bags of mail in 16 flights; four pilots operated the aircraft including [[Gustav Hamel]], who flew the first service in his [[Blériot Aéronautique|Blériot]], covering the 21 miles between Hendon and Windsor in just 18 minutes. The service was eventually terminated due to constant and severe delays caused by bad weather conditions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://postalheritage.wordpress.com/tag/first-united-kingdom-aerial-post/|title=100 Years of Sending Mail by Aeroplane|access-date=2012-12-17}}</ref> Similar services were intermittently run in other countries before the [[World War I|war]], including in [[Germany]], [[France]] and [[Japan]], where airmail provision was briefly established in 1912, only to meet with similar practical difficulties.

The range, speed and lifting capacity of aircraft were transformed through technological innovation during the war, allowing the first practical air mail services to finally become a reality when the war ended. For instance, the first regularly scheduled airmail service in the [[United States]] was inaugurated on May 15, 1918. The route, which ran between [[Washington, D.C.]], and [[New York City]], with an intermediate stop in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], was designed by aviation pioneer [[Augustus Post]].<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Flying |last1=Post |first1=Augustus |author1-link=Augustus Post |title=The Proposed New York–Philadelphia–Washington Aerial Mail Route |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q5FMAAAAYAAJ |access-date=March 15, 2022 |publisher=Flying Association at the Office of the Aero Club of America |date=March 1918 |volume=7 |issue=2 |page=148 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=John R. |title=Bibliography of Aeronaustics |date=1938 |publisher=Institute of Aeronautical Sciences |page=104 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/part-24-air-mail/page/104/ |chapter=Part 24: Airmail |quote=The Proposed New York–Philadelphia–Washington aerial mail route}}</ref> The field used for this service is marked by [[First Air Mail Marker|a plaque]] in [[West Potomac Park]]. In 1925, the U.S. Postal service issued contracts to fly airmail between designated points. By 1931, 85% of domestic airline revenue was from airmail.<ref>{{cite news|title=Air Cargo Guide, A Historical Perspective|url=http://www.aci-na.org/sites/default/files/chapter_1_-_an_historical_perspective.pdf|access-date=27 September 2017|agency=Airports Council International – North America|date=December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305104747/http://www.aci-na.org/sites/default/files/chapter_1_-_an_historical_perspective.pdf|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In Germany, [[airship|dirigible]]s of the 1920s and 1930s were used extensively to carry airmail; it was known as [[Zeppelin mail]], or dirigible mail. The German [[Zeppelin]]s were especially visible in this role, and many countries issued special stamps for use on Zeppelin mail.

The 1928 book ''[[So Disdained]]'' by [[Nevil Shute]]—a novel based on this author's deep interest in and thorough knowledge of aviation—includes a monologue by a veteran pilot, preserving the atmosphere of these pioneering times: "We used to fly on the Paris route, from [[Hounslow Heath Aerodrome|Hounslow]] to [[Le Bourget]] and get through as best as you could. Later we moved on to [[Croydon]]. (...)&nbsp;We carried the much advertised Air Mails. That meant the machines had to fly whether there were passengers to be carried or not.  It was left to the discretion of the pilot whether or not the flight should be cancelled in bad weather; the pilots were dead keen on flying in the most impossible conditions. Sanderson got killed this way at Douinville. And all he had in the machine was a couple of picture postcards from trippers in Paris, sent to their families as a curiosity. That was the Air Mail. No passengers or anything—just the mail".<ref>Nevil Shute, "So Disdained", London, 1928, Ch. 1</ref>

===International services===
In the aftermath of the war, the [[Royal Engineers]] (Postal Section) and the [[Royal Air Force]] pioneered the first scheduled international airmail service between [[Folkestone, Kent]] and [[Cologne|Cologne, Germany]]. The service operated between December 1918 and mid-1919; its purpose was to provide troops of the [[British Army]] stationed in Germany with a fast mail service.<ref>Wells, E. (1987), p. 86, ''Mailshot – A history of the Forces Postal Service'', Defence Postal & Courier Services.</ref> (see more at [[British Forces Post Office]]) Throughout the 1920s the [[Royal Air Force]] continued to develop air routes through the [[Middle East]].

[[File:Alcockandbrown mail.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[John Alcock (RAF officer)|Alcock]] and [[Arthur Whitten Brown|Brown]] taking on mail]]
On 25 December 1918, the [[Latécoère]] Airlines (later becoming the famed [[Aéropostale (aviation)|Aéropostale]]) became the first civilian international airmail service, when mail was flown from [[Toulouse]], France, to [[Barcelona]], Spain. Less than 2 months later, on 19 February 1919, the airmail service was extended to [[Casablanca]], Morocco, making the [[Latécoère]] Airlines the first transcontinental airmail service.<ref>Histoire de l'Aéropostale, Club aéronautique du collège de Quéven, par Aude et Ludivine, http://aerostories.free.fr/juniors/queven02/aeropostale/, accessed January 6, 2019.</ref> In June 1919, [[Transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown|Alcock and Brown]] completed the first transatlantic airmail flight.

The first airmail service established officially by an airline occurred in [[Colombia]], South America, on 19 October 1920. [[Scadta]], the first airline of the country, flew landing river by river delivering mail in its destinations. Australia's first airmail contract was awarded to Norman (later Sir) Brearley's Western Australian Airlines (WAA). The first airmail was carried between [[Geraldton]] and [[Derby, Western Australia|Derby]] in [[Western Australia]] on December 5, 1921.

==Philately==
Since [[stamp collecting]] was already a well-developed hobby by this time, collectors followed developments in airmail service closely, and went to some trouble to find out about the [[first flight]]s between various destinations, and to get letters onto them. The authorities often used special [[cachet]]s on the [[Cover (philately)|covers]], and in many cases the [[aviator|pilot]] would sign them as well.

The first stamps designated specifically for airmail were issued by [[Italy]] in 1917, and used on experimental flights; they were produced by [[overprint]]ing [[special delivery (postal service)|special delivery]] stamps. Austria also overprinted stamps for airmail in March 1918, soon followed by the first [[definitive stamp]] for airmail, issued by the United States in May 1918.

==Air-speeded==
A postal service may sometimes opt to transport some regular mail by air, perhaps because other transportation is unavailable. It is usually impossible to know this by examining an envelope, and such items are not considered "airmail." Generally, airmail would take a guaranteed and scheduled flight and arrive first, while air-speeded mail would wait for a non-guaranteed and merely available flight and would arrive later than normal airmail.

==Names==
[[File:Parcels loaded on Asiana flight.JPG|thumb|Airmail being loaded onto an [[Asiana Airlines]] Boeing 747-400]]
A letter sent via airmail may be called an '''aerogramme''', '''aerogram''', '''air letter''' or simply '''airmail letter'''. However, '''aerogramme''' and '''aerogram''' may also refer to a specific kind of airmail letter which is its own envelope; see [[aerogram]].

Some forms of airletter, such as [[aerogram]], may forbid enclosure of other material so as to keep the weight down.

The choice to send a letter by air is indicated either by a handwritten note on the [[envelope]], by the use of special labels called [[airmail etiquette]]s (blue stickers with the words "air mail" in French and in the home language), or by the use of specially-marked envelopes. Special [[airmail stamp]]s may also be available, or required; the rules vary in different countries.

The study of airmail is known as [[aerophilately]].

==Media==
[[Image:First flights in aviation history.ogg|frame|center|A 1945 newsreel covering various firsts in human flight, including U.S. Airmail footage]]

== See also ==
{{div col}}
*[[Airmail etiquette]]
*[[Airmails of the United States]]
*[[Air Mail scandal]]
*[[Airmail stamps of Denmark]]
*[[American Air Mail Society]]
*[[L-mail]]
*[[Mail plane]]
*[[Nellie Brimberry]]
*[[Onionskin]]
*[[Surface mail]]
*[[V-mail]]
*[[LAPE]]
{{div col end}}

==References and sources==
;References
{{Reflist|2}}
;Sources
* {{Fernandez1983}}
*Richard McP. Cabeen, ''Standard Handbook of Stamp Collecting'' (Collectors Club, 1979), pp.&nbsp;207–221
* [[Stacy Schiff|Schiff, Stacy]]. ''Benjamin Franklin and the Birth of America''. Bloomsbury, 2006.

==Further reading==
*Newall, Alexander S. (1990) ''Airmail Stamps: Fakes & Forgeries''. United Kingdom: Newall Consultants. {{ISBN|0-904804-96-8}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
*[http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/2000/490021.shtml?zoom_highlight=early+airmail UKweekly.com article] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090118052846/http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/2000/490021.shtml?zoom_highlight=early+airmail |date=2009-01-18 }} on early airmail service
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070201000000*/http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/history/downloads/BPMA_Info_Sheet_Airmail_web.pdf British Postal Museum & Archive Information Sheet – Airmail] (Wayback Machine archive)
*''[https://books.google.com/books?id=7igDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA78 The Flying Mail's Big Debt to War: America again takes front rank in the air with machines of mighty power]'', [[Popular Science]] monthly, February 1919, p. 78,
* [http://www.lockoweb.com/01historybyplaces/14%20raaf.htm Flight by Maurice Guillaux in Australia]. 16–18 July 1914
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