Aerophilately
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Aerophilately is the branch of philately that specializes in the study of airmail. Philatelists have observed the development of mail transport by air from its beginning, and all aspects of airmail service have been extensively studied and documented by specialists.
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Cover_CA_1932_Rae_air.jpg
Cover_CA_1932_Rae_air.jpg
This 1932 Canadian "first official flight" cover, Great Bear Lake to Rae, includes both a special cachet and a surcharged airmail stamp.
The scope of aerophilately includes:
- airmail postage stamps, both official and unofficial
- other types of labels (such as airmail etiquettes)
- postal documents transmitted by air
- postal markings related to air transport
- rates and routes, particularly first flights and other "special" flights
- mail recovered from aircraft accidents and other incidents (crash covers)
While most of the study of airmail assumes transport by fixed-wing aircraft, the fields of balloon mail, dirigible mail, zeppelin mail, missile mail, and rocket mail are active subspecialties. Astrophilately, the study of mail in space, is a related area.
Aerophilatelists have formed a number of organizations around the world; many of them put out a variety of specialized publications. Their umbrella organization is the FISA.
Organizations
- FISA
- Air Mail Society of New Zealand
- American Air Mail Society
- British Aerophilatelic Federation
- Irish Airmail Society
References
- Cheryl Ganz, ed. Collecting Air Mail (American Air Mail Society)
- American Air Mail Catalogue (AAMS, 6th ed. 1998)
- Canadian Air Mail Catalogue (AAMS)
- Thomas J. O'Sullivan, The Pioneer Airplane Mails of the United States (AAMS)
- Victor C. Berecz, Jr., The Pioneer Period of Hungarian Air Mail (AAMS)
- William Victor Kriebel, A History of the Development of Air Mail Service in Brazil (AAMS)
- William J. Murphy, Irish Airmail 1919-1990 (Irish Airmail Society, 1996)
External links
- Air Mail Society of New Zealand (http://www.newzeal.com/Philately/AirmailSociety.htm)
- American Air Mail Society (http://www.AmericanAirMailSociety.org/)
- British Aerophilatelic Federation (http://www.stampdomain.com/baef/index.htm)
- Irish Airmail Society (http://members.aol.com/karlfranzw/AirmailSociety.html)
- A collection of links to more websites (http://atozee.com/Web/Stamps/Aerophilately_and_Airmails/)
- Aerophilatelic dealer with many books and links (http://home.ch.inter.net/aerophil/)it:Aereofilatelia