The historic event took place in Allahabad on February 18, 1911 coinciding with Kumbh mela that year.
The British first conceived the postal service and the Wright Brothers in the US flew the first plane. But it was in India that letters were taken by air for the first time in the world.
The historic event took place in Allahabad on February 18, 1911 coinciding with Kumbh mela that year.
Watched by over a lakh of people, a special aircraft took off from the banks off the river Yamuna at 17.30 hours, crossed the river and landed along the Naini junction, a distance of 15km, close to the central prison in the outskirts of Allahabad, according to available records.
The venue of the show was an agricultural and trade fair called UP Exhibition on the banks of the river. It was organised by authorities to garner additional gate collection for the exhibition by displaying two flying machines.
The aircraft were imported by some British officials in knocked-down condition and were re-assembled at the exhibition ground in the presence of general public.
As per the records, one Colonel Y Wyndham, the promoter of the event, approached the postal authorities for sending some mail bags for the first time by air. The surveyor general, then chief of postal services in India, readily obliged and even approved issuance of a special cachet to commemorate the occasion.
It had the inscription 'First Aerial Post' and 'UP Exhibition Allahabad'. The specially designed cast also featured the drawing of an aircraft hovering above some mountains and for the uniqueness of the occasion the post marks were applied with magenta ink instead of the conventional black ink.
The organisers were very keen on the light weight that could be carried by the aircraft which had wooden wings and structures linked by ropes. Each letter was restricted to a maximum weight of one ounce and with careful calculation only a limited numbers of letters — 6500 were allowed inside the special mail bag loaded in the plane.
It all took 13 minutes for the journey to and fro and the letters from Naini junction, where the plane landed, were all sent to the respective destination by surface mail, as it was the normal practice at that time.
The aircraft was piloted by a French aviator monsieur Henri Piquet and the mail was accommodated just at the edge of his seat.
Among the 6500 carried in the historic flight, 40 of them featured a photograph of the aircraft along with that of the aviator and also tagged the autograph of Henri Piquet. Philatelists have put together the records of the event with the help of the Postal department.
According to collectors, only ten of the 40 picture post cards sent that are still available. Besides the British Museum in London and one at Dak Bhawan, headquarters of the Department of Post here, some philatelists are owners of the post cards.
As per available information, one among the important participants at the exhibition grounds was Motilal Nehru who had mailed a letter to his son Jawahar Lal who was a student in England at that time.
To mark the centenary year in 2011 an International Philatelic Exhibition is planned to be held at Pragati Maidan here in collaboration with International Federation of Philately.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=spacer}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}