Today in 1959 a Regulus I missile containing 3,000 letters was fired from the USS Barbero, landing at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station at Mayport, FL. The letters, addressed to President Eisenhower, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and others from Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield (pictured), enthusiastically announced the beginning of "missile mail."
Hello, All I can say about missile mail is it gets to its destination very quickly then incinerates everything within four miles! James.
I love those Hawaiian stamps, I have a small collection of them which I highly prize. The last stamp Scott #82 was issued July 21, 1899.
Hawaiian stamps from the period of 1864 to 1900 aren't all expensive. They range from less than a dollar to a couple hundred dollars depending on scarcity. The stamp I picture can be gotten in used condition for between $2 and $3 dollars.
This day in 1940, inaugural airmail service began between Seattle, WA, and Juneau, AK, operated by Pacific Alaskan Airways, Inc.
A Highway Post Office route was established between Los Angeles & San Pedro, CA, today in 1948. I had never heard of a Highway Post Office before, but it was essentially a bus that travel a specific route servicing small communities. The link below has some more information on it. I wonder if they had their own special cancel, like the railroads. http://postalmuseumblog.si.edu/highway-post-office/
Today in 1940, President Roosevelt signed a measure for “the transportation of mails on motor vehicle routes" - the Highway Post Office Service.
Detroit River mail service began today in 1895. Contractors used boats to carry mail to and from Great Lake ships, exchanging it in buckets.
Hello all, was this really rocket mail? I found this on EBay today. It is dated 20 Aug 1945. 'gestart per raket' translates as 'launched by rocket' Regards James.
My best guess is that it is a piece of rocket mail. There is a history of rocket mail beginning in 1934 and continuing beyond the date of that Ebay example. I saw a couple of covers online with exactly that ink stamp design in red ink. Here is one of them in the image results: https://images.search.yahoo.com/sea...Dc2M-?p=Netherlands Rocketmail&fr=yfp-t-603-s
Pretty neat, especially since WW II had just ended, I think. I don't know what the point of it all would have been though. Rockets are pretty much just point & shoot, and then hope the parachute brings it down somewhere near where you want.
Thanks H. when I found that (accidentally) I did not think to continue to search for more. If we delve a little deeper into the early experimental development of rocket propulsion. The first reported use of rockets was during the battle of Kai-Keng (1232) the Chinese launched a rocket attack on the Mongol invaders, these were simple firework style tubes filled with gunpowder with a stick to stabilize it in flight. Later in the 17th century Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) produced three laws to explain how rockets work. In about 1720 a Dutch scientist Willem Gravesande continued working on rockets, some with a mass exceeding 45 kg. Indian rockets were successfully used against the British in 1792 and 1799. As a result Colonel William Congreve started to design rockets for the British military. These were used (not so successfully) in the war of 1812 against the Americans at fort McHenry, Baltimore. They must have been terrifying, a cannon ball is virtually silent until the impact, rockets let you know that they were on their way. James.
