THE FIRST BOSTON AIR MAIL FIELD
DISPATCH
Contract
Air Mail Route 1 was extended northward from Boston, via Portland to
Bangor, Maine, for seasonal service from August 1, 1931 through September 30,
1931. At Bangor, the flight connected with Foreign Air Mail Route 12
serving Saint John, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Foreign
Air Mail Route 12 service was also inaugurated on August 1, 1931.
The
entire service from Boston to Halifax was flown by Pan American Airways,
operating as a subcontractor on the Contract Air Mail Route 1 segment from
Boston to Bangor and as the contractor for the Foreign Air Mail Route 12
segment from Bangor to Halifax.
During
the two months of Contract Air Mail Route 1 service to Bangor, the United
States Post Office Department's Railway Mail Service (R.M.S.) had a clerk
at Boston Airport, using a room provided by Colonial Air Transport (the
Contract Air Mail Route 1 contractor). This clerk did not have a regular
Airport Mail Facility cancel until August 4.
For the
first three days of operations, he used a steel handstamp (Airfield and
Airport Mail Facilities Cancellation Type R4a) reading "Emergency No.
4 1st Div." A small quantity of collector mail
received that cancel and were dispatched on the inaugural flight.
The previous bulletin editor, George Sioras, unearthed this old AJ article.
Comment please by email to Webmaster or mail to Editor.
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