Postal Department Of France will release a stamp on Henri Pequet on Feb 18th to mark the occasion 100 years of first carrying the official airmail into India
On Feb 18th 1911,Henri Pequet (Depicted On Stamp) carried a sack with about 6,000 cards and letters on his Humber biplane.The plane flew a distance of five miles, from an Allahabad polo field, over the Yamuna River, to Naini. All mails were marked with a large magenta cachet showing a plane within a double lined circle, inscribed “First Aerial Post — 1911 — U.P. Exhibition Allahabad“.Henri Pequet was in India flying demonstration flights for the United Provinces Exhibition in Allahabad.
Picture Of Post Card Signed By Henri Pequet
The mail flight was originally fixed for Monday 20 February 1911, taking off at 4.30 p.m. In the event, Péquet flew it on Saturday
18 February 1911. The take-off was watched by the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir John Hewitt and Lady Hewitt, together with government
staff and a large crowd.One of the Humber Sommer biplanes was chosen for the flight because it carried a heavier payload and because the underpowered Blériot monoplanes had not performed well in the heavy, humid Indian climate.
Naini (See the geo tag for the stamp) had been selected as the place to receive the mail, as it was the nearest point on the main railway line from Calcutta to Bombay. A site enabling the plane to descend and take off safely had been cleared at Naini by convicts from the nearby central jail.
The Indian Post has issued a set of 3 special commemorative postage stamps to mark the Golden Jubilee of the First Official Airmail Flight Allahabad-Naini on 18 February 1961 (434/6).
This was followed by a set of two stamps to commemorate the
75th Anniversary of this historic flight on 18 February 1986 (1185/86).
Indian Stamps Released So Far On First Aerial Post
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