Air-India International London-Bombay First Return Flight (Cairo-Bombay stage) on 12 June 1948 About 65,000 postal articles are believed to have been carried on the first Bombay-Cairo-Geneva-London service of Air-India International which left Bombay on 8 June 1948. Just a few examples of mail carried on the London-Bombay and Geneva-Bombay return leg are known. My own estimate is less than 100 covers from London (largely comprised of Jal Cooper prepared covers and red Air-India International souvenir covers) and less than 50 from Geneva (largely registered mail covers) were carried on the return flight. Less than 50 unregistered mail is thought to have been left behind at Geneva and travelled by the second service a week later. However, I have yet to come across a single example of a cover which was carried on the first return flight from Cairo with a high degree of certainty. After more than 15 years of searching, I have come across this cover which I believe is the first or second recorded piece, depending on how much you agree with the other example mentioned at the end of this article. Since there is no Indian postal cancellation or delivery mark after return to India, I cannot declare this to be as such unless I open this to scrutiny and debate with other collectors. The purpose of this article therefore is to seek feedback and comments from other collectors. Please also share images of covers you have that you believe to have made it on the return flight from Cairo with me. Examples of London-Bombay and Geneva-Bombay as well as images of the other cover suspected to have flown Cairo-Bombay on 12 https://www.indianairmails.com/return-flight-covers.html or by scanning this QR code. Why do I think this one is any different from other mail sent to Cairo on the 8 June flight.
Fig.7 I welcome feedback, comments and images other collectors want to share with me on this topic. Please write to me at [email protected].
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A series of advertisements and posters were prepared, and I must say the designs are outstanding. Alas, I have not seen any of them myself, but the booklet shown above has images of these. I am reproducing some of these posters below, starting with the teaser poster designed to arouse curiosity, and then on to a series of posters designed to run through the first year of operations. The booklet goes on the detail out other publicity measured the airline planned for the first year including press advertisements, direct mail, route maps, a series of four introductory brochures etc. All in all, an extremely well thought through and executed campaign. You can download the pdf by clicking the link here Indian Airlines Corporation - Viscount. |
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